Burma coup resistance notes May 25, 2024
Kachin onslaught approaches state capital; Chin liberate 2 towns; Arakan Army finishes sweep of Buthidaung Township and turns to Maungdaw; Russia delivers more junta hardware.
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Kachin-------------------
The Kachin army launched a pre-dawn attack on 10 junta camps in Waingmaw Township on May 18, between the free Kachin capital of Laiza and the official state capital Myitkyina. By the 3rd day the Kachin had captured all 10 of those and 2 more, including a large base at Kazu on the Banmaw highway that had 200 troops in it. On May 21 they took the main junta camp at the edge of Waingmaw town, just across the Irrawaddy River from Myitkyina city. The Kachin now say they control the entire road between the key cities of Myitkyina and Banmaw, with Laiza in between. (The 74 Media 5/19, Khit Thit Media 5/20, Network Media Group 5/22) Jet bombers have already begun destroying the communities liberated by the Kachin.
Once Waingmaw Township is completely under Kachin control, the Kachin army will be poised to attack Myitkyina city. That would really signal that the end is coming for junta control in the state.
In the ongoing battles in southeast Kachin State, the Kachin seized one of the last 2 junta camps in Mansi Township south of Banmaw. They are still working on the other one and the last one in Momauk Township, just to the east. (Khit Thit Media 5/22) The Kachin provided a list of 105 junta camps and bases captured since their offensive began on March 7.
Chin-------------------
Chinland government forces liberated 2 neighboring towns, Tonzang and Jika, on May 21 after a 6-day assault. Over 100 weapons and 300 million kyats in cash (US$75,000) were captured, and 21 dead troops were found. Aircraft are bombing the town repeatedly, and on May 22 four helicopters dropped 50 junta troops in a nearby village to try to retake Tonzang, but about 40 of those were captured by the Chin the next day, 15 of whom were wounded. The rest fled toward Titain town. (Zalen News 5/20, People’s Spring 5/24) The towns are in the far northwestern Tonzang Township on the Indian border. The Chin and allies liberated another town in the southeast, Jindway, on April 29. Four hundred troops from there fled to Laungshei in Magway Region. (People's Spring 5/25)
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The 38 civilian refugees who were kidnapped by junta troops in Kanpetlet Township of Chin State on May 14 were rescued by Chin forces on May 18. (Mizzima 5/18)
Chin military engineers in Matupi say they have perfected a rocket that has a range of 15 kilometers, demonstrated in video footage. They are calling it the MR1, and are preparing to ramp up production and use it against the remaining junta forces occupying Chin cities. (People's Spring 5/24)
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Arakan-----------------
The Arakan Army finished the liberation of Buthidaung Township in northern Arakan State on May 18, overcoming the last 4 junta battalions and a logistics command in Buthidaung town. Jets bombed the city and killed at least 8 civilians. (Ayeyarwaddy Times, Mizzima 5/19) The AA then turned its attention to eradicating junta positions in Maungdaw town and completing its solid sweep of northern Arakan State. Two border police barracks were the main objectives remaining. (The Irrawaddy E 5/22)
As the AA advances on junta positions in southern Thandwe Township and the fighting intensifies, at least 10 rotting junta soldier corpses have been spotted floating down the Linthee River. (Khit Thit Media 5/22) In a village called Shwe Hlay, the AA killed more than 30 junta troops and captured dozens of rifles, mortar rounds, grenades, other weapons, and ammunition, on May 22. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 5/23)
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Sensitive to accusations that it shares the junta’s racist policies toward the Muslim Rohingya people, the AA announced that it rescued 166 Rohingya men, women, and children who were fleeing a junta terrorist raid into their village in Maung Daw Township on May 18, and published propaganda photos of female AA soldiers carrying Rohingya babies. (Khit Thit Media 5/20) The junta has been forcibly recruiting Rohingya men and sending them to fight the Arakan Army, where they have died in large numbers. The regime has also been trying to foment inter-ethnic hatred, forcing Rohingyas to attend anti-AA rallies, and handing out guns to Rohingya militias with encouragements to attack the AA.
