The United Wa State Army will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of its founding on April 17, regarded by many Asian countries including Burma as the New Year’s Day, according to sources on the Sino-Burma border.

Scanty details available say festivities will begin on Wednesday, April 15. Security has been tightened and no individual
outsider, without strong recommendations “from those responsible,” will be allowed entry, according to a security officer in Panghsang, the Wa capital opposite Menglian, Yunnan province.

Bao Youxiang, Wa supreme leader, with Gen Khin Nyunt, regarded as the architect of ceasefire with the Wa. It is not known how many news agencies will be represented there.

Since March 14, hundreds of non-permanent residents without residence permits were ordered to leave the city, following
reports that attempts would be made to sabotage the celebrations. “You will also be fined Y 1,000 ($147) if you can’t show any temporary stay cards,” said a Shan truck driver. “I know that, because I was among those who had to pay the fine.”

The heightened security in Panghsang is on a par with the increasingly strained relations between the Wa and Naypyitaw that has demanded the former’s disarmament. “The Wa is practically under siege now,” said an officer from its southern ally, National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS).

“So are we.”  The Wa mutiny on 17 April 1989 followed the rebellion by its northern neighbour Kokang on 11 March 1989, a month earlier.

The two incidents had put down the four-decade long armed struggle waged by the Beijing-backed Communist Party of Burma (CPB). The two and their allies since then have been on an uneasy truce with the country’s military rulers.