Min Aung Hlaing admits pressure after Myanmar anti-coup forces claim base
Anti-coup fighters claimed to have taken control of key military base in northeastern Lashio over the weekend.
The MNDAA is fighting in an alliance with other armed groups
Published On 6 Aug 2024
Myanmar’s army chief and coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has acknowledged his troops are under pressure after anti-coup fighters claimed to have taken control of a key military base in the northeastern town of Lashio.
The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), part of a powerful alliance of ethnic armed groups fighting to remove the military from power, said it had overrun the headquarters of the army’s Northeastern Command at the weekend.
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Anti-coup forces allege Myanmar military using banned, restricted weapons
Min Aung Hlaing did not directly address the situation in Lashio but indicated that in northern Shan State, “security forces withdrew their positions” for security reasons and because they were concerned about the safety of people living there.
The army chief, whose comments were published in full in Tuesday’s official Global New Light of Myanmar, accused anti-coup forces of abuses, attacking civilians and military hospitals and working with “stooges at home and abroad” to demoralise the population. Their weaponry, including drones, was also becoming more sophisticated, he said.
The military seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party. The coup led to mass protests that evolved into an armed rebellion when the military responded with force.
Nearly 5,500 civilians have been killed in the fighting while some 20,715 are in jail for criticising the military, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which has been tracking the situation. Rights groups have also said the military should be investigated for potential war crimes over attacks on civilians.
Lashio lies about 110km (70 miles) south of the Chinese border and has been an MNDAA target since it launched the second phase of Operation 1027 in early July. It took the border city of Laukkai, notorious as a hub for criminality and the capital of the Mandarin-speaking Kokang region, in January.
The armed alliance, which also includes the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Mandalay People’s Defence Force (PDF), had already claimed recent advances, taking areas including Mogok, known for its lucrative ruby mines, and the northern Shan State towns of Kyaukme and Nawnghkio.
On August 2, the MNDAA said it had completely captured the Northeast Command headquarters and defeated the remaining army units in the city.
“The regime’s loss of the Northeast Command is the most humiliating defeat of the war,” said Morgan Michaels, a Singapore-based analyst with the International Institute of Strategic Studies who runs its Myanmar Conflict Map project. “Without Lashio, it will be extremely difficult for the regime to hold onto its final outposts in the theatre.”
The MNDAA is part of the Three Brotherhood Alliance which also includes the TNLA and the Arakan Army, which is fighting the military in western Rakhine state.
The MNDAA initially claimed the capture of the Northeast Command and Lashio on July 25, but the army continued to fight.
Early on Monday, Major General Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson for Myanmar’s ruling military council, said in an audio statement on state-run MRTV television that it had lost contact with commanders of the Northeast Command headquarters. He did not address MNDAA’s claim of capturing the base.
Myanmar’s military has 14 regional commands across the country and soldiers in at least 10 of them are currently engaged in fighting established ethnic minority armed groups or the newer PDFs.
The fall of the Lashio HQ marks the first loss of a regional command centre.
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies
Myanmar’s army chief and coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has acknowledged his troops are under pressure after anti-coup fighters claimed to have taken control of a key military base in the northeastern town of Lashio.
The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), part of a powerful alliance of ethnic armed groups fighting to remove the military from power, said it had overrun the headquarters of the army’s Northeastern Command at the weekend.
Keep reading
Anti-coup forces allege Myanmar military using banned, restricted weapons
Min Aung Hlaing did not directly address the situation in Lashio but indicated that in northern Shan State, “security forces withdrew their positions” for security reasons and because they were concerned about the safety of people living there.
The army chief, whose comments were published in full in Tuesday’s official Global New Light of Myanmar, accused anti-coup forces of abuses, attacking civilians and military hospitals and working with “stooges at home and abroad” to demoralise the population. Their weaponry, including drones, was also becoming more sophisticated, he said.
The military seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party. The coup led to mass protests that evolved into an armed rebellion when the military responded with force.
Nearly 5,500 civilians have been killed in the fighting while some 20,715 are in jail for criticising the military, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which has been tracking the situation. Rights groups have also said the military should be investigated for potential war crimes over attacks on civilians.
Lashio lies about 110km (70 miles) south of the Chinese border and has been an MNDAA target since it launched the second phase of Operation 1027 in early July. It took the border city of Laukkai, notorious as a hub for criminality and the capital of the Mandarin-speaking Kokang region, in January.
The armed alliance, which also includes the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Mandalay People’s Defence Force (PDF), had already claimed recent advances, taking areas including Mogok, known for its lucrative ruby mines, and the northern Shan State towns of Kyaukme and Nawnghkio.
On August 2, the MNDAA said it had completely captured the Northeast Command headquarters and defeated the remaining army units in the city.
