Border Guard Deadline Passes Without Agreement

The Burmese regime’s deadline for 17 cease-fire militia groups to accept the transformation of their troops into junta-controlled border guard forces passed on October 31 with a few militias accepting the order and stronger ones, such as United Wa State Army (UWSA) and Kachin Independent Organization (KIO), rejecting it.

Instead of opting for a military solution, the junta will likely focus on negotiations to persuade recalcitrant militias to accept the order, observers said.

According to Kachin sources, KIO Vice Chairman Gauri Zau Seng, KIA Vice Chief of Staff Gen Gun Maw and others are expected to meet with the junta's Northern Command in Myitkyina during the first week of November to discuss the latest proposal.

Ma Grang, a Kachin source on the Sino-Burma border, said KIO leaders will meet with Burmese authorities after they sent a letter in October demanding an agreement based on the spirit of the Panglong Agreement made with the Burmese government in 1947.

The Panglong Agreement, a one-page document, states the central government will not “operate in respect to the Frontier Areas in any matter which would deprive any portion of those areas of the autonomy which it now enjoys in internal administration.” 

Kachin sources also said the internal autonomy promised to outlying ethnic areas has never been fully realized. 

Junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe was reportedly very angry with the KIO letter, saying Kachin leaders did not understand the spirit of the Panglong Agreement, Ma Grang said.

The KIO leaders also said they wish to discuss whether its militia will become a border guard force or a Kachin Regional Guard Force with the new government after the 2010 election, he said. 

Aung Kyaw Zaw, a former Communist and expert on issues along the Sino-Burma border said the Wa will continue negotiations.

A UWSA officer in the Wa capital Panghsang said, “the deadline is over but we have not reached agreement with the Burmese regime and will continue to negotiate.”

He said Wa leaders will hold talks about the border guard force issue with Lt-Gen Ye Myint, head of the junta’s Military Affairs Security, this month.

Though pressures on the UWSA have increased, major fighting seems unlikely at present.

A Wa official said Wa leaders meeting with a Burmese delegation led by the Commander of the Lashio-based Northeastern Region Command, Maj-Gen Aung Than Htut, in October demanded autonomy. 

“Aung Than Htut said he will submit the request to his superiors,” he said.  

Other ceasefire militias that rejected the border guard force order or remain undecided are the Shan State Army-North, the New Mon State Party, the National Democratic Alliance Army known as the Mongla militia, and the KNU/KNLA Peace Council.

The Mongla militia reportedly said they will hold talks with its military allies the UWSA before making a final decision over the border guard force order.

Mongla delegates who met with Lt-Gen Ye Myint on Oct 28 accepted the regime’s border guard force plan in principle, but they opposed a proposal to assign 30 junta military officials to each battalion, deployment of Burmese army battalions and staff in the Mongla region or any sudden changes to the Mongla region’s administration.

However, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and several small militias such as the New Democratic Army-Kachin, the Kachin Defense Army, the Karenni National People’s Liberation Front and the Karen Peace Force have agreed to serve as border guard forces.    

A source close to the DKBA said they reportedly signed an agreement with the regime to serve as a junta dominated border guard force before the deadline.

Since then DKBA troops have been cleaning up Karen National Liberation Army bases on the Thai-Burmese border, said the source. 

Recently, some 700 DKBA troops were sent to KNLA Brigade 5 in Papun district and Brigade 3 in northern Karen State. The troops have seized several KNLA outposts since the deployment, the DKBA source said.