New battalions have been despatched by the Burmese Army to the border opposite Chiangrai province, Thailand, prompting both Thai and Shan forces to keep an eye on further moves, reports S.H.A.N. correspondent Zerng Tai.

Around Loi Kawwan, Shan State Army’s easternmost base on the Thai-Burma border, the Burma Army had earlier stationed three battalions on a rotational basis. The current three are Infantry Battalion (IB) 244 from Kengtung and Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) 331 and 360 from Mongphyak and Mongpiang respectively. But three more battalions have arrived in the zone since November 27: IB 221 (Monghpyak) and LIBs 570 (Monghpyak) and 571 (Tarlerh).

The latest move by the Burma Army occurred a week after a whirlwind tour by Lt-Gen Kyaw Win, who oversees military operations in Shan and Kayah States .

This was in addition to previous reports on the movement of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) that currently has a ceasefire status with Burma’s ruling junta and has participated in the Burma Army’s operations against the SSA on several occasions.
On November 5, 2006 , a radio message intercepted by Burma watchers said the UWSA’s 171st Military Region commanded by Wei Hsuehkang, had trained 1,350 men in Mongjawd, opposite Chiangmai’s Chiangdao district.

Another UWSA unit, the 214th Brigade, recently renamed 414th, has taken over the security of the strategic Loi Htwe mountain, also opposite Chiangdao, thereby freeing the 171st to move further westward and reinforce its forces around the SSA’s main base, Loi Taileng, opposite Maehongson.

Signboards bearing the name ‘Hongpang’, the UWSA’s business firm, that had disappeared since the 496-kilogram heroin seizure in Mongpiang last year, have returned this month further deepening suspicions that the UWSA and the Burma Army have reached some sort of rapprochement.

One UWSA official in Panghsang, the Wa capital on the Sino-Burma border, has however dismissed the likelihood of a joint Burma Army-UWSA operation against the SSA “at least in the foreseeable future”. He nevertheless acknowledges the presence of more Wa troops on the Thai border.

“Many Wa families (who have been there since the 1999-2001 relocations) want to return to the north,” he explained. “We are just trying to head it off by an expanded rubber plantation project along the Thai-Burma border.”

The UWSA, with assistance from China, has been launching a region wide rubber plantation project, he added. The Chinese had also recently donated 10,000 tons of rice to make up for the losses suffered by Wa farmers when they were forced to quit their centuries-old poppy cultivation last year.