During the battle of Buthidaung, Rohingya Muslims were killed by both sides. Junta airstrikes killed 12, and 18 more died when the Arakan Army bombed a high school where Rohingyas from 20 villages were taking shelter from the fighting. It isn’t clear why the AA bombed the school, a war crime normally perpetrated by the junta military. (Mizzima E 5/20) Reports have also emerged about Arakan Army looting and destroying thousands of Rohingya homes and mosques, and ordering all Rohingyas out of Buthidaung after the AA took over on May 18, causing displacement of tens of thousands. This may supposedly be in retribution for Rohingya armed groups like ARSA accepting weapons from the Naypyitaw junta to attack the AA. If so, it would imply a success for the junta’s divide-and-conquer campaign in Arakan State. (DVB English 5/22 https://english.dvb.no/rohingya-residents-of-buthidaung-township-flee-arakan-army)
136 Arakan State civil society groups signed a joint letter on May 22 urging the Arakan Army, as the current authority in northern Arakan State, to treat the Rohingya fairly and avoid or prevent any more attacks on the Rohingya population such as the burning of homes and intentional displacement of civilians in Buthidaung Township. (Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica 5/22)
Kawthoolei-----------------
After surrounding and cutting off an isolated junta camp at Puchimu in Kaw T’Ree Township of Dooplaya District since March, Karen army Brigade 6 stormed it on May 17. About 100 troops had been in the camp; after about 20 were killed, the rest fled. The Karen captured 48 of them including the commander. Another 31 crossed the border into Thailand, where the Thai military regime helped them get back to their army in Myawaddy, even though Burma civil society organizations demanded that they be prosecuted for murder. Those troops killed 4 Karen civilians before reaching the border, including a pregnant mother. Puchimu was the last junta camp near Kyaikdon, which fell to the Karen in March. (The Irrawaddy E 5/22)
In the ongoing saga of the junta’s Aung Zeya armored column trying to break through to Myawaddy along the Asia Highway, it is still stuck on the western side of the Dawna Range, falling back again toward Kaw T’Ree every time it makes any small progress. The National Unity Government says it has lost 431 of its 1200 soldiers killed in the 6 weeks since it reached Kaw T’Ree, and 241 were wounded and 57 surrendered. On the Karen side, 32 have been killed and 134 wounded. (Mizzima E 5/21 https://eng.mizzima.com/2024/05/20/10077) The convoy is turning into an expensive fiasco for the junta, which can hardly afford losses on this scale.
Meanwhile at the Chinese-run international scam and human trafficking hub of Shwe Kokkol, 20 km north of Myawaddy, whole planeloads of Chinese continue to arrive, and new construction continues. The junta-aligned splinter militia BGF, which protects and profits from Shwe Kokkol, issued a paper-warning for foreign scam operators to leave by the end of October, but that was apparently for appearances only, to appease the Chinese government which wants the lucrative crime hub shut down because it targets Chinese citizens. (Karen Information Center 5/22) Chinese pressure also prompted the Thai government to cut off the electricity and internet connections to Shwe Kokkol, which is on the Thai border, but the BGF switched to generators and the junta-owned Mytel communications network. Like its BGF affiliate, the Naypyitaw junta also profits from the crime hub.
Karen forces sabotaged another bridge on the Yangon-Mawlamyaing highway in Bilin Township on May 23, following the one made nearly impassable near Thaton on May 13. (Than Lwin Khet News 5/23) The Karen are trying to prevent any more junta troops or vehicles joining the Aung Zeya convoy on the Asia Highway.
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Karenni-----------------
The junta declared that it will re-open schools in Karenni State. The junta has no schools in Karenn State. They are all controlled by Karenni resistance forces. In fact the junta drops bombs on schools from aircraft. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 5/18)
Shan State-----------------
Despite a May 3 verbal statement vowing to participate in the Spring Revolution, the northern Shan militia called the SSPP did the opposite on May 17, joining the junta and the Wa ethnic army (UWSA) to attack its nemesis, the southern Shan RCSS militia. (Shwe Phee Myay 5/18) The Shan have shown from the beginning that they are more interested in fighting each other than ending the dictatorship. The Wa are effectively independent and uninterested in Burma’s situation, but will act when an opportunity presents itself to enlarge their territory. This story is ironic in that the RCSS, which is more of an armed drug cartel than an ethnic militia, has tacitly supported the junta since the 2021 attempted coup, but was attacked by it in this instance. The cause of the outbreak of fighting isn’t stated.
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
On May 18 a PDF coalition attacked a junta police barracks and Pyu Saw Htee terrorist camp with a strength of 30 in Linzin town, Salin Township, Magway Region in the early morning. They fired for an hour and a half and entered the camp, killing 21 troops and Pyu Saw Htee. The junta then sent a truckload of reinforcements, which was hit by a roadside bomb; 7 more died out of 20. The PDF retreated. (Myaelatt Athan 5/21)
That day also, 70 junta troops invaded a village in Myinchan Township of Mandalay Region and were ambushed by PDFs who killed 10 of them and wounded others. (Khit Thit Media 5/23)
When a column of 200 junta troops invaded a village in Mindon Township of Magway Region on May 19, they were first attacked with roadside bombs in their vehicles. When they continued on foot, PDFs fired on them. In the 2 encounters, 20 or more junta troops were killed, according to the PDF. The troops then drove the villagers away and pillaged their homes and shops. (Mizzima 5/19)
The same day in Yesajo Township of Magway Region, 300 junta troops invaded a village and a PDF camp, killing 7 civilians from the village and burning 37 houses. They seized some ammunition, food, a vehicle, and some other belongings of the PDF. All the PDF soldiers are safe, however. (Myaelatt Athan 5/22) This came 2 days after the troops raided another PDF camp and got badly mauled in an ambush.
