Wa Receive Permanent Identity Cards
Local immigration officers in the Kengtaung District of Burma’s Eastern Shan State have been issuing permanent Burmese identity cards to ethnic Wa adults over the age of 18 since the beginning of February, Kengtaung Township sources report.
A source with the Township’s Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) said officials were replacing the temporary identity cards issued one year ago. The cards were issued to enable Wa and members of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) to participate in the May 2008 referendum.
UWSA soldiers are among those now receiving permanent identity cards.
The MRCS source said immigration officers and members of the pro-regime Union Solidarity and Development Association had been working on the replacement in the Wa region, Mong Yan, Mong Phan and Mong Pauk close to Panghsang, headquarters of the UWSA, near the China-Burma border.
Tension has meanwhile increased between the Burmese army and the UWSA because of the Wa army’s refusal to hand over accused drug trafficker Aik Hawk to the Burmese authorities. The authorities believe he is being protected by UWSA forces at their headquarters in Panghsang.
The Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News said the Burmese army had deployed an estimated 2,000 reinforcement troops since the middle of January in Mong Ping, Mong Hsnu, Tang Yan and Kunlong.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=15205
