Ceasefire group defies junta over land grab

by admin — last modified 2008-01-25 05:54

The Mongla ceasefire group in Shan State East has for 2 months been on a collision course with a Burma Army commander over the latter’s seizure of a 16-acre woodland belonging to local villagers, according to ceasefire sources.The said woodland between the two villages: Kawnghsarng and Wanyang in Mongyang township, inside the territory claimed by Mongla, was taken by Infantry Battalion 281 based in Mongyang on 22 November, according to the report received by SHAN. The battalion commander Nyan Myint Kyaw then had the area cordoned off by erecting 4 concrete boundary posts.

Angry villagers, after hearing that the commander had been planning to sell the woodland to a Chinese businesswoman from Hopong township, Taunggyi district, reportedly smashed three of the posts to pieces.

“Since then the two sides have been locked in a stalemate,” said the ceasefire source who requested anonymity, “with Nyan Myint Kyaw demanding that Brigade 369 (one of the 3 brigades under Sai Leun, leader of Mongla-based National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State, designated as Special Region #4 by Burma’s ruling military council) surrender the post smashers and the 369 demanding that the Army return the woodland back to the villagers.”

From then on, no villagers from the two villages are seen visiting the township seat, 64 miles northeast of Shan State East capital Kengtung, fearing they would be detained and ransomed in exchange for those responsible for the destruction of the boundary posts set up by the army.

Mongla, together with its closest allies, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and Kokang, are also under pressure from Pyinmana, the junta’s new capital, to surrender. The three had further infuriated the generals when they refused to sign a junta-prepared statement denouncing the country’s detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi in November.
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