One day after the No.  6 leader of the Mongla-based National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) was shot dead by an unknown gunman, Maj Gen Kyaw Phyoe, Commander of the Kengtung-based Triangle Region Command, reportedly told a meeting that ceasefire armies that have been resisting the junta’s pressure to become Burmese Army controlled  Border Guard Forces (BGFs) could be beaten without fighting.

“Just give them enough room to kill each other in their scramble for power and fortune among themselves, he was quoted as saying by a source close to the Burmese Army. “We can hold feasts and jiggle our knees while we wait for their downfall.”

On January 5 and 6, while he was on a visit to the front lines in Mongkhark and Mongyang, northeast of Kengtung,” he was reported to have said, “We can wait for 10 more years and they (the ceasefire groups) are still not going to change their minds (about the BGFs). It’s time they learnt some lessons.”

Min Ein (58) General Secretary of the Executive Committee of the NDAA, was fired upon with an AK 47 on 27 January, while taking his usual morning walk with a companion. The killer then shot him again with a 9 mm pistol six times before he fled in a white Toyota sedan driven by an accomplice. Min Ein’s companion was also killed. A resident who ran out to the street when he heard the gunfire was injured.

Kyaw Phyoe visited Mongla, 80 kilometre away, on the same day to offer his condolences.

Min Ein’s funeral, held yesterday at the cemetery two kilometers north of Mongla, opposite Daluo, was attended by Mongla leader Sai Leun, Wa representative Hsam Lu and Burmee Army’s Col Than Tut Thein, among others.

So far the culprits have not been found or identified.

The NDAA, together with five other ceasefire groups, has been resisting the Burmese Army’s attempt to convert itself into a Border Guard Force.