The Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) says a group of villagers arrested last month by the Burma army in eastern Shan State were not troops who had been forcibly recruited by the group. The denial came in response to a statement issued last month by the army.
Speaking at a press conference held at Wan Hwai village group in Mong Kung Township on June 2nd, Major Sai Han, who is responsible for the RCSS/SSA in Mong Kung Eastern Area No 7, explained to local residents and the media that the announcement released by the Burma Army on May 23 was not accurate.
“We don’t have any policy on recruitment since we signed the NCA [Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement]. No order [to recruit] has come from the upper-level. The news release from the Burma Army on 23 May is not concerned with us,” said Major Sai Han.
“We went to Loi Tai Leng headquarters because a representative from each village was sent to observe agriculture and rural area development acclivities and there was also a Resistance Day ceremony at the headquarters. The 33 people arrested by the Burma Army are not new recruits. They are normal civilians,” explained Sai Mai, a member of Ham Ngai village group of Mong Kung Township.
“Our group encountered the Burma Army’s military column on the 18th (18 May). The Burma Army took us to the military [camp] with a vehicle. We were divided into groups of four and interrogated. They told us to say that the RCSS has been recruiting new soldiers. We were interrogated from 6 pm to 3:30 am. We had to stay there for ten days and nine nights. Among our group, a man called Sai Nyunt was taken with a hood [on his head] and he still hasn’t been released yet,” said Hla Kwe, one of 32 people arrested by the Burma Army last month.
The Burma Army also arrested eight residents of Pan Sone Village in Theinni Township at the end of May accusing them of being soldiers with the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA).
According to relatives of the detained villagers from Theinni Townshp, they have been charged with Section 17-1 of the Unlawful Association Act.
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