The ceasefire Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’ is likely to split into two factions due to some of its brigades’ response to comply with Naypyidaw’s demand that requires 900 to 1,000 of their men to form three home guard battalions without agreement by all the fighters, according to reliable sources from the Sino-Burma border.
The response came on 22 April, the latest deadline for all ethnic groups to give their consent on the border guard force (BGF) proposal. The group’s top leader Maj-Gen Loimao with 12 other top members accepted the proposal at a meeting with Maj-Gen Aung Than Tut, Commander of the Burmese Army’s Northeastern Region Command at Lashio headquarters.
The military junta was reported to have planned to hold a ceremony to honour it officially at the SSA’s Hsengkeow HQ, Hsipaw township, Shan State North, on the following day. But the plans came a cropper as the group’s other faction did not allow the Burmese delegation to enter the areas, said a source close to the group’s leadership.
The group is reportedly yet to sign the agreement officially, he said. “It was just an oral acceptance. It appears the group is going to break up into two camps.”
The SSA-N has three brigades (1, 3, and 7), one border force and one HQ Security Force led by Maj-Gen Loimao. He is able to give orders only to brigades 3 and 7. Its paramount leader Maj Gen Hso Ten is serving a 106 year jail sentence in Khamti.
The 1st Brigade is based in Wanhai, Kehsi township, Shan State South, under the command of Maj-Gen Parngfa; Brigade No.3 is in Mongkhurh, Mongyai township, Shan State North, under the command of Maj-Gen Loimao; Brigade No.7 in Kali, Hsipaw township, Shan State North, is led by Maj-Gen Gaifa.
The 1st Brigade is the strongest with approximately 2,500 fully armed men and its commander Maj-Gen Parngfa is said to be hardliner.
The faction that has refused to transform is the 1st Brigade. It is said to have joined hands with other ethnic ceasefire armies that still remain defiant to the BGF programme: the United Wa State Army (UWSA), National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS) and Kachin Independence Army (KIA), a source said.
Maj-Gen Aung Than Tut was reported to have said that the remaining groups have also accepted the proposal on the same day with the SSA.
“No need to worry for the remaining brigade of your group, the 1st brigade. It will be following your footstep soon,” Aung Than Tut was said to have told Maj-Gen Loimao.
But the Wa, Mongla and Kachin replied that they were not aware of the commander saying this and they have yet to give their consent.
In the meantime, unconfirmed sources said that the 7th brigade’s leader Maj-Gen Gaifa is reported to be preparing to contest the general elections under the aegis of the group’s former political arm, Shan State Progress Party (SSPP).
An official report from the SSA-North says the Brigade was marking the founding of the first SSA on 24 April 1964.
