The recall to all government and NGO staff from UWSA and NDAA areas came earlier this week and staff began leaving on Friday. While the real reason for the recall remains unclear, senior officials told staff that the recall was related to the election, according to local sources.
UWSA troops on patrol in Shan State.
The latest recall is the second by Naypyidaw this year. In March, government staff left ethnic towns when tension between ethnic groups and the junta increased over the April 2009 Border Guard Force (BGF) plan to put all ethnic militia troops under the command of the military government's army.
Several hundred government and NGO staff have been working on government and development projects in areas controlled by the armed ethnic cease-fire groups following a cease-fire agreement in 1989 between the former communist insurgent troops and the military regime.
The latest talks between junta officials and the ethnic groups was in August, when junta officials including Lt-Gen Ye Myint, who was the then chief of the Military Affairs Security, told the ethnic groups to accept the BGF plan by September and cooperate with officials from the election commission when they travel in the area to prepare the poll.
The UWSA and its allies have rejected the BGF plan and poll officials have yet to travel to the ethnic areas.
The UWSA, the biggest ethnic armed group with an estimate 30,000 troops, and the NDAA are in an alliance with other significant armed groups in Burma such as the Kachin Independence Organization(KIO) in northern Burma, the Shan State Army (SSA-North) and the New Mon State Party in southern Burma, which have all rejected the BGF plan.
As former Burmese communist troops, the UWSA and NDAA were trained by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). After the ceasefire, Chinese businessmen invested in multi-million dollar projects in ethnic areas and many Chinese migrated there.
The Wa’s other ally, the PLA-trained Kokang Army or the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) was overrun in a pre-emptive strike by government troops in August 2009 when the group rejected the BGF plan.
The trouble sparked a regional crisis as 37,000 Kokang-Chinese refugees fled across the border into China. Beijing then called on Naypyidaw to resolve the issue peacefully and maintain stability in the area.
Meanwhile, junta supremo Snr-Gen Than Shwe is to make a four-day visit to China starting on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said on Thursday. Than Shwe will meet Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing before he flies to the 2010 Shanghai Expo.
Than Shwe is expected to discuss stability along the Sino-Burmese border in relation to the BGF, security concerns of Chinese citizens in the country and the November election with the Chinese leaders. He is likely to bring his newly appointed military hierarchy from the recent reshuffle to introduce them to the Chinese leaders, who are Burma's closest allies.
Jiang Yu said the two countries will review the development of bilateral ties and inform each other of domestic concerns and development strategies plus common international and regional concerns during Than Shwe’s trip.
Commenting on Burma's November election, she said that peace, stability and progress in Burma is in the interests of the Burmese people and conducive to regional peace and prosperity, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
“China hopes to see the election proceed smoothly and the
