On 28 September 65 Dongfeng military trucks carrying over 600 troops from UWSA Brigade 468 led by five armoured vehicles left their Mong Pawk base in Wa Special Region 2 and without any advanced notice entered Kengtung District’s Mong Yang Township, which is in the NDAA-ESS controlled Shan State Special Region 4 in eastern Shan State.

This led to tensions between the two ethnic armed organisations (EAOs).

An NDAA-ESS official on the front line who wished to remain anonymous said: “An ally is an ally. They [the UWSA] must report wherever they go. The Wa [UWSA] and us are partners. This shouldn’t have happened. The leaders from both sides are directly discussing this issue. We need to wait three or four days.”

U Saing Nat, a UWSA official said: “We don’t know whether [the UWSA] reported to [the NDAA-ESS]. We were ordered to come here [into NDAA-ESS territory]. We can’t retreat without an order from above.”

According to unconfirmed news reports the UWSA allegedly seized the NDAA-ESS outposts of Loi Kiuhsai and Loi Hsarm Hsoom and the NDAA-ESS controlled border checkpoint of Pang Markfai and in the process detained 151 soldiers from NDAA-ESS Battalion 15.

The UWSA were unhappy with the Union Peace Conference (21st Century Panglong Conference) held in August and withdrew from the conference claiming that they were discriminated against.

The UWSA also advised the NDAA-ESS to send lower ranking officers to the conference, but the NDAA-ESS rejected the advice and sent its leader, U Sai Leun to the conference.

The NDAA-ESS and the UWSA signed ceasefires with the Burmese government in September 2011. Normally both organisations are close to each other.

Previously they were both members of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) and they continue to also have close relations with former CPB members the Myanmar National Democracy Army (MNDAA also known as the Kokang Army) and the new Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K)

Reporting by Hwan Hein for S.H.A.N
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI