The expected signing of a ceasefire agreement between its ally Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) government does not necessarily mean the Shan State Progress Party / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), better known as the SSA North, will be left alone to fight the Burma Army, according to the movement’s spokesman Maj Sai La.
“Sao Yawdserk (SSA “South”) and the Karen National Union (KNU) have been fighting for a long time and I haven’t heard they are about to give up anytime soon,” he told SHAN.
The SSPP/SSA and the KIO / KIA are two of the 12 members of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) set up in February to seek a political resolution and to form a federal army. The KIO currently holds the chair.
“I also believe the KIO, as the leader of the UNFC, will not be out to save its own skin,” he explained, spurning comments that the SSA, outmanned and outgunned, will be left alone to face the music.
The Kachin News Group reported yesterday that the KIO and Naypyitaw, represented by its Kachin State Government, was on the verge of signing a ceasefire agreement. The signing however has been delayed because signatories designated by Naypyitaw were “not acceptable” to the KIO.
“The KIO’s other condition is that a political dialogue follows the ceasefire,” KNG editor Naw Din explained. “And it wants the UNFC to negotiate not only in the interests of Kachins but all the ethnic nationalities.”
The UNFC’s Vice President Abel Tweed yesterday exhorted its other principal members Karen National Union (KNU), Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), New Mon State Party (NMSP) and Chin National Front (CNF) to wage a united war against “Thein Sein government’s army.”
The attacking Burma Army had also sent two Shan monks to discuss “peace” with the SSA North at its headquarters Wanhai last Monday, 25 July. The meeting ended without reaching any agreement. “The Burma Army doesn’t want to suspend the hostilities,” Sai La charged. “The offer was only a ruse. It probably is having an internal problem. In any case, the preparations for the final assault (on Wanhai) apparently are not complete yet.”
He compares Wanhai to a hive of bees or hornets. “We want the Burma Army to know that if the hive is destroyed, the bees and the hornets will run amok all over the place and may sting anyone,” he cautioned. “It may not be located on the border like Laiza and may be easier to occupy, but it is still a hive of bees and hornets.”
Two clashes were reported between the two sides, one in Hsipaw’s Mongla and another in Kung Zarm, Monghsu yesterday. Villagers also reported the bridge over the Nammai, 6 miles north of Monghsu, was demolished by an unknown armed group, probably the SSA North.
