News & Articles on Burma-Tuesday, 04 January, 2011

News & Articles on Burma
Tuesday, 04 January, 2011
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Big Brother is Listening: Junta to Target 3,000 Cell Phones
NLD Raises 20 Million Kyat for Social Projects
Junta warns of "covetous" countries, Suu Kyi thanks foreigners
Burma: The World’s Next North Korea
Anti-sanctions chorus out of tune
DKBA soldier holds a Thai hostage
Karen Solider Nabbed after Hostage Drama
Myanmar says 'aggressive countries' seeking influence
Yawdserk: Junta targeting Thai border Wa
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Big Brother is Listening: Junta to Target 3,000 Cell Phones
By HSET LINN Tuesday, January 4, 2011

RANGOON — Burma's military regime is preparing to intercept more than 3,000 GSM and CDMA phones belonging to politicians, businessmen, social activists, artists and media personnel, according to an official from the state-run Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT).

The official, who is involved in the implementation process, told The Irrawaddy that Military Affairs Security (MAS), the regime's intelligence agency, arranged the phone interception plan and will implement it with technical assistance from MPT. A team consisting of more than 20 MAS members and an MPT engineer will be responsible for maintaining constant surveillance of the designated cell phones, but an operation base has not yet been chosen, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Apart from executive members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), the list of those whose calls will be listened in on reportedly includes some independent candidates and leaders from political parties that were newly formed to contest last year's election in November.

Others on the list include some of the junta's leading business cronies, such as Tay Za, Zaw Zaw, Htun Myint Naing, Chit Khaing and Nay Aung, along with more than 60 other businessmen, including MPs-elect Khin Shwe, Htay Myit, Win Myint and Ko Ko Gyi, all of whom contested the election as members of the regime's proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

Social activists and artists are also targeted, according to the official. HIV/AIDS activist Phyu Phyu Thin, writer Than Myint Aung and actor Kyaw Thu and his wife are reportedly on the list under the category of “social activists,” while movie directors Maung Myo Min, Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi and Cho Too Zaw and singers Anaga, Yan Yan Chan and Kyar Pauk, along with some other hip hop performers, are placed under the “artists” category.

High-profile media personnel are also on the MAS list, including Dr Than Htut Aung, the CEO of the Eleven Media Group; Dr. Nay Win Maung, the CEO of the Voice Weekly journal; Thaung Su Nyein, the editor-in-chief of the 7 Days news journal; Ko Ko, the editor-in-chief of the Yangon Times news journal; and foreign correspondents Aye Aye Win and Aung Hla Htun.

The MPT official said he thinks junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe directly ordered the MAS to carry out this plan, because a number of USDP MPs-elect are included on the list.

He said a similar program existed when Gen Khin Nyunt was the junta's military intelligence chief, but it was shut down after Khin Nyunt was purged in 2004 and his intelligence unit was dismantled.

“There were not many cell phones in Burma when the former intelligence unit was active, so they were easy to intercept. These days, however, there are so many phones in use, and people keep changing them all the time, so I doubt the interception plan will be successful,” said the MPT official.

The regime, which always keeps a close eye on the country's political opposition, often traces the telephone records of politicians and activists to find evidence to try and imprison them.

Soon after the monk-led protests in Burma in September 2007, also known as the Saffron Revolution, about 200 mobile phones belonging to politicians, journalists and students were blocked without explanation.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20457
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NLD Raises 20 Million Kyat for Social Projects
By SAI ZOM HSENG Tuesday, January 4, 2011

With the support of thousands of people, Burma's main democratic opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), raised about 20 million kyat (US $235,294) at a three-day fund-raising event for political prisoners and others in need, according to party sources.

The event, which took place at the NLD's Rangoon headquarters from Jan. 2 to 4, was the biggest the party has held in more than 20 years.

“We got about 10 million kyat ($117,647) in the first two days, and today, we sold another 10 million kyat or so worth of goods,” Yar Zar, a youth member of the NLD, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. “The party leaders will coordinate how best to use this money for social programs.”

