Myanmar militants to pick leaders

Myanmar’s strongest ethnic armed group is set for its biggest leadership shake-up in a quarter century, senior sources said, raising the prospect of a period of instability in a group that is key to Aung San Suu Kyi’s signature peace process.

The United Wa State Army (UWSA) boasts some 30,000 soldiers who control a secretive, China-dominated statelet in the remote hills on Myanmar’s eastern border.

This year the group’s political wing, the United Wa State Party (UWSP), is holding elections for the first time since 1992, with at least some of the old guard who have led the statelet since its 1989 formation set to stand down, three senior Wa officials said.

After sweeping to power following a November 2015 election, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi has made ending the ethnic conflicts that kept Myanmar in a state of perpetual civil war through decades of military rule a priority.

As the biggest ethnic army, the UWSA will be crucial to the success of that goal.