Muang Tai Army
The Muang Tai Army , also spelled Mong Tai Army , is a former resistance movement of the Shan minority in Myanmar (Burma). On the one hand, "Tai" is the Shan's self-designation, on the other hand it means "free" in their language, "Muang" can be translated as "country" or "state". The Muang Tai Army, with up to 20,000 armed supporters, was one of the largest movements that fought the central government of Myanmar. It has often been associated with the production and distribution of drugs, particularly opium and heroin .
history
The history of the Mong Tai Army was mainly from the Shan-Chinese Chang Shi Fu, better known as Khun Sa , affected.
The Muang Tai Army was created through a merger of the Shan United Army, founded by Khun Sa in 1965, and the Tai Revolutionary Army in 1985. This in turn was the result of a merger of the Shan United Revolutionary Army under the leadership of Mo Heing (alias Korn Jerng) with parts of the Shan State Army emerged in 1982.
The headquarters of the Muang Tai Army was in Ho Mong (Homein) opposite the Thai province of Mae Hong Son .
On July 7, 1995, a rebellion broke out in the Muang Tai Army and 8,000 fighters led by Colonel Kan Yod and Dae Wain withdrew to Hsipaw, where they set up a new base. They called themselves Shan State National Army . The group intended to negotiate a ceasefire with the Myanmar military government. Khun Sa claimed the problems arose because soldiers did not want to fight under a half-Chinese like him. The rebels claimed that Khun Sa was only concerned with the drug business and that he did not care about the suffering of civilians in the fight against the Myanmar military regime. The Muang Tai Army never recovered from this rebellion.
In December 1995, the Muang Tai Army surrendered to the Myanmar military government under its leader Khun Sa. Opponents Khun Sas claim that he exchanged the resistance bases for an amnesty for himself.
On January 27, 1996, Colonel Yawd Serk led a force of about 300 men from the Muang Tai Army from Muang Tha, across from Baan Piang Luang, to Wiang Haeng in the Thai province of Chiang Mai . This group founded the Shan State Army-South on January 1, 1998 . She fights to this day for greater autonomy or independence for Shan State .
The former headquarters of the Muang Tai Army in Ho Mong was occupied by Myanmar troops in January 1996.
Since June 2005, members of the Shan State National Army have joined Shan State Army-South in a joint fight against the military regime.
Drugs
Khun Sa has often claimed that the Muang Tai Army is not about the drug business. He is actually an opponent of opium cultivation. The Shan in the mountains would have no other chance than to finance their just freedom struggle with opium. Since the Shan had to retreat to the mountains before the Myanmar troops, they had no choice but to grow opium because hardly anything else grew there. At one point, Khun Sa offered the entire opium crop to the US government for sale. The USA did not accept this offer. A $ 2 million bounty was placed on Khun Sa.
Whether these claims are correct may be doubted. Until his death in 2007, Khun Sa lived as a successful businessman in Yangon . The Myanmar military government refused to extradite Khun Sa to the US authorities who hold him responsible for smuggling 100 tons of heroin into the US.
swell
- ^ Myanmar Information Management Unit - Langkho Township, Shan State ( Memento from September 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Chinese agents defeated Khun Sa Archived copy ( memento of the original from December 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ More ceasefire units rejoin armed resistance ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
