Wa Internal Fighting Looming

Wa Internal Fighting Looming

Reports coming from several sources lately indicate that internal strife among the United Wa State Army is mounting although details are still scanty.

Units under Wei Xuegang, Commander of Division 171 and wellknown druglord, and those under Wei Hsaitang, another divisional commander, had clashed in Monghsat on 22 June, said a source. "Talks between the two in the aftermath came to no avail," he said. 

"Ta Rang aka Pao Yuyi, the political commissar in Southern Wa region (i.e. Mongton and Monghsat), hence the immediate superior of both Wei's could do nothing to mediate between the two sides."

The result of this was that Panghsang, the Wa's capital near the Chinese border, had to immediately dispatch a force down south "to keep the peace".

One of the reasons for their dispute was reported to be the "too chummy" relations between Wei Xuegang and Gen Khin Nyunt. "Agreements such as the upgrading of the Mongton-Homong road were done between Wei and the general, bypassing even the southern Wa command let alone Panghsang," said the source.

Wei Xuegang's Division 171 originally came from the ex-Kuomintang Wa troops that guarded the Thai's northern border during the cold war. He merged with the United Wa State Army when it was formed soon after the mutiny against the Communist Party of Burma in 1989.