Burmese military junta authorities in Mongton township, opposite Chiangmai, have demanded that Wa residents along the Thai-Burma border return their newly issued White identity cards, according to a yet to be confirmed report.
 
The order was issued on May13 three days after the nationwide referendum followed by numerous reports about official irregularities, according to the source.
 
A Wa officer contacted by the Shan Herald was unable to substantiate the report but confirmed that most of the Wa eligible voters had cast 'No' votes to the junta-drawn draft charter. "That must have really needled them," he remarked.
                                                                       
The United Wa State Army (UWSA) has not agreed with the territory cut out for them by the draft charter. One township, Markmang, under Burma Army control, according to the draft, has been allocated to the Wa, while another one, Mongpawk, is under the UWSA control, has not been.
 
"The Wa are having a five-day war game starting today," said a Thai border watcher. It involves 1,200 combined troops from its five brigades (414th, 258th, 772nd, 775th and 778th) along the Thai-Burma border.
 
The Burma Army's eastern Shan State commander Min Aung Hlaing, meanwhile, threw a roaring party in Kengtung, 160 km north of Maesai, on May 12 to celebrate its "victory" in the referendum, said a source from Kengtung.