The main items for sale at the event, which was billed as a trade fair, were postcards of pictures drawn by NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, calendars and pictures of Suu Kyi and her father, independence hero Gen Aung San, ethnic costumes and key chains made by NLD members.

“It was more like a donation event for political prisoners and the NLD's social programs than a trade fair,” said Yar Zar.

Aye Thar Aung, the secretary of the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament (CRPP), said the NLD held the same sort of fund-raising event before the 1990 election and used the proceeds to assist the needy.

“This time, Daw Suu and other senior NLD leaders like U Win Tin sold the presents they got from the people to help raise funds,” he said.

The event involved members from different NLD branches and groups, each of which set up separate stalls to sell different items.

“There was an NLD youth stall, NLD women's stall and the No. 54 stall led by Daw Suu,” said Yar Zar, referring to the number of Suu Kyi's home on University Avenue, where she recently ended seven years under house arrest.

A local resident who went to the event said, “There were thousands of people there, and almost all of them bought something. The most popular items were those with Aung San Suu Kyi’s pictures on them.”

“They sold everything for a fair price, so everybody could afford to buy something,” said a Rangoon-based journalist. “Pictures or photos of Aung San Suu Kyi and Gen Aung San are hard to find these days, so they sold very well.”

The proceeds from the event will be used to assist the families of political prisoners, people affected by natural disasters and HIV/AIDS patients.

The NLD is currently running three shelters for HIV/AIDS patients in Rangoon. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20461
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Junta warns of "covetous" countries, Suu Kyi thanks foreigners
Jan 4, 2011, 7:55 GMT

Yangon - Myanmar's junta on Tuesday used the independence day anniversary to warn of 'covetous' countries bent on controlling the nation while opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi took the occasion to thank her foreign supporters.

'It is not strange (that) certain covetous, aggressive countries are anxious to gain political control over a geographically strategic country like Myanmar,' military supremo Senior General Than Shwe said in a speech marking the 63rd anniversary of independence from Britain.

Meanwhile, recently freed democracy icon Suu Kyi used the same occasion to thank her supporters, including 'national leaders, political leaders, Nobel peace laureates, United Nations, European Union, international amnesty organizations, people from America and Europe and our nationals from home and abroad.'

Suu Kyi, the winner of the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize, was released from a seven and a half years of house detention on November 13, six days after the country held it first general election in two decades.

'Successful victory for democracy is a must,' Suu Kyi said in a New Year's message. 'Political freedom, economy freedom and social freedom are linked together,' she said. 'We need to unite together to achieve those freedoms.'

Than Shwe, junta chief since 1992, made no mention of political freedoms in his independence anniversary day speech.

Instead he argued that Myanmar, also called Burma, fell to Britain in three wars between 1824 to 1885 'due to a lack of a strong army.'

Now Myanmar has a strong army but a weak everything else.

Ranked as South-East Asia's biggest economy in the pre-World-War II era, Myanmar is now on the list of the United Nations' least developed countries.

The country has been under military rule since 1962, when former strongman General Ne Win launched his disastrous 'Burmese Way to Socialism.'

Mass anti-military protests in 1988 put an end to the socialist system, but failed to install democracy.

The military cracked down on the demonstrators, killing an estimated 3,000 protestors.

It allowed an election in 1990, but then refused to pass over power to the victor - the National League for Democracy party, headed by Suu Kyi.

Although the junta staged a new general election on November 7, international observers criticized it for being unfree, unfair and non-inclusive.

The polls were won by the pro-junta Union Solitary and Development Party, which is packed with ex-military men and current government ministers.

