Shan rebels spurn Rangoon

Shan rebels spurn Rangoon's press meet a farce 

Shan State Army officers of Col Yawdserk quickly treated accusations made by Rangoon authorities at the press conference on Thursday (21 March) of Thai Army involvement in last year's Shan rebel assault on a Burmese border stronghold that reportedly netted nearly 200,000 speed pills as a complete joke.

"I don't know why they had to hold a press conference after all these months," said Lt. Col. Awng Kham, whose troops formed part of the combined assault force that took Parkhee Base in Mongton Township, opposite Fang District of Chiangmai Province, on 22 April 2001, "but all of us can guarantee that the three deserters they put on show were not from my unit (HQ Special Security Force). And if the two among them really were what they claimed to be, a company commander and a platoon commander during the battle, I would have recognized them anyplace."

Lt-Col. Khun Jaw of the SSA's 241st Brigade, whose troops also participated in the battle, rejected likewise there were any desertions from his unit.

The three Shans who were present at Thursday's press conference were, according to Rangoon's spokesman, Maj Gen Kyaw Win, Platoon Commander Aik Maung, Company commander Kuan Khan and Private. Sain Pi. "Granted that the guys were from the SSA, they could have added which units they were serving with also," pointed out Khun Jaw, who said Brigade 757 that Kuan Khan was supposed to be from was operating only west of the Salween and nowhere near Pakhee during the battle.

Maj Gen Kyaw Win told the 45-minute-long press meeting that the three had testified the Thai army was behind the SSA's successful storming of Pakhee and that the speed pills were brought in by the attackers in order to portray the Burma army in a bad light.

"The drug seizure wasn't a concoction," insisted Khun Jaw laughingly. "And we certainly did not arrive at the battlefield on Thai military trucks but on our own sore feet, fuelled by cooked rice."

Lt-Col Kawnzuen, Commander of the Kengtung Force, explained earlier to S.H.A.N. that the Thai policy towards the SSA was "not of support but of tolerance" because of the latter's anti-narcotics stand.

Another officer, Maj Khiaofah of Khunsang Tonhoong Column, was not available for comment. Both the two interviewees maintained there wasn't another Shan commander at Pakhee except for Col Yawdserk, Commander-in-Chief of the SSA. According to Rangoon, the insurgent troops numbering about 250 were led by "Kun Khaon, Sain Aung Kan, Kun Kyaw and Cho pa."

The Battle of Pakhee, 22 April-3 May, brought Rangoon and Bangkok into a military confrontation that ended only after a landmark visit by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra later in June.

Update
27 October

Source from Monghta confirms that the three men deserted from Pakhee "but only to the Wa in Hwe Aw (Mongton Townships) and not to the Burmese". They were "borrowed" by Rangoon for the press conference and returned to the Wa later.

All of them plus another deserter Sai Pan were sent to the Pang Maisoong front with Captain Yipao, Wa's public relations officer. 

On 11 June 2002, Sai Pan, "full of regret that he had become a tool for Burmese propaganda against his own people", shot Yipao, a Wa soldier and Kawnkham, wounded some others and committed suicide. The source did not know what became of Sai Pi and Sai Mawng afterwards.