Col Sai Yi: Ceasefire pact torn down by Rangoon

Politics

Col Sai Yi: Ceasefire pact torn down by Rangoon

The Shan leader whose two brigade commanders have most recently been forced to surrender compelling him thereby to resume armed struggle against Rangoon after almost a decade long truce said Rangoon has to blame itself for the current state of affairs.

"Friends don't turn against each other that way" the 48-year old Col Sai Yi, whose arrival at the stronghold of the Shan State Army South opposite Maehongson has stirred attention from friends and foes alike, said. "It wasn't us who had thrown the ceasefire agreement overboard."

Out of his Shan State National Army's 5 brigades, two had "exchanged arms for peace", according to Rangoon's jargon meaning "surrender", the Eleventh on 12 April and the Nineteenth on 20 May.

"Both commanders, Lt-Col Ganna of the Eleventh and Lt-Col Koongkhurh of the Nineteenth had been forced to surrender against their own will," he said. "Now they have dispatched a 40-men delegation, including some monks, to persuade Khaymar (of the Sixth) to follow suit."

Its three remaining brigades still resisting Rangoon's current campaign forcing ceasefire groups into submission are the Sixth, the Ninth and the Sixteenth, all in northern Shan State.

Another group that had surrendered is the Palaung State Liberation Army on 29 April.

13 Ceasefire groups, including the SSNA and PSLA, had proposed a genuine federal union at the military-organized National Convention. This had led to the crackdown on the Shan party of Hkun Htun Oo and the Shan ceasefire leader Maj Gen Hso Ten in February.

"If a federal arrangement is unacceptable to the Burmese military, we have no choice but to fight for Independence," Sai Yi reportedly told BBC.

The SSNA had concluded its ceasefire pact with Rangoon on 11 June 1995. Its late leader Col Gunyawd, who died last year, had been most active in inter-ceasefire group relations.

Sai Yi's future role is as yet undecided. "There should be no doubt that the SSNA and the SSA (of Col Yawdserk) have become one," he said. "But I have just got back and I need some time to get my bearings".