Than Shwe said the successful election was 'the pride of the nation and the people.'
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1609253.php/Junta-warns-of-covetous-countries-Suu-Kyi-thanks-foreigners
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Burma: The World’s Next North Korea
Wikileaks reveals the junta's quest for nukes.
January 4, 2011 - by Ryan Mauro

You can add another rogue state to the North Korean-Iranian-Syrian nuclear Axis of Evil: Burma. Cables released by WikiLeaks support the claims of Burmese defectors and opposition groups that the military junta is working hard to become a nuclear weapons state.

According to a November 2004 document, a senior Indian diplomat said that top Burmese officials had “wondered whether they would have to ‘go nuclear’ to get U.S. attention.” Other documents state that informants are reporting the movement of suspicious cargo. In 2009, a source in the government told the Australian ambassador that Burma cooperates with Russia for “software” training and North Korea for “hardware.”

One August 2004 cable, from the U.S. embassy in Rangoon, reports that a Burmese officer in an engineering unit mentioned an underground site about 300 miles northwest of the capitol, measuring about 500 feet from the bottom of its cave to the top of the hill above. He claims that about 300 North Korean technicians work at the site. The cable’s author doubts the truth of this number, and there are other reasons to doubt the officer’s testimony. He claims the North Koreans cannot leave the site and outsiders like him cannot enter — raising the question of how he saw the personnel.

But there is near-smoking gun evidence to substantiate reports of a Burmese nuke project. A major in the army, Sai Thein Win, has defected to the Democratic Voice of Burma, delivering into its hands hundreds of secret documents and photos. The materials reveal the construction of a huge network of underground facilities dating back to 1996 and costing at least $3.5 billion since 2001. This evidence is enough to convince Robert Kelley, a former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, that Burma’s junta is working on uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing capabilities with North Korean assistance.

The Strategic and Defence Studies Centre of Australia has published a study reaching the same conclusion. The authors interviewed two defectors who independently confirmed the building of a secret nuclear site, nearby the public site constructed with Russian aid. One defector testified to the presence of about 60 North Koreans at a secret site, which the authors describe as similar in design to the Syrian nuclear reactor destroyed by Israel in 2007.

The materials obtained by the Democratic Voice of Burma also show that a series of meetings took place in North Korea from the 22nd to the 29th of November in 2008 — meetings that included the Burmese military chief. One cable released by Wikileaks notes that a Burmese official mentioned the chief’s 2008 visit to North Korea in a slip of the tongue.

The organization has put together all the intelligence it has on Burma’s secret nuclear weapons program in the form of a documentary available to the public. For now, the junta is able only to mine uranium and produce yellowcake. One defector says that the regime hopes to be nuclear-capable by 2020. But the authors of the Australian study say Burma could go nuclear by 2014 in the absence of major problems. Rudimentary though it may be, the West should not dismiss Burma’s role in the nuclear Axis of Evil. The junta is in a position to fill one of the gaps in Iran’s nuclear effort. According to one defector, in February 2004 he met with an Iranian intelligence officer and nuclear scientist and received a sample of yellowcake. If this testimony is true, then Iran has already turned to Burma to help relieve its critical shortage of raw uranium.

Moreover, the UN has already confirmed that North Korea is shipping nuclear materials to Burma and using “links with overseas criminal networks to carry out these activities.” Next, corrupt Burmese officials might sell nuclear materials to criminals or terrorists. A September 2008 cable describes a Burmese civilian’s threat to U.S. diplomats to sell uranium-238 to Thailand, China, or other countries if the Americans themselves declined to buy. Claiming he already had 50 kg of Burmese uranium in a barrel, the civilian boasted that he could sell up to 2,000 kg. Another cable from January 2007 describes a suspected shipment of 112 metric tons of uranium ore to China by the Burmese government.

The West has no shortage of reasons to act against Burma’s nuclear program. Aside from the obvious danger of a nuclear-armed junta, the program could set off a regional arms race. Plus, Burma’s nuclear program can help other rogue states’ efforts. North Korea profits from its work for the junta. And corrupt Burmese officials can always sell off the nuclear technology they’ve acquired.

