Ethnic rebel forces pose a challenge to Suu Kyi

Yawd Serk, who leads the 6,000-strong Shan State Army-South (SSA-S), recently addressed about a 100 of them saying, “Stop shooting and come to the negotiation table.” “Whether it is trustworthy or not, we should grab the chance to talk,” he said. But although Yawd Serk signed a government-brokered ceasefire deal last October, in a much-needed boost to the peace process of outgoing President Thein Sein, over the winter some of his troops have been fighting another ethnic group for control of remote swathes of eastern Myanmar. 

That a contingent of Yawd Serk’s soldiers could travel unchallenged some 300 km north to fight the Ta’ang National Liberation Army near the border with China shows how little control Suu Kyi’s government will have over Myanmar’s wild hinterlands at the start of its five-year term on April 1. It also highlights the shifting loyalties and complexities that have made peace so elusive in the ethnic conflicts that have plagued the former Burma since World War Two. 

The SSA-S leader was speaking as thousands of Shan from Myanmar and Thailand flooded his windswept headquarters at Loi Tai Leng, perched on a ridge a few hundred metres from the Thai border, last Sunday to mark Shan National Day. 

Yawd Serk has courted international businesses since signing the ceasefire and recently joined a study trip to Switzerland. He is not willing to lay down his arms, however, or give up influence over a region rich in gold, timber and gemstones. “Disarming is impossible,” said Yawd Serk, flanked by a heavily armed security detail including a man who said he was a former member of US special forces.