The United Wa State Army (UWSA) did not celebrate the 21st anniversary of its founding on April 17 but some top officers were reported to have visited their disabled, sources on the Sino-Burma border said.
Unlike last year, it has been a hush-hush affair, because of the ongoing tension between the military junta and the group over Naypyitaw’s border guard force programe, a source said.
“They [Wa top leaders] just went to comfort and give presents to the disabled,” he said.
Last year, the group held a big ceremony on its founding and it was attended by tens of thousands of people from inside and outside including international news agencies.
The Wa mutiny on 17 April 1989 followed the rebellion by its northern neighbour Kokang on 11 March 1989, a month earlier. The two incidents had put down the four-decade long armed struggle waged by the Beijing-backed Communist Party of Burma (CPB). The two and their allies since then have been on an uneasy truce with the country’s military rulers. But Kokang was attacked by the military junta in August 2009 and some of its members became a border guard force run by the Burmese Army since then.
The Wa said it is unlikely there will be any discussion on Naypyitaw’s BGF programme as it had already revised and submitted a new counterproposal, which was rejected by Naypyitaw, according to an informed source on condition of anonymity.
“We have already said how we wanted it to be. But they did not accept it. Like them, we can’t make any further compromise on our proposal because we have already done enough.”
On 3 April, the Wa submitted its latest 8-point proposal to Naypyitaw, but it was turned down by the military junta on 9 April because Naypyitaw only wanted the group to transform itself into the junta run border guard force and totally abide by the Naypyitaw’s BGF programme, “nothing more and nothing less.”
So far, there is no sign of possible hostilities, a source from Panghsang said.
But on the other hand, more than 10 military trucks were seen going back from Tangyan to Lashio, west of the Wa capital town Panghsang on 17 April, a source from Tangyan said.
A border watcher said it seemed the junta was preparing for war. “If not, then it is just trying to scare the group.”
According to the junta’s announcement in March, all ceasefire groups would be declared illegal organizations if they fail to accept the border guard force programme by 22 April.
