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An:	BURMANET, Internet:reg.burma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
CC:	Yawnghwe, Yawnghwe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
	Sao Hso Khan Fa Yawnghwe, Internet: Yawnghwe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Antwort:	S.H.A.N : SITUATION IN SHAN STATE

S.H.A.N : SITUATION IN SHAN STATE
22 March, 1997

Many people thought Khun Sa's surrender on January 7, 1996 had rung the death -
knell for the Shan nationalism, forgetting that the Shan struggle did not start
with Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army, better known as the Shanland United Army.

The fact is that as long as a considerable number of Shan still believe Shanland
and Burma are separate entities, bound together in the first place by the
Panglong Agreement in 1947, and later by the Burmese military under which life
is a living hell, it would be premature to predict the end of the Shan cause.

That was why soon after the MTA's collapse, a group of hitherto relatively
unknown youth joined hands together to continue the struggle. And although their
estimated strength is less than one - tenth of Khun Sa's once mighty MTA  (
conservative estimate : 23,000 - 28,000 ), it has given so much headache to the
Burmese commanders that, as one of them jokes dryly, we are becoming addicted to
aspirin.

On the other new development in the Shans' favour was that all the different
groups are coming closer together despite SLORC attempts to keep them divided.
On February 23, 1996, seventeen days after Khun Sa's surrender, the two
ceasefire groups namely  the Shan State Army (SSA ) , estimated strength : 3,500
and the Shan State National Army ( SSNA ), estimate strength : 4,000 , led by
Karnyord, whose mutiny on June 6, 1995 broke the back bone of the MTA, and
consequently , the determination of Khun Sa, formed the Shan State Peace -
keeping Committee ( SSPC ). Late in the year, the alliance was reinforced by
membership from the new SURA led by Karnyord's boyhood friend Yordserk. It was
then renamed the Shan State National Organisation ( SSNO ). It also vowed to
stick together in spite of SLORC's demand to dismantle it.

1996 also saw the Shans abroad moving closer together. It was a crucial matter
because with the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy ( SNLD ), the largest
party in Shan State, having no voice outside the so called National Convention
and the Shan armed resistance movement being cut off from Thailand, the
traditional gateway to international media and relations, the need for a setup
that shall speak for the Shans in general had increased. The founding of the
Shan Democratic Union ( SDU ) on November 16, 1996 by key member of the
Chiangmai - based Shan State Organisation and the Bangkok - based Tai Union
seemed to be the appropriate answer to their call.

As for the SNLD itself, there has been several accusations from the pro -
democracy quarters that it took
 " bribes " , in the form of business concessions, from SLORC in order to
continue participation in the on - and - off going National Convention. No
official denial has come forth from the SNLD so far. However, insiders said it
was the SNLD, and not even NLD, that had so far spearheaded the counter -
offensive campaign against SLORC on the latter's own grounds i.e. the National
Convention. It would continue to stand by its own announced principles when the
NC reconvened. Unlike the NLD, which has access to foreign powers and media
although out of the NC, the SNLD enjoys neither and seems set to make up for its
handicaps by making the best of a bad situation. And that does not mean, as they
vehemently maintain, they shall knuckle under SLORC's dictates. The SNLD seems
to be pushing home this point when in last December, they made a formal protest
to the General Than Shwe, chairman of the SLORC, that one of its elected
members, Sai Soe Nyunt, had been detained, beaten up and forced to sign his
resignation from the party by a SLORC officer.

However,as the National Convention is to be adjourned indefinitely until such
time when SLORC feels ready, then what shall the SNLD choose to do?  That is the
question that now rests heavily on its shoulder. Nevertheless S.H.A.N thinks it
is better for the opposition to talk things over with the Shan party instead of
directing accusations at its leaders.

1997 hopefully will see the Shans getting closer than they were in 1996. S.H.A.N
thinks it will bring a tremendous boost for the cause of Democracy as a whole
and the people of Shan State in particular. What it needs from the rest of the
world is to facilitate the trend and not to fear it.

*****