Myanmar’s ethnic Karen guerrillas claim to have seized the last army base defending key border town
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 12, 2024
BANGKOK--Guerrillas from the Karen ethnic minority on Thursday claimed to have captured the last of the army’s outposts in Myawaddy township in eastern Myanmar, virtually clearing the way for them to take over the town of Myawaddy, the major crossing point for trade with Thailand.
The Karen National Union, the ethnic group’s leading political body, said in a statement posted on Facebook that its armed wing, acting together with the affiliated Karen National Defense Organization and allied pro-democracy forces, had captured the garrison of the army’s Infantry Battalion 275, about 4 kilometers (3 miles) to the west of the town before dawn on Thursday, after besieging it since the start of the week.
The fall of Myawaddy would be another major setback in the army’s war against resistance forces since last October, when an alliance of three other ethnic rebel groups launched an offensive in the country’s northeast.
Over the past five months, the army has been routed in northern Shan state, where it surrendered control of several border crossings with China, and in Rakhine state in the west, and is facing active challenges elsewhere.
The nationwide conflict in Myanmar began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and suppressed widespread nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule.
Myawaddy, in Kayin state, is opposite the Thai district of Mae Sot in Tak province and is connected by two bridges across the Moei River It is Myanmar’s most active trading post with Thailand.
The fighting in Myawaddy has alarmed officials in Bangkok, who fear the prospect of large numbers of people fleeing across the border. Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara said Tuesday that Thailand can accommodate about 100,000 people in safe areas on a temporary basis. Mae Sot district has in the past sheltered thousands of Myanmar villagers seeking safety.
With Infantry Battalion 275 garrison’s capture, all army outposts in the township have been seized and the resistance groups will pursue those soldiers who remain at large, said the statement from the KNU.
“We want to inform the public not to fear and to cooperate with us,” the statement said.
In a separate statement, the KNU said retreating soldiers seeking to cross into Thailand for refuge were hiding on the Myanmar side of the No.2 Myanmar-Thailand Friendship Bridge.
Photos carried by Thai media showed men they identified as Myanmar soldiers resting by the bridge.
The Karen are the third biggest ethnic group in Myanmar, making up about 7% of its 58 million population. Like other minority groups living in border regions, the Karen have sought greater autonomy from Myanmar’s central government for decades, with the KNU and its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army leading their struggle.
Although the Karen are among the most experienced of the armed ethnic groups, they lack the heavy weapons some other rebel organizations have, and also suffer from factionalism. The Karen make up a large part of about 90,000 refugees from Myanmar who live in nine long-term refugee camps in Thailand after fleeing previous rounds of fighting.
A Karen guerrilla involved in the resistance offensive told the Associated Press that their combined forces had seized the Infantry Battalion 275 garrison late Wednesday night.
The guerrilla, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information, said the resistance forces collected weapons from the garrison on Thursday. The KNU statement included photos of what it said were captured weapons.
A journalist covering the fighting in the area also confirmed the seizure of the garrison and weapons, saying the soldiers withdrew from the garrison overnight. He along with other individuals in Myawaddy willing to speak about the situation, spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear for their safety.
A resident of Myawaddy living near the garrison told the AP by phone that the retreat of the soldiers came after the Border Guard Force units negotiated between the army and the combined resistance force. He said a jet fighter dropped two bombs near the garrison at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday but no casualties were reported.
The Border Guard Force units in Kayin state are nominally affiliated with the military but announced last month they were cutting their ties and establishing themselves independently under the name of the Karen National Army.
A member of the Karen National Union/ Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council, another Karen organization based in Myawaddy confirmed to the AP that the new Karen National Army was playing in a major role in negotiations between the resistance and the Myanmar military.
He said the Karen National Army units had pledged to Myawaddy’s residents that they would try to not let a single bullet hit the town, and were patrolling and taking other security measures,
Another Myawaddy resident also told the AP that while he was driving in the town he saw hundreds of people evidently seeking to cross into Mae Sot in Thailand at the bridge checkpoints.
Hundreds flee to Thailand as rebels clash, take over key border town
Hundreds of refugees crossed over the river frontier between Myanmar and Thailand on Friday following the fall of a strategic border town to rebels fighting Myanmar's military junta.
Refugees crossed over the river frontier between Myanmar and Thailand. (Photo: Reuters)
Reuters
New Delhi,
In Short
Fall of strategic border town to rebels fighting Myanmar's military junta
Hundreds of refugees crossed over river frontier between Myanmar and Thailand
Thailand's foreign minister said his government preparing for influx of refugees
Hundreds of refugees crossed over the river frontier between Myanmar and Thailand on Friday following the fall of a strategic border town to rebels fighting Myanmar's military junta.
