Rangoon bargains with Wa

Rangoon bargains with Wa: military cooperation for drug exoneration 

Drugs

Following last months's two clashes between Thai and Wa forces that netted a million speed pills and 12 Wa dead by Thai authorities, Panghsang is holding another meeting to consider Rangoon's proposal for a military alliance in exchange for its continued defense of the latter over drug charges, according to two separate sources. 

The first source, speaking from the Wa capital, confirmed the emergency meeting but declined to give details on the phone. The second source, a Shan businessman close to the Wa, said the meeting was the result of the Thai ambush on 20 August in Chiangmai's Mae Ai opposite the Wa's Mongyawn. 

Rangoon had immediately retorted that several groups were operating in the area but Thailand was bent on attaching the blame only on the Wa. Later, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra disclosed he had received a message from Gen Khin Nyunt Burma had arrested "a Wa drug producer of the Kokang tribe" in connection with the 20 August incident. Third Army commander Lt-Gen Picharnmet Muangmanee, confirming the news, added that the Wa leader had already punished the culprits, according to Bangkok Post, 24 August 2003. 

"Soon after the news of the clash broke," said the businessman, "Xiao Haw, who is based in Rangoon, was summoned by the MI (Military Intelligence). He was instructed to invite an authorized official from Panghsang for an urgent meeting in Rangoon. In response, Bao Youliang was dispatched to the capital." 

Xiao Haw is the son-in-law of Bao Youxiang, the Wa supreme leader. (He married Bao's third daughter). Bao Youliang, Mayor of Mongmau (Mongmai) is his younger brother. 

An emergency conference was called later to discuss Gen Khin Nyunt's proposal, the details of which the source was unable to uncover. 

"However, as the operation is reportedly due to start after monsoons, I believe Rangoon is planning another attack against Yawdserk's Shan State Army," he said. 

The Wa were said to have resolved not to wage another war against Yawdserk, following the one-month operation against him last year in cooperation with the Burma Army. "The Wa thought they were to fight against foreign invasion", a Wa source to S.H.A.N. earlier. "It turned out to their chagrin that they were fighting against Shans instead. Zao Nyi-lai (Bao's predecessor who is still widely respected) had raised tantrums when the Wa expeditionary force returned from the Thai border." 

Even so, the Wa were not too overly happy about the SSA. "They believe that it was Yawdserk who had been furnishing reports about their drug activities to the American and Thai authorities," he said. 

9 dead Wa and 500,000 methamphetamine pills were captured on 20 August and another 3 dead Wa and additional 500,000 pills were nabbed four days later in Chiangmai. The incidents had soured the relations between the two countries.