“The regime’s loss of the Northeast Command is the most humiliating defeat of the war,” said Morgan Michaels, a Singapore-based analyst with the International Institute of Strategic Studies who runs its Myanmar Conflict Map project. “Without Lashio, it will be extremely difficult for the regime to hold onto its final outposts in the theatre.”
The MNDAA is part of the Three Brotherhood Alliance which also includes the TNLA and the Arakan Army, which is fighting the military in western Rakhine state.
The MNDAA initially claimed the capture of the Northeast Command and Lashio on July 25, but the army continued to fight.
Early on Monday, Major General Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson for Myanmar’s ruling military council, said in an audio statement on state-run MRTV television that it had lost contact with commanders of the Northeast Command headquarters. He did not address MNDAA’s claim of capturing the base.
Myanmar’s military has 14 regional commands across the country and soldiers in at least 10 of them are currently engaged in fighting established ethnic minority armed groups or the newer PDFs.
The fall of the Lashio HQ marks the first loss of a regional command centre.
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies
Australia FM Wong calls on Myanmar junta to 'take different path'
Weeks after it seized power and launched a crackdown on dissent in Myanmar, the junta agreed to a five-point peace plan with ASEAN, but has failed to implement it.
Reuters
"Myanmar is deeply concerning, we see it in the economy, instability, insecurity, deaths," Wong told journalists at a press conference. / Photo: Reuters
Australia's foreign minister called on Myanmar's junta to "take a different path" from its bloody crackdown on dissent, saying the situation in the war-torn country is "not sustainable".
Penny Wong made the comments at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers meeting on Saturday, where the crisis in ASEAN member Myanmar has divided the bloc.
The country was plunged into a civil war after the military seized power in a coup in 2021.
Weeks after it seized power and launched a crackdown on dissent the junta agreed to a five-point peace plan with ASEAN but has failed to implement it.
"Myanmar is deeply concerning, we see it in the economy, instability, insecurity, deaths," Wong told journalists at a press conference.
"The message I want to send to the military regime is 'this is not sustainable for you and your people'."
"We urge them to take a different path and reflect the five-point consensus."
'Non-political representatives'
The junta has been barred from high-level ASEAN meetings over its crackdown on dissent.
It had previously refused to send "non-political representatives" but two senior bureaucrats are representing the country at the talks in Vientiane.
A Southeast Asian diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity earlier this week that the military's readiness to re-engage diplomatically was a sign of its "weakened position".
In recent weeks ethnic minority armed groups have renewed an offensive against the military in northern Shan state, seizing territory along a vital highway to China.
Myanmar's generals have yet to make any meaningful counterattack following a previous offensive by ethnic armed groups in October that seized swaths of territory along the border with China.
The losses triggered rare public criticism of its top leadership.
ASEAN has spearheaded diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis but with little success.
Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines have called for tougher action against the junta, while Thailand has held its own bilateral talks with the generals as well as detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The conflict in Myanmar has forced 2.7 million people from their homes since the coup in 2021, according to the United Nations.
Weeks after it seized power and launched a crackdown on dissent in Myanmar, the junta agreed to a five-point peace plan with ASEAN, but has failed to implement it.
Reuters
"Myanmar is deeply concerning, we see it in the economy, instability, insecurity, deaths," Wong told journalists at a press conference. / Photo: Reuters
Australia's foreign minister called on Myanmar's junta to "take a different path" from its bloody crackdown on dissent, saying the situation in the war-torn country is "not sustainable".
Penny Wong made the comments at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers meeting on Saturday, where the crisis in ASEAN member Myanmar has divided the bloc.
The country was plunged into a civil war after the military seized power in a coup in 2021.
Weeks after it seized power and launched a crackdown on dissent the junta agreed to a five-point peace plan with ASEAN but has failed to implement it.
"Myanmar is deeply concerning, we see it in the economy, instability, insecurity, deaths," Wong told journalists at a press conference.
"The message I want to send to the military regime is 'this is not sustainable for you and your people'."
"We urge them to take a different path and reflect the five-point consensus."
'Non-political representatives'
The junta has been barred from high-level ASEAN meetings over its crackdown on dissent.
It had previously refused to send "non-political representatives" but two senior bureaucrats are representing the country at the talks in Vientiane.
A Southeast Asian diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity earlier this week that the military's readiness to re-engage diplomatically was a sign of its "weakened position".
In recent weeks ethnic minority armed groups have renewed an offensive against the military in northern Shan state, seizing territory along a vital highway to China.
Myanmar's generals have yet to make any meaningful counterattack following a previous offensive by ethnic armed groups in October that seized swaths of territory along the border with China.
The losses triggered rare public criticism of its top leadership.
ASEAN has spearheaded diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis but with little success.
Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines have called for tougher action against the junta, while Thailand has held its own bilateral talks with the generals as well as detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The conflict in Myanmar has forced 2.7 million people from their homes since the coup in 2021, according to the United Nations.
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