In the southern Shan State, fierce fighting between the Shan State Army and Burmese Army military units, augmented by Wa proxies, is being reported. The Irrawaddy has a solid overview of events.
This fighting is occuring in areas not far from the Thai border - close to both Mae Sai and Tachilek. I imagine The Irrawaddy will continue to update their coverage of what is but the latest episode in decades of skirmishes and pitched battles.
In one style of interpretation, this is just another classic “dry-season offensive“.
Given the sometimes problematic delineation between the relevant areas of Chiang Rai’s Mae Fah Luang district, and adjacent parts of the Shan State - and the chaotic nature of these battles - there is always a chance that fighting will spill into Thailand. This is one reason that Western governments still discourage their citizens from travelling to most places along the Thai-Burma border.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Johpa // Dec 14, 2006 at 7:41 am
Spill over can occur in both directions. Back in 1983 I sat atop a hill north of Fang, in Amphoe Thaton, and watched Thai planes bomb lord knows what across the border due north of a rather notorious Lisu village within Thai territory. Supposedlly, I read in FEER many months later, they were bombing some outpost of Khun Sa, although Khun Sa’s equally notorious partner (also notorious for selling anthropologist E.C. a load of BS…….you grad students need to be wary of hanging out with the village headman) at said Lisu village, stayed happily in business for many more years.
Later there was the dog and pony show at Doi Lang back in the late 1980s, also in Amphoe Fang, which methinks was orchestrated solely for the benefit of the US State Department. Despite the rather orchestrated nature of the conflict which allowed Khun Sa to move further westwards to his newer headquarters, the Royal Thai Air Force somehow found a way to lose two small planes, pilot error perhaps. The worst spill over occured to the small KMT villages west of Fang where many people had never been provided Thai citizenship and alledged abuses of those villagers by Thai soldiers, mostly abuse of women, were whispered about at the time.
In the early 1990s, over west towards Mae Sot and Mae Hong Song, the Thais (Chalawit) allowed his business partners, the Burmese, to move their military forces through Thai territory, a clear violation of soverignty, and attack Karen refugee bases inside Thailand from the east. I believe Lintner wrote about this in FEER at the time.
Nicholas gives links above to more recent spillage around Mae Sai.
2 aiontay // Dec 14, 2006 at 9:05 am
Sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s I also remember hearing of the Thais allowing the Burmese military to cross the Thai border to attack a Karen position at 3 Pagodas Pass. On the other hand, I heard of Karens being allowed to do the same futher north. I think it all sort of depended on how business was going.
Leave a Comment
Please note: New Mandala encourages vigorous debate. However, for the moment we will only be publishing high-quality comments that make original contributions to discussion. There will, of course, still be space for pithy, humorous, eccentric and cheeky input. Short and sweet will usually trump long and involved. Repetitive ranting, unimaginative point-scoring and idle abuse will not be entertained. Comments which carry a real name are also more likely to be approved. Thank you for your ongoing interest and contributions.