The gunman who killed Mongla’s number six leader yesterday morning is still at large, despite more than 30 hours of house-to-house search, according to sources from both Chinese and Thai borders.
“As far as I can remember, the early morning walk through the town had been one of U Min Ein’s daily rituals,” said a Shan businessman. “He never had any bodyguards with him. Nobody thought there was a need for armed escorts except for Sao Sai Leun (Mongla’s number 1 leader).”
He was shot down around 06:00 near the Oriental Hotel with an AK 47. A resident who ran out to the street after the shooting was also gunned down. (A SHAN source in China, who first broke the news, later said the report reached him at 08:30 and he thought it was just after Min Ein was killed. Hence, the mistake in yesterday’s report.)
Both Wa and Mongla sources assured SHAN that Min Ein’s killing would not change anything. “All the important decisions concerning the Border Guard Force programme have been passed,” said a Mongla officer. “We only need to implement them.”
Both Wa and Mongla had informed Naypyitaw in November that they were ready to become BGFs on the condition that Burmese Army officers should only join their top level leadership and not be included at the battalion level as demanded by the Naypyitaw. The country’s military rulers have so far given a cold shoulder to the idea.
Since the passage of the deadline on December 31, the front between the Burmese Army and the Wa-Mongla forces has been going through an uneasy calm, though verbal threats like “ It’s time the pigheaded Wa were taught a lesson” were reported.
According to a Wa officer, it is hard to believe Min Ein, who had often led Mongla delegations to negotiate with the junta, was killed because he was a soft liner. “It (political assassination) is simply not our way,” he said. “We are more used to killing each other because of personal disputes and clash of business interests.”
A Mongla officer however warned, “We don’t know who the culprit is. But we do know who benefits from the killing. Not us and not the Wa, but only the SPDC (State Peace and Development Council, the ruling junta’s official title). Whatever we are going to do, we must remember that disunity will destroy us.”
The group’s Assistant General Secretary is Nwe Oo (57) also an ethnic Chinese from Burma’s delta area. “He is good to work with,” said a frequent visitor of Mongla.
The funeral may be either tomorrow (29 January) or the day after (30 January), according to him. “They are still waiting for his family members,” he said. “Some of them are in Burma (Proper) but his wife is in China.”