Some said they feared airstrikes by the Myanmar military after the rebel capture of Myawaddy, a town of around 200,000 people lying across the Moei River from the Thai city of Mae Sot.
"That's why I escaped here. They can't bomb Thailand," said one woman, Moe Moe Thet San, a Myawaddy resident who stood in line at a border check-point with dozens of people in the heat. She had crossed the border with her young son.
Thailand's foreign minister said on Friday his government was preparing for an influx of refugees, and he urged the Myanmar junta to scale back the violence.
Thailand was also working with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to revive a stalled peace plan for Myanmar, Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara said.
"It is our neighbouring country and we don't want to see violence," Parnpree told reporters following a visit to Mae Sot. "We want to see them talking with each other. They can use us as a broker if they want."
Myawaddy was wrested from military control by anti-junta forces led by the Karen National Union (KNU) rebel group on Thursday.
Thailand was considering alternative trade routes in case of road closures caused by the fighting, Parnpree said.
A group of less than 200 junta soldiers who had retreated earlier this week from their base to the Thai border were still in the area and Thai authorities had so far not received any requests from them to cross over, Parnpree said.
"They have to drop their weapons, change into civilian clothes before we would allow them to cross over the border," he said.
A group of fewer than 200 junta soldiers who had retreated earlier this week from their base to the Thai border were still in the area and Thai authorities had so far not received any requests from them to cross over, Parnpree said.
"They have to drop their weapons, change into civilian clothes before we would allow them to cross over the border," he said.
This group of junta soldiers sheltering near a bridge came under attack from drones deployed by resistance groups late on Friday, local media reported.
Security in the area was tightened following the attack, with armed Thai soldiers patrolling the riverside and cordoning off some parts under one of the two bridges across to Myawaddy, according to a Reuters witness.
Junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun told Myanmar media some of its troops had abandoned their base because they were accompanied by their families. Negotiations were ongoing with Thailand, he said.
It was not immediately clear which group of junta soldiers he was referring to and he did not respond to a telephone call from Reuters to seek comment.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since 2021, when the powerful military deposed an elected civilian government, triggering widespread protests it sought to crush with force.
Simmering anger against the junta turned into a nationwide armed resistance movement that is now increasingly operating in coordination with established ethnic rebel groups to challenge the military across large parts of Myanmar.
AFRAID OF AIR STRIKES
A steady stream of people fleeing Myanmar queued at a border crossing on Friday amid tight security on the Thai side, including vehicles mounted with machine guns overlooking the Moei river.
"I am afraid of air strikes," said Moe Moe Thet San, aged 39. "They caused very loud noises that shook my house."
The loss of Myawaddy robs the junta, already grappling with an economy in free fall, of vital earnings from border trade while strengthening rebel groups, analysts say.
Myanmar's military may still seek to mount a counter-attack, supported by its air force, to regain the town, said Dulyapak Preecharush, an associate professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Bangkok's Thammasat University.
"So there is a question about possible intensification of fighting in the coming days," he told Reuters.
On Thursday, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said the fighting in Myanmar should not spill into his country's airspace.
In an interview with Reuters last week, Srettha said the Myanmar junta was "losing strength" as he pushes to open talks with the military government.
Thailand, which says it is staying neutral in the Myanmar conflict and can accept up to 100,000 people displaced by it, has pursued engagement, including aid deliveries, with its neighbour since Srettha came to power last August.
Published By:
Shweta Kumari
Published On:
Apr 13, 2024
Mae Sot (Thailand) (AFP) – Fighting near the Myanmar-Thai border has sent thousands fleeing into Thailand but hasn't closed a lane of ramshackle shops in no-man's land offering bootlegged whisky, Chinese aphrodisiacs and Burmese cigarettes.
Issued on: 12/04/2024 -
Kyaung Thet's stall serves dozens of customers a day who buy Johnnie Walker Red Label for 380 baht ($10), handing the cash over barbed wire that runs between the towns of Mae Sot in Thailand and Myawaddy in Myanmar.
Clashes rocked Myawaddy this week, with the deep boom of shelling and the drone of Myanmar military jets in the skies heard over the border in Mae Sot.
Kyaung Thet said he had been "scared" by the sounds but he and his wife had to earn a living selling their wares, which they said all came from Myanmar.
