Myanmar military reoccupies Myawaddy base as Karen rebels withdraw – the diplomat

Myanmar soldiers have reoccupied the headquarters in the town of Myawaddy on the border with Thailand, following the withdrawal of ethnic Karen resistance fighters who overran the base earlier this month.

Fighting has been going on for several weeks around Myawaddy in Kayin (Karen) State, as the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and its allies have begun attacking the forces of the military regime. On April 11, the Karen National Union (KNU), the political wing of the KNLA, claimed it had captured the headquarters of Infantry Battalion 275, the main military base in Myawaddy.

However, the junta forces did not surrender and withdrew to an area around the No. 2 Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge, which connects Myawaddy to the Thai city of Mae Sot. Meanwhile, the armed forces have called in reinforcements from Hpa-an, the capital of Kayin state, and launched artillery and air strikes in a bid to prevent another humiliating defeat.

According to local media reports, the KNLA has now chosen to withdraw, citing the possible damage to local civilians and their property as a result of the ongoing fighting. The air and artillery strikes have already driven an estimated 3,000 people to cross the border into Thailand, also reportedly killing seven civilians.

“Currently, we have somewhat withdrawn from the area around Bridge No. 2, where we engaged in battle with the junta forces. The junta’s frequent airstrikes have raised concerns about the safety of locals,” KNU spokesman Padoh Saw Kale Say told the Karen Information Center, a local media organization. “By taking a step back, we can more carefully assess our military situation.”

The spokesperson said the withdrawal began in the early hours of April 21. As a result, junta forces yesterday reoccupied the headquarters of the Infantry Battalion 275 in Myawaddy. The Irrawaddy yesterday published photos of regime troops raising the Myanmar flag at the base.

A report in Karen News states that Myawaddy Township as a whole remains largely under KNU control, but that due to airstrikes and “ongoing complexities in the city” plans to set up a new “people’s government” have been postponed for the time being . being.

This is clearly not the end of the battle for Myawaddy. According to the KNU, the center of the conflict appears to have shifted to the Dawna Mountains, which run north-south and separate Myawaddy and surrounding areas from the city of Kawkareik. According to The Irrawaddy, as many as 1,000 junta troops are now trying to cross the Dawna Mountains from Kawkareik to relieve Myawaddy. The KNU and its allies withdrew from Kawkareik last week and are now concentrating their attacks on the junta’s reinforcements to prevent their arrival in Myawaddy, or weaken them before they get there.

“Now both sides will face each other near the Dawna Mountains,” the news channel quoted Colonel Saw Nal Dar Htoo of KNU’s Brigade 6 as saying.

As the fighting around Myawaddy subsided yesterday, Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara visited the border at Mae Sot, in place of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, where he expressed the government’s willingness to mediate in the current conflict.

“Some initial talks have taken place with various groups, including the Myanmar government and the Myawaddy faction,” Parnpree told reporters in Mae Sot, BenarNews reported. “They have not yet had time to talk to us, but they are aware that we are willing to act as a mediator and comprehensively resolve Myanmar’s problems to quickly restore peace.”

On Monday, Parnpree was appointed by the prime minister as chairman of a special government committee to deal with the crisis in Myanmar, which threatens to spill over the border with Thailand with the battle for Myawaddy.

The big unknown in the unfolding conflict in Kayin State is the position of the Border Guard Force (BGF) which controls part of the territory north of Myawaddy. Earlier this year, the BGF, previously affiliated with the military, announced its break with the junta and renamed itself the Karen National Army (KNA). Led by Colonel Saw Chit Thu, the KNA has a formidable force of 7,000 soldiers armed with weapons including anti-tank missiles and drones. According to a Thai security source quoted by the Bangkok Post, there is now consternation among the top brass of Myanmar’s armed forces that the KNA will turn its guns on the junta.

At the same time, the KNA is no friend of the broader resistance movement. It and the KNU have fraught relations. The BGF/KNA emerged as the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which broke away from the KNU in the mid-1990s and allied with the then military junta. Of greater significance, Saw Chit Thu’s forces have also recently led large-scale criminal racket operations, which have increased as China cracks down on similar operations along its own border with Myanmar. According to the United States Institute for Peace, the BGF did not distance itself from the junta on principle, but simply “to better secure (its) criminal empires.”

So far, the KNA has not become directly involved in the conflict in Myanmar. But reports That it aided the junta’s return to Myawaddy this week suggests that it will sooner or later play a significant role in the fluid conflict dynamics in southeastern Myanmar – if it is not doing so already.