New players emerge in fighting in Myanmar's northeast, as powerful ethnic militias intervene
UNB
Publish: 15 Jul 2024, 05:29 PM
BANGKOK,
July 15(AP/UNB) - Recently renewed combat in northeastern Myanmar between
troops of the military government and ethnic minority militias has in the past
few days become more complicated, as two minority groups not previously
involved in the fighting stepped into the fray, claiming to act as a third
force for stability.
The intervention of the
powerful fighting forces of the United Wa State Army and the Shan State
Army-North highlights tensions among the various ethnic minority guerrilla
groups who have been fighting for decades for greater autonomy from Myanmar's
central government.
While many of the groups
have alliances with the pro-democracy resistance forces that arose to fight
military rule after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi
in 2021, they prioritize their own goals, which include control over territory.
The focus of every group
is now on Lashio, which is about 210 kilometers (130 miles) northeast of
Mandalay, the country's second-largest city and headquarters of the
northeastern military command of Myanmar's ruling generals.
Two ethnic armed groups,
the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, and the Myanmar National
Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, last week had been advancing on Lashio, the
biggest city in northern Shan state. The TNLA represents the Ta'ang or Palaung
ethnic minority, and the MNDAA is a military force of the Kokang minority, who
are ethnic Chinese.
The two groups had been
part of the Three Brotherhood Alliance, which last October had launched a
surprise offensive that succeeded in seizing large tracts of territory along
the border with China. The current fighting that began last month had marked an
end to a Chinese-brokered cease-fire that nominally stopped fighting between
the army and the alliance.
But the United Wa State
Army and the Shan State Army-North, who were not involved in the October
offensive, late last week moved their own soldiers to the Lashio area,
apparently impeding the offensive by the TNLA and MNDAA.
The United Wa State Army
announced it had sent about 2,000 troops on Thursday into Tangyan, a township
bordering Lashio, which had been under attack by the TNLA. Tangyan is believed
to be home to a large number of ethnic Wa.
The Wa military is the
biggest and strongest ethnic armed organization in Myanmar, with an army of
approximately 30,000 well-equipped soldiers and sophisticated weaponry
including heavy artillery and helicopters from China, with which it maintains
close relations
Nyi Rang, a liaison officer
for the group, told The Associated Press in a message on Friday that the move
was meant to prevent the armed conflict from spreading to the town. He said the
Wa group had negotiated with the military government at the request of
residents before deploying its troops.
The Shan State
Army-North sent more than 1,000 troops on Friday and Saturday into the nearby
township of Mongyai, where the MNDAA has been fighting the Myanmar military,
The Shan consider Mongyai to be in their sphere of influence, which should not
be taken over by another group.
The group issued a
statement through its affiliate media on Facebook stating that it had sent
troops for the stability of the region and the security of the people.
"It is the region
we had dominated," Col. Sai Su, the group's spokesperson, was quoted in
the report as saying. "That's why we did that to prevent the town from
falling into the hands of the other organizations and to keep it under the
administration of the Shan State Army. People also requested us to protect
them."
Two Mongyai residents,
speaking on condition of anonymity because of security concerns, told the AP on
Sunday that their area was calm after the Shan troops were deployed. One said
Wa troops were also stationed nearby.
All the ethnic armed
groups involved in the situation in Shan state maintain close relations with
China. It's widely believed that last October's offensive had Beijing's tacit
approval because of its growing dissatisfaction with the military government's
seeming indifference to the burgeoning drug trade along its border and the
proliferation of centers in Myanmar at which cyberscams are run, with workers
trafficked from China and elsewhere in the region.
Beijing has made clear
it strongly backed a crackdown on scammers. Tens of thousands of employees of
scam operations were repatriated to China, while the MNDAA, which assisted that
effort, was allowed to retake a major border city it had once controlled.
However, China's
overriding interest in the area is maintaining stability, which is endangered
by the new fighting. So it is likely to back efforts such as the Wa and the
Shan are carrying out to restrain the TNLA and MNDAA.
END/UNB/AP/PR