The latest Burma Army’s operations in northern and eastern Shan State, in his views, do not signal imminent attack against the United Wa State Army (UWSA), reputed as the world’s biggest armed drug organization, but further movements for a complete siege of the Wa territory, according to Yawdserk, leader of the Restoration Council of Shan State / Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA).
“It doesn’t sound like an offensive against the Wa is imminent,” Lt-Gen Yawdserk told SHAN this morning. “But it does mean the Burma Army is trying to complete the blockade against them.”
The Burma Army so far has total control of Kokang in the north and Markmang, Mongpiang and Mong Khark townships in the south. Some of the bases of Shan State Progress Party / Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), the RCSS/SSA’s sister organization, west of the Salween have also been occupied by the Burma Army during the 2011 and 2012 operations.
On 18-22 February, another mountain base of the SSPP/SSA, at Loilan that overlooks the Salween, was attacked. The assault was suspended after a formal protest lodged by Wanhai, the SSPP/SSA headquarters, to President Thein Sein.
“The (Kholam-based) Central Eastern Command also dispatched forces to Pang Pheu (a village near Loilan that has been chosen by Naypyitaw and Wanhai earlier for resettlement of SSPP/SSA members and their families), citing security for the (US Drug Enforcement Administration) DEA delegation that will arrive on 26 February, wrote Lt Gen Pang Fa, the SSPP/SSA leader to the President on 22 February. “We demand that the (DEA) helicopters don’t land at Pang Pheu, but at Pang Mieng Hib flat where they used to land before. But if they still want to land at Pang Pheu, the SSA, instead of the government forces, will be responsible for their security.”
The DEA later cancelled its scheduled visit there, according to SSA sources.
The Burma Army also dispatched one of its columns from Mongkhark to visit Yang Kawng, a village tract under the control of the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA), another ally of the UWSA on 20-21 February without prior notice, according to NDAA sources.
The NDAA, with its headquarters in Mong La, guards the UWSA’s southeastern border. The Lwe, a tributary of the Mekong, roughly forms as the border between the two allies.
The UWSA’s southern command, the 171st Military Region on the Thai-Burmese border, is physically separated from its main territory by more than 100 miles as the crow flies.
“The UWSA leadership suspects Naypyitaw is mounting an attack against Panghsang (the Wa capital),” said an informed source from the Sino-Burmese border. “The PLA (People’s Liberation Army) has also sent down several reinforcements into areas opposite the town.”