Burma has yet to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty’s “Additional Protocol” allowing more intrusive inspections. Former IAEA director Robert Kelley says that this activity exempts Burma from the IAEA’s Small Quantities Protocol, which permits countries with minimal nuclear material and no nuclear facilities to work without inspections. Shockingly, Kelley says the IAEA ­ as allowed under the Protocol ­ is actually training Burmese nuclear technicians.

Tackling Burmese proliferation is no small task. As a start, the U.S. and its allies should make the case that Burma does not qualify for the Small Quantities Protocol and begin applying pressure to force the junta to sign the Additional Protocol. If the junta’s members want U.S. attention, we should give it to them ­ and make them regret asking for it.
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/burma-the-worlds-next-north-korea/
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Anti-sanctions chorus out of tune
By Maung Zarni

BANGKOK - A chorus of international calls is on the rise to end the economic and financial sanctions Western countries led by the United States have maintained against Myanmar's military regime. Business lobbies and the global aid industry have jumped at November's rigged elections and the release of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest as a public relations opportunity to push their narrow objectives in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

I was once among the Burmese dissidents who in the 1990s helped to build an international campaign for sanctions against Myanmar's rights-abusing regime. A decade later, I publicly challenged what was then known as the pro-sanctions orthodoxy, particularly when it became apparent that Washington's blanket sanctions were about to kill off the country's fledging garment industry that employed a large number of ordinary workers.

Seven years on, I am speaking out against the new anti-sanctions lobby. The called-for policy shift overlooks the elephant in the room, namely the predatory and callous ruling military elite and the state organs they use as instruments for rent-seeking and repression. Western punitive measures, including economic sanctions and the denial of loans and development aid, are often held responsible for the economic misery and woe that envelop communities throughout Myanmar.

But the economic promise of the growing anti-sanctions lobby doesn't match the empirical realities on the ground. Like the sanctions regime of the previous decade, the lobby is waxing about morality and long-term strategy. Anti-sanctions advocates are promoting, either naively or self-servingly, foreign aid, trade and investment as a panacea for the country's ills while pinning hope on the emergence of a Burmese middle class who with economic clout will demand more political rights.

Arising mainly from autocratic or feudal political systems, Southeast Asia's middle classes lack the progressive potential for democratization and meaningful development, unlike the original bourgeois of the old Europe which brought down the feudal ruling elites and helped to democratize institutions of power and wealth. Bangkok's Thai middle class that greeted the "red shirt" grassroots movement with scorn and disdain and autocratic Singapore's well-fed and apolitical middle class spring to mind as apathetic examples.

The new anti-sanctions orthodoxy is pervasive among players with ties to foreign and local business interests and the global aid industry. This policy departure is also gaining resonance among free-market ideologues dressed up as Myanmar experts, Western media, diplomats and certain academics. They are joined by a growing contingent of experts in international affairs and strategic studies, especially in countries which have much to gain economically and strategically from normalizing relations with Myanmar's dictatorship.

However there is one major problem with the new anti-sanctions orthodoxy: its logic of gradual change through engagement, development aid and trade has no empirical basis in the history of meaningful social change from dictatorships in either the East or West. In fact, the emerging anti-sanctions consensus is dangerously ill-informed about the hard realities on the ground in today's Myanmar.

Specifically, the abstract idea of evolutionary change in Myanmar ignores the particular characteristics of the country's dictatorship that prevent investment from benefiting the masses. These traits include the feudal mindsets of the ruling senior and junior generals, the deeply structural nature of political and ethnic conflicts, an utter deficit of technocratic competence and concern for public welfare, and the lack of any real - as opposed to anticipated - potential for change through the emerging move towards "civilianized" military rule after November's rigged elections. (The new parliament is expected to be functioning by February.)

Some have argued that November's elections, which were won overwhelmingly by military-backed candidates, carry the seeds of evolutionary political change. These same advocates have also held up the military's unmistakably regressive constitution as something better than outright dictatorship, even though it brought about no change in the balance of institutional power in the post-election set up.

