WAR: Top Wa leaders across the border

PANGLONG NEWS 10.JULY 2013

Five top Wa leaders arrived at Hwe Aw, opposite Chiangmai, last Friday, 5 July, to hold pre-talks with local United Wa State Army (UWSA) commanders before actual negotiations with Naypyitaw’s negotiators in Kengtung, 11-12 July, according to Thai security sources.

 

Xiao Minliang (Photo: UWSA)

Xiao Minliang, Vice President, led the delegation and one of its members was Zhao Guo-an, Chief of External Affairs. The source was unable to name the remaining 3 members, but maintained that it was a confirmed report. “Naypyitaw had proposed 5 July for the negotiations,” explained another source. “But Wa authorities in Panghsang (on the Sino-Burmese border) said it would be better if they could first discuss with its commanders on the Thai-Burmese border, where the current confrontation is taking place. The Burmese side had apparently given the okay to the request.”

Wa leaders have ordered their people to be on alert and dig bunkers for protection in case fighting breaks out, according to sources on the border. Troops of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) have been building strategic outposts in the mountains.

Wa Units in Southern Shan State Build Defenses
Shan sources said UWSA units in southern Shan State will reportedly ally with the ethnic rebel Shan State Army – South in fighting government troops if necessary.

Ten thousand UWSA toops led by Wei Hsueh-Kang, who is blacklisted in the US for drug trafficking, are stationed in southern Shan State. The UWSA has a total of about 25,000 soldiers.

The US Department of State has offered a US $2 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Wei Hsueh-Kang.

Border sources said Burmese government forces will likely launch an offensive against Wa units in southern Shan State, because the junta has been beefing up its troops in the area since the fall of Kokang’s capital, Laogai, on August 24.

The Burmese military junta reportedly wrote to Wa leaders demanding that they surrender the Kokang leader, Peng Jiasheng, who is believed to have taken shelter in a UWSA-controlled area. Source said the UWSA did not respond to the junta’s request.

Troops from the Burmese regime’s light infantry divisions (LID), including LID 99, 55, 33 and 22, have been moving into Shan State since Aug 24, according to border and Burmese military sources. About 10 battalions under Military Operation Command 16, based in Theindi in northern Shan State, have also been deployed south of Laogai, military sources said.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy, one resident who asked for anonymity said he witnessed three 120mm mortar launchers and 10 armored cars going to southern Shan State, where UWSA units are based.