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The Shan State Army ((ビルマ語:ရှမ်းပြည် တပ်မတော်); abbreviated SSA), was one of the largest groups which operated to resist the activity of the military government of Burma in Shan State. SSA was formed in 1964 by a merger of existing resistance groups, and recruited and trained thousands of local Shan people. Although their initial purpose was to fight autonomy in Shan State, their battle extended to fighting against the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), former Kuomingtang (KMT) merchants coming from China and increasing opium production in Shan State. The Army could not fulfil its purpose, as it dissolved in 1976 and later reformed into Shan State Army-South and Shan State Army-North, and continue their opposition to the government. ==History of Shan resistance== Resistance by the Shan State can be traced back to pre-colonial period, when the Shan kingdom, once largely independent,〔Rogers. B . (2012). Burma: A nation at the crossroads. United Kingdom: Random House.〕 fell under the power of a great Burmese conqueror, Bayinnaung in 1555. Since then, Shan had tributary relations with Burman rulers; however, was never directly ruled by them.〔Fink. C. (2009). Living silence in Burma: Surviving under military rule. New York: Zed Books Ltd.〕 Since the British rule in 1886, Shan rulers were placed under the direct rule of the Governor of India as separate sovereignty. As Shan rulers had full control of its internal matters, many recall the period of British rule as “Golden Age”.〔 However, when the Government of Burma Act 1921 was passed, the question of to where Shan principalities and other peripheral areas would belong arose. The British decided to transfer these areas to the Governor of Burma, and grouped the principalities together to form the Federated Shan States in 1922. Their status was largely degraded from an almost sovereignty to a tax-paying sub-province of Burma.〔 In 1941, Aung San left Burma for Japan with his colleagues, and received military training by the Imperial Japanese Army to fight against the British. He returned in 1942 with the Japanese Army and successfully pushed the British away to India. In 1945, he went against the Japanese under the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL). After the war ended, the Burmese insisted on amalgamation of the ethnic groups and independence, and engaged on strikes. Devastated by the war themselves, the British signed an agreement in 1947, promising its independence within a year. Shan State’s political status was further degraded from a sub-province to a “tribal area under direct bureaucratic rule”.〔 Burma’s independence was accepted by the London Agreement, which Aung San signed in 1947. In terms of the borderland states, clause 8 was provided for the “early unification of the Frontier Areas with Ministerial Burma” 〔 and a Frontier Areas Commission of Enquiry (FACE) was to be set up to hear the wishes of the non-Burmese ethnic groups. On 12 February, Aung San invited the ethnic groups and held a Panglong Conference to agree on their equal rights, which was only signed by Shan, Kachin, Chin and Karenni.〔 The agreement was that the right of self-government and full autonomy was recognised for Shan and Karenni and autonomous status for Kachin and Chin area. Regarding this conference, Chao Tzang Yawnghwe, a former SSA soldier, writes in the his memoir that “it was a rubber-stamp providing Britain with an opportunity to abdicate all responsibilities with respect to the Frontier Areas”.〔 Although the ethnic groups that signed the agreement trusted in Aung San, they were not satisfied with it. The trust did not last long, as Aung San was assassinated in June, the same year. In 4 January 1948, Burma became independent and was ruled by a civilian government led by U Nu. After almost 60 years of British rule, however, it was not in peace, as uprisings by ethnic groups as well as communists erupted. Ethnic groups demanded for succession and independence, as well as autonomy, equal rights and federal democracy within the Union of Burma.〔 Until late 1950s, the signatories of the Panglong Agreement- Shan, Kachin, Karenni and Chin- cooperated with U Nu. However, uprisings among ethnic groups continued. Within Shan State, there was the Pa-O of southern Shan state who began as a group supporting the Karen, but later by early 1950s became a movement against the Shan princes.〔 Meanwhile, Chinese nationalists (KMT) forces encamped on eastern Shan after being retreated from China. They built up strong forces with the assistance of the United States, which alerted the Burma Army units to be sent into the Shan State.〔 AFPFL was breaking up internally in the late 1950s and the military started to show its growing power. In 1958, the head of Burma Army, General Ne Win, took power and started a military rule to restore order to the continuous uprisings. During this time, the first Shan resistance organisation, Noom Suk Harn, attracted several Shan student activists from Rangoon University.〔 The first fight between these Shan rebels and the Burma Army was in 1959, when Shan resistance groups captured the town Tangyan, and after a week of fierce battle, the rebels scattered into small armed bands all over Shan State. Former university students broke away from Noom Suk Harn and established Shan State Independence Army (SSIA) in 1961, together with Shan National United Front (SNUF). Elections were held in 1960 and Prime Minister U Nu came back in power.〔 However, this was short-lived, as in 2 March 1962, General Ne Win came back in power by a coup d’état and continued his military rule. Before the coup d’état, U Nu called ethnic leaders for a meeting to discuss federalism and ethnic rights; however, the next day of the coup, U Nu and other ethnic leaders, including Shan leaders, were arrested. Ne Win thought that federalism would break the union, therefore, did not allow it to happen.〔 Nevertheless, Ne Win called for peace talks with the Shan state rulers in 1963. However, opposition groups did not agree with the military rule which had no plurality in politics and united all groups under Burmese government, therefore, the fight continued. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Shan State Army」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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