The first confirmed armed clash took place some time last week between the Burmese Army (BA) and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) at Hopang township, Shan State North.

Wa officials at Panghsang Headquarters, however, brushed it off as an accidental affair. "You know the saying," said a senior officer. "When teeth and tongue live together, they are bound to run against each other now and then."

The officer even refused to reveal the date when the fight broke out between a BA unit stationed on the western part of the Hopang-Panglong road and the UWSA unit stationed on its eastern part near a village called Pangyao, some 20-miles south of Hopang. An unconfirmed report says the BA suffered about 10 dead and the UWSA two dead.

This is the third time in more than two months when a shootout between the two has been reported. The two sides have been at odds with each other since the UWSA was told by the Burma Army to surrender and the latter had responded by starting a promotion campaign of its separate government status. The first two clashes were not confirmed.

"The Wa are now almost completely contained in the north, west and south, except for a small stretch that connects them with Sai Leun's domain," said a seasoned border watcher.

Sai Leun is the leader of the National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS) with its headquarters at Mongla.

The Wa region is bounded by China's Yunnan province in the east. The stretch that connects Wa with Sai Leun: Mongpawk-Hsaleu, jointly occupied by both, also runs along the Sino-Burma border.

The Burmese Army has also been reinforcing up along the front. All approaches to the Salween crossings on the west bank have been guarded. "It would now be difficult for the SSA (Shan State Army-North) to escape across the Salween, in the event if refuses to comply with the Burma Army's demands," commented a source close to the ceasefire Shan faction that is based on the western part of the Salween, directly opposite Wa-controlled areas east of the river.

"By the look of things, the Wa will be doing its best to the last minute to avoid a showdown with the Burmese Army," said the Burma watcher.

"As for the Burmese Army, local units will be used as holding forces in the event of a showdown but the attacking forces will be coming from outside Shan State."