Myanmar's Shan state armies merge to fight military government Sunday May 22, 12:47 PM Myanmar's Shan state armies merge to fight military government BANGKOK (AFP) - A rebel army from Myanmar's Shan state has broken its ceasefire with the military government and merged with the Shan State Army to fight the ruling junta, a Thai newspaper reports. The Shan State National Army (SSNA), which signed the ceasefire in 1995, and the Shan State Army (SSA) agreed the merger at a ceremony Saturday at the SSA's base at Doi Talaeng, near the Myanmar-Thailand border, the Bangkok Post said. The merger follows the announcement by Yangon on Saturday that the 19th brigade of the SSNA has handed over its weapons 10 years after signing a ceasefire. Military leaders from the merging Shan armies called on ethnic Shan in Myanmar and overseas to unite and fight the junta which has ruled the impoverished country for more than 40 years. The SSNA's leader Colonel Sai Yi will bring between 5,000 and 6,000 troops in exchange for being promoted to become the SSA's top military leader, the paper said. The SSNA signed its ceasefire agreement with Yangon in 1995, after splitting from the now disbanded Mong Tai Army. Sai Yi on Saturday accused Yangon of being insincere and not honouring the 1995 agreement. "The junta has broken the agreement and taken away our key members," he was quoted as saying. "Now they want us to lay down our arms. If we did, they could have killed us any time." Meanwhile, between 200 and 500 people, mostly Shan, are crossing into northern Thailand's Chiang Mai province on a daily basis, saying they were escaping attacks on their villages by government troops, the newspaper added. The SSNA's 19th brigade -- which also signed a 1995 ceasefire -- handed in their weapons on Friday, becoming the third Shan former rebel army to so in the past two months, the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Saturday. The Shan armies' merger could not be independently verified. **************************************************** Saturday May 21, 4:04 PM Shan rebel army surrenders weapons to Myanmar authorities YANGON (AFP) - More than 300 members of a former ethnic rebel army in Myanmar's Shan state have surrendered their weapons, 10 years after signing a ceasefire with the military junta. Some 325 members of the 19th brigade of the Shan State National Army (SSNA) on Friday handed in their weapons in the northern state's Lashio township, becoming the third Shan former rebel army to so in the past two months. The weapons included a 60mm mortar launcher, six M79 launchers, 21 M23 machine guns, 7,663 rounds of ammunition and 102 mines, the offical New Light of Myanmar newspaper said. Brigade commander Gon Kay called on remaining ethnic armies to surrender their weapons and condemned a declaration of independence in April by Shan exiles led by Sao Kai Pha, son of President Sao Shwe Thaike of what was then known as Burma. "Now is the most opportune time for them to discard their armed struggle and... enjoy the fruitful results," he was quoted as saying in the newspaper. SSNA members survived by extorting money from the Shan community to commit attacks, Gon Kay added. More than 5,200 people attended the handover ceremony including State Peace and Development Council first secretary Lieutenant General Thein Sein. In April, the Palaung State Liberation Army from northern Shan state and the SSNA's 11th Brigade handed in their weapons. Eighteen armed ethnic groups and splinter groups have signed ceasefires with the military government. ~