Kokang source: Struggle continues

A source from the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), better known as the Kokang army, says his group is still fighting in southern Kokang bordering with its Wa ally.

The down-sized armed group is led by Peng Daxun, Peng Jiasheng’s son. “He is still very active in the area stretching from Kunlong to Qingsuihe,” he says. “Proof? What more proof do you need when the Burma Army hasn’t been able to evacuate over 100 aid workers and their family members out of Laogai yesterday.”

The road from Laogai passes through Qingsuihe in the southeast and goes westward to Kunlong

The said aid workers are from World Food Program (WFP), JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and several NGOs, he says.

His report has yet to be confirmed independently.

In the meanwhile, about 4,000 refugees have returned home on Monday, 31 August, reported AP. “The border situation is returning to normal,” agencies report China’s Public Security Ministry as saying.

On the same day, some senior Burmese officers were reported to be visiting Mongla. “They explained to us that what happened in Kokang was an internal affair, where the Burma Army had tried in vain to mediate,” a source close to Mongla, one of Kokang’s principal ally, quoted an officer as saying, “ Of course, they think we’re stupid.”

The junta officers, coming from Kengtung, 80 km southwest of Mongla and the capital of Shan State East, also inquired about their 3 officers believed to be missing in the Hsaleu territory under the control of Mongla. The three were said to be from Infantry Battalion 279 based in Mongyang, near Hsaleu, where Mongla’s 369th Brigade is headquartered. “Only one of them, a sergeant returned,” according to the Burmese officers.

Mongla had earlier deported more than 470 Burmans suspected of spying.

The National Democratic Alliance Army – Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS), as the Mongla group calls itself, believes it is next on the Burma Army’s hit list after Kokang. The group’s leader Sai Leun aka Lin Mingxian is Kokang supreme leader Peng Jiasheng’s son-in-law.

The United Wa State Army (UWSA), wedged between Kokang in the north and Mongla in the south, might be the next to go, according to some analysts.

However, Sao Yawdserk, leader of anti-Naypyitaw Shan State Army (SSA) South, saw it differently. During an interview with Thai PBS Television yesterday, he said he believed No. 1 on the list would be Mongla followed by Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and UWSA. “We (the SSA) will be the last,” he told Thai PBS.

shanland