Shan State Army (RCSS)
ethnic Shan rebel group
The Shan State Army (Shan: တပ်ႉသိုၵ်းၸိုင်ႈတႆး – ပွတ်းၸၢၼ်း; abbreviated SSA or RCSS/SSA), also known as the Shan State Army – South (SSA-S), is the armed wing of the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) and one of the largest insurgent groups in Myanmar (Burma). The RCSS/SSA was led by Lieutenant General Yawd Serk until his resignation on 3 February 2014. Yawd Serk was reelected chairman of the RCSS shortly after his resignation and has remained chairman since.
History
In 1996, Lieutenant General Yawd Serk of the Shan United Revolutionary Army (SURA) led 800 soldiers under his command to central Shan State and established the Shan State Army, after he refused to surrender to government forces with fellow commander Khun Sa. He then recruited roughly a thousand more soldiers before returning to southern Shan State to establish the group's headquarters in Loi Tai Leng.
In 2000, the SSA formed the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) as its political wing, and elected eleven Central Executive Committee members to lead the political front. Yawd Serk was elected chairman of the RCSS, and would remain in office until his resignation on 3 February 2014.
In 2005, the RCSS/SSA pledged to work with the Shan State National Army (SSNA) against the then ruling military junta to achieve independence for Shan State. Later that year, the SSNA agreed to merge with the RCSS/SSA.
In 2008, the Shan State Congress (SSC) was formed in Loi Tai Leng under the aegis of Yawd Serk, which would exist until 2010. Its members included groups such as the Lahu Democratic Union (LDU), the Pa-O National Liberation Organisation (PNLO), the Restoration Council of Shan State, Tai Coordination Committee (TCC) and the Wa National Organisation (WNO).
The public source identifies “Shan State Army (RCSS)” as ethnic Shan rebel group. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Shan, State and Army.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1787131. Authority coordinates are 10.500, 80.483. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2014, 1996, 2000 and 2005.
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This entry incorporates text from “Shan State Army (RCSS)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.