13 : Junta Soldiers Pursue Runaway Shan Renegade
The Burmese army is reported to be hunting for hundreds of armed members of the breakaway Shan State Army-South group Brigade 758 who fled their new junta-designated home in Shan State barely one month after surrendering.
Sources say junta troops have tightened control in the Le Char area of northeastern Shan State where Brigade 758, led by their commander, Moengzuen, had supposedly begun to settle peacefully in early July on land granted to them.
Moengzuen said he and his men had gone over to the junta because they no longer wished to fight alongside the SSA-S. However, SSA-S spokeswoman Nam Khur Hsen said Moengzuen subsequently broke with the regime after the government had failed to grant him a special region with his own control and had pressured him to fight against the SSA-S.
The junta claimed the defectors numbered 800, along with their weapons, but other sources said the figure was much lower.
Nam Khur Hsen said Brigade 758 had disappeared into the jungle with their weapons, which the army had returned. She said increased army activities in pursuit of the group had led to clashes with units of the SSA-S proper. We have had minor clashes with Burmese troops almost everyday at the moment, but the juntas operation seems mainly to be looking for Moengzuens group, she said.
Khuensai Jaiyen, editor of the Shan Herald news agency, said Moengzuen was now reportedly in contact with all non-junta groups in Shan state, including the SSA-S.
