Burma Talks Security with Laos amid Ceasefire Tensions

By LAWI WENG

A leading member of Burma’s ruling junta traveled to Laos on Sunday to discuss cooperation on security in the volatile Golden Triangle region, where tensions are mounting between the Burmese regime and ceasefire groups.

Gen Thura Shwe Mann, Burma’s army chief of staff and the third-ranking general in the country’s military regime, held talks with Lao PDR President Choummaly Sayasone and Minister of National Defense Lt-Gen Duangchay Phichit during his two-day visit, the Vientiane Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.

At the top of their agenda was the continued exchange of border security delegations to prevent the illegal passage of people, goods and drugs across the two countries’ common border, the newspaper reported.

Some analysts said military cooperation between Burma and Laos was aimed at tightening restrictions on the activities of Burma-based ethnic armed ceasefire groups, including the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS).

Mai Aik Phone, an observer of the Wa situation, said that the Burmese military is trying to limit the UWSA’s ability to conduct cross-border activities in the Golden Triangle. He added, however, that the regime would not have much success because the Wa have full control over their own territory.

Tensions have been growing between the Burmese junta and the UWSA since January, after Lt-Gen Ye Myint, chief of the regime’s Military Affairs Security, asked the ceasefire group to serve as a militia under the command of the Burmese army. UWSA leaders rejected the request.

According a source close to the UWSA, the group has started conducting military training for Wa civilians in order to prepare for the possibility of war with the Burmese military.

“They warned their civilians to store enough food for this summer because they were worried that there could be a war,” the source said. “Some Wa parents have sent their children to other townships to avoid joining the military training.”

Relations between the Burmese military and the NDAA-ESS have also been tense since last week, when the ceasefire group refused to pay a 30 percent tax to a Burmese military detachment based in Mong La, according to Saeng Juen, assistant editor of the Shan Herald Agency for News.

The Burmese military reinforced its troops in the area in response to the show of defiance by the NDAA-ESS, prompting fears of a full-scale clash among local residents.