Junta puts Kokang Companies on Blacklist

The Burmese military government has put five companies belonging to Kokang rebel leader Peng Jiasheng and his family members on a blacklist, according to sources close to the Burmese authorities.

The companies are involved in jade mining and jewelery. The order to prohibit the businesses from trading came directly from Naypyidaw, said a source close to the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development.

Well-known companies such as Khetta, Light Rain and Phyae Sone Aung are among those blacklisted.

“The companies, its directors and its staff were all put on a business blacklist. Now they are banned from operating,” said the source.

The state-run press in Burma has made no mention of the move to date.

Saeng Juen, an editor for the Thailand-based Shan Herald Agency for News, said, “The regime probably listed the companies on the blacklist because Peng Jiasheng did not disarm.”

Peng Jiasheng, leader of the Kokang militia known as Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), reportedly sheltered with his allies, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), after the Kokang capital of Laogai was seized by Burmese government troops on Aug. 24.

MNDAA is among 17 ethnic armies that have signed cease-fire agreements with the Burmese regime since the 1990s, according to the Burmese government. Each cease-fire group was ordered to transform its troops into border guard forces by the end of December. 

Major cease-fire groups, such as the UWSA and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), have rejected the order, according to sources on the Sino-Burmese border.