The United Wa State Army (UWSA) said in a statement on Wednesday that it had no plan to attack Kengtung in eastern Shan State, where the Myanmar military’s Triangle Region Command is based.
Rumors have been swirling since last week that Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic army would attempt to seize Kengtung after it assumed control of Hopang and Panlong towns in northern Shan State earlier this month.
To squash the rumors, the UWSA released a statement on Wednesday saying it would maintain its truce with the Myanmar government, pledging neutrality in ongoing armed conflicts and vowing not to intervene in any way. UWSA liaison officer Nyi Rang confirmed the statement.
After splitting from the Communist Party of Burma, the UWSA signed a ceasefire in 1989 with the then military regime known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council.
Following China-brokered talks on Jan. 10-11 in Kunming, the regime and the Brotherhood Alliance of three ethnic armies—the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Arakan Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army—agreed a temporary ceasefire in northern Shan State. The UWSA said in its statement it hoped all of the ethnic armed groups would observe the ceasefire.
The UWSA has provided shelter for civilians displaced by fighting since the Brotherhood Alliance launched Operation 1027 in late October in northern Shan. It has also facilitated the return of junta soldiers who surrendered to the Brotherhood Alliance, as well as civilians, to their battalions and homes through its territory.
Both former president ex-general Thein Sein and current junta chief Min Aung Hlaing have served as Triangle Region Command chief. The current commander is Major General Aung Khine Win.
The UWSA refers to the approximately 1,500-sq-km area comprising Mongmao, Monglin and Mongpauk districts plus Panghsang Special Township as “northern Wa State”. During the 1990s, the ethnic army expanded its territory to include Monghsat District on the border with Thailand in southern Shan State, with the agreement of the then junta. The UWSA refers to the district as “southern Wa State”.
Panghsang (also known as Pangkham) is home to the UWSA’s headquarters. Kengtung is located between Panghsang and Monghsat District.
The UWSA has demanded official statehood for Wa State, and the regime has agreed in principle to grant it.
Despite the UWSA’s promise not to get involved in the ongoing armed conflicts in northern Shan, it accepted control of Hopang and Panlong from its political ally, the Brotherhood Alliance.
The two towns were seized by the alliance on Jan. 5 following the surrender of over 700 junta troops. The alliance subsequently handed control of the two towns to the UWSA.
The UWSA announced the handover in an earlier statement.