While the military has allowed for the trappings of a functioning democracy, including the creation of political parties, a parliamentary system with different houses and a nominal division of power, realistically there will be no room for serious reform initiatives or policies to be tabled, much less debated, within the new military-controlled parliament. Instead it will likely act as a pliant rubber stamp, as seen in Asia's other military-influenced "democracies".

Wishful thinking
The regime has permitted the country's largest pro-democracy political party, namely the National Democratic Front, made up of former National League for Democracy renegades, only token inclusion in its democratic politics through a mere 1.5% of seats in parliament. Its own Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), a landslide winner with almost 80% of the contested seats, on the other hand will have near total control of regional and national parliamentary houses.

It is important to understand that most of the regime's "civilianized" parliamentarians have spent decades as soldiers learning the art of climbing the military and bureaucratic ladders solely through their unquestioning loyalty and obedience to their superior officers by executing their orders, right or wrong. It is highly unlikely that these MP-elects (including ex-military officers, their cronies and other regime supporters) will think and act in a democratic and independent manner.

Some analysts have stated hopes that more junior generals, including those in their late 50s and early 60s, will be more open-minded and reform-oriented with the transition towards civilian rule. Yet it seems just as unlikely that senior ruling generals would willingly hand the reins of power to junior officers who think, feel and act significantly different from themselves.

To be sure, Myanmar's regime is not monolithic and individual generals have differences in ideas, approaches, and interests. But historic and empirical evidence shows that Myanmar's military officers have tended to act as a corporate entity in promoting its own interests, particularly in matters related to wealth distribution and political liberalization.

Anti-sanctions advocates also place too much responsibility on Western sanctions, specifically the denial of development aid and low levels of humanitarian assistance, for the sorry state of Myanmar's beleaguered and impoverished population. They often point to now upwardly mobile Cambodia and Laos, which both receive as much as 10 times more in foreign aid per capita than Myanmar, as a case for the benefits of bolstered aid flows.

And yet the same aid and trade advocates conveniently overlook the fact that Myanmar's ruling generals recently purchased from Russia a second squadron of state-of-the-art MiG-29 fighter-jets at the cost of nearly US$600 million. The purchase came just days after economist Joseph Stiglitz delivered his world-class economic advice to a group of junior generals in the regime's capital Naypyidaw, or the Abode of Kings, that their country's agricultural sector requires massive state investment. As the Burmese economist U Myint has observed, Myanmar's agri-based economic structure remains virtually unchanged since the 1930s - despite the fact the regime now earns billions of dollars annually in energy sales.

Others have pointed to China and Vietnam, where political freedoms and economic development are delinked, as possible development models for Myanmar to emulate. "Noble obligation" is a notion that has come to be associated with paternalistic ruling classes. The one-party autocracies in Beijing and Hanoi have made serious efforts to improve the material lot of their populations, even when they deprive them of any meaningful voice in the country's political and policy matters.

No such public obligation has yet been detected among Myanmar's military rulers, neither in normal times nor in times of crisis as witnessed in the regime's callous and incompetent response to the Cyclone Nargis disaster in 2008. The fact that less than 2% of the country's national budget is allocated to the combined fields of public health and education speaks to this lack of concern.

The latest Economist Intelligence Unit report on Myanmar observes, "In terms of fiscal policy, the government is likely to continue to focus on spending heavily on the military, and it will do little in the way of implementing policies to support households and businesses." The regime - and its predatory and increasingly feudalist state institutions - will thus remain the insurmountable obstacle to the trickle-down economic logic of the anti-sanctions lobby.

The anti-sanctions lobby does get one thing right, however. The unwavering backing of Myanmar's dictatorship by its Asian neighbors, including China, India and economically advanced members of the Association of South East Asian Nations, has rendered Western sanctions and boycotts ineffectual. That's prevented the punitive measures from having the impact they had in the successful fight against apartheid in South Africa.