"Every day we've been open," he told AFP.
Racier fare was to be had further along the raised concrete walkway.
One small box contained pleasure-enhancing "Sex Drops" made with "USA technology", which were to be mixed with coffee, juice or wine 15 minutes before bed.
A disclaimer on the back read: "It is a herb product, it may not work for everyone."
Another box of tablets promised to restore a man's "prestige in a short time".
Included in its list of ingredients list were Tibetan donkey kidneys and yak testicles.
Also on offer was "Myanmar Beer", which has attained illicit status in many parts of Myanmar since the military's 2021 coup because it is brewed by a military-owned company.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the coup, with rights groups accusing the junta of widespread atrocities as it struggles to crush opposition to its rule.
Thailand's foreign minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara visited Mae Sot on Friday.
He inspected a "Friendship Bridge" linking the town to Myanmar, across which thousands have fled in recent days seeking safety in Thailand.
A stone's throw away in no-man's land, the bigger concern was that the fighting would scare away those from Thailand looking for alcohol, dried fish and Burmese cigarettes.
One stall owner, who did not want to give his name, said the number of Thai customers had been down in recent days.
He said 100 people from Myanmar had come into the no-man's land to take shelter there on Thursday night.
Everyone working in the street was used to the sounds of conflict, he said.
"Fighting has been going on so long we don’t care," he said.
"Open as usual."
© 2024 AFP
Issued on: 12/04/2024
Video by: Liza KAMINOV
A stream of people, some fearing air strikes, queued at a border crossing to flee Myanmar early on Friday, a day after the strategically vital town of Myawaddy near Thailand fell to anti-junta resistance that is gaining strength. The loss of the town robs the junta, already grappling with an economy in free fall, of vital earnings from border trade while strengthening rebel groups such as the Karen National Union (KNU) that led the assault on Myawaddy, analysts say.
11 April 2024
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has warned that poverty is surging and the middle class in Myanmar is “disappearing” amidst worsening insecurity and conflict.
In a new reportOpens in new window published on Thursday UNDPOpens in new window said that the middle class has shrunk by half, compared with before the 2021 military coup, and that three quarters of the country’s population is either living in poverty or “perilously close” to the national poverty line.
“The new data show that less than 25 per cent of the population in Myanmar manage to secure steady incomes to live above the poverty line. Without immediate interventions to provide cash transfers, food security and access to basic services, vulnerability will keep growing, and impacts will be felt across generations” saidOpens in new window Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator.
According to UNDP estimates, $4 billion per year is required to address ballooning poverty, via cash transfers and other means, to help families recover from the “L-shaped” recession amid plummeting economic activity and few signs of recovery.
“We call on all stakeholders – inside and outside Myanmar – to take action and preserve vulnerable households from slipping into irreversible poverty and despair” Mr. Steiner urged.
Zero spending on education
Polling over 12,000 households across Myanmar, the report also found that families and households have been forced to resort to various, often unsustainable, coping mechanisms.
Speaking to journalists at UN Headquarters in New York, Kanni Wignaraja, UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, explained the dire situation.
“During the COVID-19Opens in new window [pandemic], the spending on education was meagre - two to three per cent of household’s income - it is now close to zero,” she said, adding that families are pulling children out of school and unable to spend on healthcare and other basic services.
“We are going to see a whole generation that just has a learning and health deficit that is very scary,” she warned.
The report has also revealed an alarming picture at the provincial level.
The states with the lowest rates of per capita income are Kayah, Chin, and Sagaing – regions experiencing high levels of conflict between the junta forces and groups opposing.
In addition to heightened poverty levels, conflict-ridden were also marked by destruction of homes, restricted access to farmlands and an increase in internally displaced people (IDPs) – all leading to yet more hardship.
IDPs arriving in urban centres such as Yangon and Mandalay, both for safety and basic services, no longer have any safety net, Ms. Wignaraja said.
© UNODC
A poppy field in East Shan state, Myanmar.
Proliferation of organized crime
The UNDP Regional Director also emphasized the challenges posed by skyrocketing criminality in the southeast Asian nation.
She cited recent findings by the UN Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODCOpens in new window) that Myanmar is the largest producer of opium and the massive proliferation of organized crime, especially the so called “scam centres”.
“If these illegal economic activities – where there is a lot of money involved – are not curbed, and we cannot restart intensive international and regional mediation efforts to stop the ongoing war, the story of Myanmar is going to be of the disappeared middle [class],” Ms. Wignaraja said.
