SUMMARY
The non-state conflict between [RCSS][/#actor/256) (Restoration Council of the Shan State) - originally SSA-S: Shan State Army - Southern Command - and UWSA can to a large extent be seen as a continuation of the non-state conflict between MTA (Mong Tai Army) and UWSA (see MTA - UWSA conflict. The conflict is also strongly linked to the intrastate conflicts with the government over the status of territories inhabited by ethnic Shan and ethnic Wa in north-eastern Myanmar (Burma). On several occasions, UWSA has cooperated in joint operations with the Myanmar army against SSA-S, but those incidents are coded as part of the Myanmar (Shan) conflict.
When the SSA-S was formed by remnants of MTA that refused to participate in the surrender of the latter in early 1996, UWSA had taken control over much of the territories previously controlled by MTA. As the SSA-S wanted to establish bases in order to continue their fight against the government, the two sides competed over the control of territory in the region. At the same time, the provisions of the ceasefire agreement the UWSA had signed with the government in 1989 stipulated that the group would fight armed groups in its region that were opposing the government.
Fighting between SSA-S and UWSA has erupted on several occasions and led to week-long periods of intense clashes, while the relations between the two parties otherwise can be characterized as a fairly stable truce. The UWSA offensives on SSA-S were often launched after requests from the Government of Myanmar (Burma), while SSA-S attacked drug caravans linked to UWSA. At times, the fighting has threatened to spill over into neighboring Thailand as the border demarcation is poor. The relations between the two groups have arguably improved in recent years as there seems to be an agreement about which territory is controlled by which group.
The non-state conflict between [RCSS][/#actor/256) and UWSA is first included in UCDP data in 2005. In April that year an offensive by UWSA against an RCSS camp resulted in over one hundred deaths. The groups have been involved in fighting previously, but, as at least one side was aligned with the Government of Myanmar (Burma), these incidents of fighting are coded as part of the Myanmar (Shan) state-based conflict (see Myanmar (Burma): Shan).