As Timothy Garton Ash, professor of European Studies at Oxford University, pointed out in a recent live dialogue with pro-democracy icon Suu Kyi at the London School of Economics, the post-Cold War efforts at democratization across Eastern Europe succeeded partly because the external geopolitical and ideological environment was at the time conducive to internal struggles for democratization. Suu Kyi has until now backed the West's sanctions. But the unfolding tragedy in Myanmar is that the favorable external environment for organic democratization no longer exists.

To the contrary, Myanmar's opportunistic neighbors continue to treat the country as a brothel of cheap labor and source of natural resources. Indeed, several of these countries would find it against their interests for the military regime to be replaced with a truly democratic government, one that was responsive to its citizens' basic needs and livelihoods.

The emerging anti-sanctions lobby should be understood for what it is - the bald promotion of Western strategic and corporate interests. Ending sanctions now will only further entrench military rule, giving it a veneer of normalcy and acceptability, at the expense of Myanmar's long-suffering people and the country's equitable economic development.

Maung Zarni is a visiting senior fellow at Chulalongkorn University's Institute of Security and International Studies and a research fellow on Myanmar/Burma at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He may be reached at m.zarni@lse.ac.uk .
http://atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MA05Ae01.html
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THAI-BURMA BORDER
DKBA soldier holds a Thai hostage
By The Nation

A soldier of Burma's breakaway faction, armed with hand grenades, held a Thai hostage in Tak's Mae Sot district on Monday morning, demanding that Burma returned to Democracy.

The soldier was identified as Sorta Mini, of Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA and based in Poppra district of Tak province.

He seized Rote Laowan, a motorcycle taxi driver on Mae Sot-Mae Tao road in front of a UN High Commission for Refugees branch. He held two hand grenades whose pins were already removed.

He told police who rushed to the scene that he wanted to meet foreign journalists and UNHCR officials.

The Burmese demanded that Burmese military junta allow the country to return to democracy.

After a brief negotiation with police, he surrendered. He then wrote a note in English and gave it to reporters. It claimed that he was forced to be border protection soldier and that he did not recognise the result of the national election in 2010. The note also called for the United Nations to help Burma resume democratic system.

After the surrender, Sor Ta reportedly asked the UNHCR to give him refugee status. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/01/04/national/DKBA-soldier-holds-a-Thai-hostage-30145666.html
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Karen Solider Nabbed after Hostage Drama
UPDATE : 4 January 2011
An ethnic Karen fighter held a Thai motorcycle taxi driver in Tak province hostage to call for democracy in Myanmar before releasing him and getting arrested.

A soldier of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, later identified as Lance Corporal Tor Ma Nae, held a driver of a motorcycle taxi, Roj Laowan, in handcuffs outside the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Tak's Mae Sod district. The perpetrator had two unlatched grenades in his hand.

The incident prompted police officers to close down the road outside the building.

Tor Ma Nae urged the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to help push for democracy in Myanmar, given the severe abuse the Burmese government hands down on its people. He also cited the military regime's coercion of Karen ethnic militia to join its Border Guard Force.

Chief of Mae Sod district Kittisak Tomornsak, along with police and security agency officers, spent more than three hours convincing Tor Ma Nae to give up. He then handed over his grenades to authorities after a foreign corespondent wrote an article about his request.

The Karen solider also asked not to be repatriated back to Myanmar fearing he could face capital punishment there. He then was brought to the Mae Sod Police Station to face legal charges. http://www.thailandoutlook.tv/tan/ViewData.aspx?DataID=1039193
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Myanmar says 'aggressive countries' seeking influence
Agence France-Presse
Posted at 01/04/2011 6:47 PM | Updated as of 01/04/2011 6:47 PM

NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar - Myanmar on Tuesday urged its people to be on guard for efforts by "aggressive countries" to win political control of the nation, in a message to mark the 63rd anniversary of its independence.

