"The letter that reached yesterday (12 December) says immigration officials together with teachers and medical workers will be arriving soon," said one of the sources close to Mong La officials.

The immigration officials will be responsible for the border checkpoint between Daluo and Mong La. Teachers and medical workers for Hsaleu, where the 369th Brigade is based, and Nampan, where the 911th Brigade is based, will arrive later, according to them.

Local people in Hsaleu are worried the self-help school that they had set up during the two year period when relations between the two sides were strained would be closed, after government teachers return, according to a Shan visitor who recently returned to Thailand.

"We will have to wait and see what the Burmese teachers have to say about subjects we are teaching here," said a Mong La officer. "Personally, I like what they are teaching under the self-help system. There are about 300 children attending school there as boarders. Before the new ceasefire agreement was signed, they already were planning to expand the system to other villages within two years."

In accordance with the initial agreement to return the government personnel to the ceasefire areas, the Shan State Government's Minister for Security and Border Affairs had visited Mong La in mid-November. The personnel from the Ministry of Border Affairs arrived there following his visit.

Latest report today (16 December) says more than 70 people, 4 Border Affairs officials, 26 teachers and 19 medical workers arrive in Mong La together with their family members.