As tensions surge between the Burma Army and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) due to the former’s continued military campaigns against the latter’s allies, Naypyitaw is sending one of its top negotiators to the Wa capital Panghsang on the Sino-Burmese border today, according to sources on the border.


The visit there by U Thein Zaw, Vice Chairman # 3 of the Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC) follows his call on Mongla, the headquarters of the National Democratic Alliance army (NDAA), that shares border with the UWSA on its southeast flank yesterday.

The Burma Army has been launching a campaign against its other allies the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Ta-ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Shan State Army (SSA) along its western flank.

“We don’t know what he will discuss with Panghsang,” a senior official from Mongla told SHAN. “But with us it was about the 2014 census taking. We have assured them of our cooperation.”

U Thein Zaw arrived at 11:00 in a helicopter and left at 14:00 after lunch. “He also inquired about our ongoing development projects in the area,” the official added. “We gave him a full report.”

The last meeting between the Wa and Naypyitaw was on 20 March in Lashio, where the Wa representative Xiao Hsarm Khun was informed by U Aung Min, UPWC Vice Chairman # 2, that the Wa call for a separate statehood could be decided only by the Union legislature.