Leaders of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) held meetings with Burma Army commanders led by Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing on Saturday, 6 October, to discuss cooperation against drugs, according to reports from the Sino-Burmese border.

Although details were not known, both the UWSA and NDAA had already signed Union level agreements in October 2011 for “drug elimination tasks in cooperation with the government.”

The Burma Army chief, Vice Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, was accompanied by regional army commanders from Kengtung, Lashio and Kholam. He met the Wa delegation led by Vice President Xiao Minliang, accompanied by Zhao Guo-an, Li Zhulieh and Sai Hsarm at 12:30 and the Mongla delegation led by President Sai Leun and Vice President Hsan Perh at 14:00.

The meetings with Wa and Mongla followed a day after military appointed home minister Lt-Gen Ko Ko announced that the 15 year master plan to eliminate drugs scheduled to end in 2014 had been extended to 2019.

SHAN, in its annual Shan Drug Watch report on 26 June, had recommended that a political settlement would be the key to a win-win solution in the war against drugs in Burma, particularly in Shan State, where no major players can claim innocence.

The UWSA’s 171st Military Region is calling an ad hoc meeting today at Hwe Aw, opposite Chiangmai’s Chiangdao district. The Shan State Army (SSA) South has been invited to send a representative to participate, said an SSA source. He said the meeting was to discuss crop substitution programs.

The SSA had presented a six-year program to eradicate drugs to Naypyitaw on 19 May at the second Union-level meeting in Kengtung.

Meanwhile, an unconfirmed report says the Army has instructed its units and the Army-run People’s Militia Forces (PMFs) “to keep their hands clean” from drugs. They have also been told to conduct a survey of why and how farmers are involved in opium cultivation and production.