"It is not strange certain covetous, aggressive countries are anxious to gain political control over a geographically strategic country like Myanmar," junta chief Senior General Than Shwe said in a statement read on his behalf.

"I would like to urge the entire people to guard the nation with political awareness against any forms of disruptions in order that the mother country's independence and sovereignty will never be under alien influence."

Military-ruled Myanmar held a widely criticised election in November, in which an army-backed party claimed an overwhelming victory.

The new parliament, which will elect a president, is expected to convene in late January. It is unclear what role Than Shwe plans for himself.

The regime typically uses the anniversary of the country's independence from Britain in 1948 to warn its people to remain vigilant against the dangers posed by other nations -- usually seen as a reference to the United States.

Washington last week called on the junta to free political prisoners and engage in dialogue to promote democracy.

The regime released opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest shortly after the November election, but about 2,200 other political prisoners remain imprisoned.

Suu Kyi, the daughter of Myanmar's assassinated independence hero General Aung San, has spent most of the past 20 years locked up. Her party won a landslide election victory in 1990 but it was never recognised by the regime.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/global-filipino/world/01/04/11/myanmar-says-aggressive-countries-seeking-influence
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Yawdserk: Junta targeting Thai border Wa
Tuesday, 04 January 2011 11:21 S.H.A.N.

Lt-Gen Yawdserk, leader of the non-ceasefire Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’, told SHAN yesterday the Burma Army is gearing up for a showdown with the United Wa State Army (UWSA)’s 171st Military Region on the Thai-Burma border.

“The recent setting up of a new command in Kholam is part of the ongoing preparations,” he said.

Kholam is located 105 miles (168km) east of Shan State capital Taunggyi, halfway between Namzang and Kunhing.

Until late last year, it was part of Namzang township. However, following the visit by Deputy Senior Gen Maung Aye late November, it and its surrounding areas had been carved out to become a new sub-township.

Irrawaddy reported earlier that a “Middle East Region Command”,with headquarters in Kholam, has been set up. “It is certainly a new military command,” said Yawdserk. “But there is as yet no confirmation that it’ll be a regional command separate from Taunggyi (where the Eastern Region Command is based).”

The Burma Army has so far established 3 regional commands in Shan State: the Northeastern with HQ in Lashio, the Eastern with HQ in Taunggyi and the Triangle with HQ in Kengtung.

While other Burma observers think the Burma Army’s latest move is aimed at the SSA North that has refused to become part and parcel of the Tatmadaw (National Armed Forces), Yawdserk thinks Maung Aye’s immediate objective is the UWSA’s 171st Military Region, which is some 200 miles (320km) apart from its main base in Panghsang on the Sino-Burma border. The Burma Army and its people’s militia units are active in between.

Maung Aye, the ruling junta’s #2 man, is long reported to have held a grudge against Kokang and Wa. The attack on Kokang last year was said to have been personally engineered by him.

“The offensive,” says Yawdserk, “may start anytime, even before a new government is formed.”

The 171st Military Region, with 5 under strength brigades, is nominally commanded by Wei Xuegang, wanted in both Thailand and the United States on drug charges. Border watchers earlier reported his archrival Wei Hsaitang, an experienced military commander, was down in the 171st, but the UWSA sources have rejected them. “If he went south, it was only a temporary visit.” said one late last month. “His permanent posting is with the 318th Brigade (guarding the border with Burma Army occupied Kokang).”

The 171st is already hemmed in by the Burma Army’s Triangle Region Command and Military Operations Commands #14 and 17, altogether some 50 infantry battalions.

Apart from the UWSA, the SSA South is also active along the Thai-Burma border areas, opposite Maehongson, Chiangmai and Chiangrai provinces.

China was reported to have warned Burma against waging war along the mutual border. Thailand, on the other hand, has no such agreement with Naypyitaw. http://www.shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3392:yawdserk-junta-targeting-thai-border-wa&catid=86:war&Itemid=284

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