Having successfully forced the Mongla-based National Democratic Alliance Army’s forward base near Hsop Yawng (the mouth of the Yawng where it joins the Mekong) to withdraw last week, the Burma Army says the NDAA must also withdraw from another base further north, according to sources on the Sino-Burma border.
This Pong Hiet base is south of the Hsop Lwe (Mouth of the Lwe) and north of the Hsop Yawng and near the Fan, another tributary of the Mekong.
So far, the NDAA has yet to respond to the demand. “The leadership knows one demand, on compliance, will be followed by another,” commented a source. “It is just like the Aesopean fable where the camel, having been allowed by the Arab to keep his nose inside the tent, finally drives the Arab out of his tent.”
The Burma Army’s Light Infantry Battalions 570 and 573 are active in the area.
The NDAA’s closest ally, the United Wa State Army (UWSA)’s 468th Brigade had transferred 1,200-1,500 of its troops to reinforce the NDAA’s defenses along the Lwe down to Hsop Lwe. “Areas under Mongla is more important to the UWSA than to the NDAA,” one UWSA officer was quoted as saying. “We may therefore pull out from all bases south of the Lwe but not from the bases north of it.”
It is apparently also to cut off possible junction between the non-ceasefire Shan State Army (SSA) South operating in Mongyawng township and the combined UWSA-NDAA forces. “This is part of the Burma Army’s 4 cuts campaign to isolate one armed group from another,” remarked an SSA officer. “It has already been successfully employed in the offensive against SSA North. Communication routes between the SSA North and the UWSA have now been drastically cut off.”
According to a veteran Thai Burma-Watchers, who monitors situation across the border, the UWSA has been definitely categorized as an “enemy organization” (Yanthu-Ah-Hpwe-Ah-Si).
