Mong Ton Township or Mong Tong Township is a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

of Mongs Ton District in the Eastern

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. The capital town is

Mong Ton Mong may refer to: People *A proposed original name for the Hmong people, based on the main group, the Mong community *Bob Mong (), American journalist and academic administrator * Henry Mong (), American surgeon and Presbyterian missionary * Mong ...

. It borders Mong Pying Township to the north, Mong Hsat Township to the east,

Mong Nai Township Mong Nai Township is a township of Langkho District in the Shan State of Myanmar.

and

Mong Pan Township Mong Pan Township (Möng Pan or Möng Pawn) is a township of Langkho District in the Shan State of Myanmar. The capital town is Mong Pan or Möngpan, formerly the residence of the Sawbwa. To the south it borders Mae Hong Son Province in Thailand ...

to the west and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

to the south.Myanmar Information Management Unit
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Loi Hkilek Loi Hkilek or Loi Kyi-lek is a mountain of the Shan Hills, in Shan State, Burma.GoogleEarth Geography Loi Hkilek is located about 11 km to the northeast of Möng Kyawt (Mongkyawt) in Mong Ton Township of Mongsat District. Although this mount ...

mountain is located in the area. It has two townships. They are Pone Par Khem, and Mong Hta. At Mong Ton township, live in Shan, Lahu, Lisu, Wa, Burma, and Chinese.

Recent history

Given its location near the border with Thailand and internal conflict, the

Burmese army The Myanmar Army ( my, တပ်မတော်(ကြည်း), ) is the largest branch of the Tatmadaw, Armed Forces (''Tatmadaw'') of Myanmar (Burma) and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. The My ...

has the important IB277 military base just outside the main town. There are five Burmese army battalions in Mong Ton town alone.Free Burma Rangers
Trafficking of

narcotics The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "to make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...

is a major problem in Mong Ton and Burma is the number two opium producer in the world after

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, and one of the leading producers of amphetamines in South East Asia. The

Free Burma Rangers The Free Burma Rangers (FBR) is a Christian multi-ethnic humanitarian service movement. Their main area of work is throughout Burma (also known as Myanmar) but concentrate primarily on the heavily forested border region, delivering emergency medic ...

have alleged that the army is involved in the production and trafficking of narcotics in order to profit from the trade in opium, heroin and amphetamines. Opium is cultivated and it is not only processed for trade abroad it is also consumed by some local villagers and has created drug addiction problems. Mong Ton has had a turbulent and unstable history, with conflicts between the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S) and the Burmese Army, although the problem is worse in the

Kyethi Kyethi( shn, ဝဵင်းၵေႇသီႇ; my, ကျေးသီးမြို့)(Kyethi or Kehsi) is the main town of Kyethi Township, Loilem District, in the Shan State of Burma. The main town is Kesi (Kyethi or Kehsi). Highway 442 passe ...

Mong Kung Mong Kung, Mongkung, Mongkaung or Möngkung ( my, မိုင်းကိုင်) ( shn, မိူင်းၵိုင်) is a town in Shan State some 100 kilometres east of Mandalay. It is the capital of Mong Kung Township, Myanmar. Histo ...

, and Laihka Townships. In Mong Ton and Mong Hsat Township, the SPDC has demanded the removal of some UWSA military outposts and the Burmese Army is exerting more pressure on Lahu militias to conscript more soldiers and prepare to fight both the SSA–S and the UWSA. The SPDC supported three basic military training courses for the Lahu militia in Mong Ton during 2009.

References

{{Shan State Mongsat District