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PDF Battalion 3501 based in Taungoo Township of Bago Region fought a 3-hour battle against junta troops in a village there on May 23, killing 15 troops and wounding 3 others. (Khit Thit Media 5/24)
A PDF fired five 107mm shock missiles into one of the junta’s boot camps for training its new forced conscripts in Shwebo Township of Sagaing Region on May 24. They hit the training center and the armory and killed 2 junta troops, as well as disrupting the training. (People's Spring 5/24) Resistance forces have targeted the forced conscription drive in a variety of ways.
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Junta decline------------------
How long will it be until we start hearing instances of forcibly-recruited youths turning their guns on their junta commanders, and staging mutinies? It is known that the junta doesn’t trust the unwilling new recruits and limits their access to live ammunition. At some point, however, for those recruits to fight the resistance forces, they have to be given bullets, and the officers won’t be able to watch every one of them every minute. Stay tuned.
In Shan State, a majority of the forced conscripts in the junta’s latest military training are described as “unemployed drug addicts and thieves.” There was a comment to the effect that some of the addicts joined the army because drugs are easily available at the front lines, being handed out by the junta with other supplies. (Mekong News 5/19) Families in Taunggyi who want to spare their sons from conscription can pay bribes of 120,000 kyats, so then someone else will be chosen instead. (Network Media Group 5/22)
There were reports again this week of assassinations of local junta administrators involved in military recruitment, this time in Bago Region.
Terrorism--------------------
The junta is killing political prisoners through starvation and denial of medical care. Five prisoners died in Loikaw prison recently from malnutrition, and others are in danger of death. (Mekong News 5/23) It was already known that the water supply to the women’s section of the Kyaikmaraw prison was broken and not repaired, resulting in health damage to political prisoners, and 2 women were raped there (The Irrawaddy B 5/24).
A May 24 report in DVB English says the junta has been paying a Rohingya organization to kidnap Rohingya youths from refugee camps on the Bangladesh side for forced recruitment into the junta army. Around 30 people have been abducted in this way so far. (https://english.dvb.no/rohingya-armed-group-accused-of-forced-recruitment-civil-society-groups-condemn-attacks-in-arakan/)
More information has come to light from a witness of the May 11 massacre in Lettuttaw, Sagaing Region. The village was divided; it had a People’s Defense Force, but a majority were long-time military supporters. The PDF leader received a prior warning of the junta attack and shared it, but the regime supporters ignored it, thinking they would be spared. As a result, the victims were overwhelmingly pro-junta. Apparently the regime blamed the village for roadside bombings in the area, which includes a main highway. When troops and Pyu Saw Htee terrorists entered the village shooting, those who had ignored the warning gathered at the Buddhist monastery for shelter, but the troops ordered the men out and systematically shot them. Two women were also murdered. A total of 34 people were killed in cold blood. The witness survived by playing dead. The killers threatened that if there were any more bombings in the area, they would come back and exterminate all the women and children as well. (The Irrawaddy E 5/24)
In Hlaingthaya Township of Yangon, junta troops suddenly showed up in a neighborhood with weapons and heavy equipment on May 24. They ordered everyone to drop what they were doing and leave, then they demolished 300 homes and a temple, including a giant Buddha statue that they crushed with a backhoe. The homeless residents and monks fled with nothing, and were not given any compensation or alternative residence. (Khit Thit Media 5/25)
Political and economic-------------------
Now that Laos has taken over the rotating chairmanship of the ASEAN regional bloc from Indonesia, the organization is back in the hands of its authoritarian caucus. One-party communist Laos, assisted by military-ruled Thailand, is ushering the illegal Naypyitaw regime back into the fold of ASEAN politics, after democratic Indonesia had sidelined it for a year. Already officers from Burma’s terrorist regime are co-chairing ASEAN meetings. (Mizzima 5/19) This division between dictatorships and democracies is the main reason ASEAN is unable to do anything meaningful and is often called a “toothless talking shop.”
Two Russian cargo jets are in Naypyitaw to drop off a large amount of “military equipment” (no details). (Khit Thit Media 5/25) Russia has been the top supplier of military equipment to the illegal regime in Burma, while China has supplied most surveillance and control technologies.
India, another enabler of the genocidal regime in Naypyitaw, sent a top-level air force delegation that spent 4 days collaborating with the force that has been committing war crimes by bombing schools, hospitals, religious buildings, refugee camps, and civilian communities. (People's Spring 5/25)
The economic crisis resulting from the 2021 attempted coup has driven the kyat currency (MMK) to over 4,000 to the US dollar again, and once again the junta is threatening currency and gold traders who use the current rates. (The Irrawaddy B 5/19) The economically illiterate generals are still trying to control markets by force. At the time of the attempted coup the kyat was worth 1,300 to the dollar, so it has lost 2/3 of its value.
In a related matter, the financially-strapped regime has more than doubled electricity bills at a time when there is very little electricity available. In industrial wards of Yangon there is electricity for only 2 hours per day. (Khit Thit Media 5/19)
Construction projects have stopped for lack of labor. Since the junta started forced conscription, thousands of workers have been kidnapped by troops, while thousands more fled into hiding, joined resistance forces, or left country. (Mizzima 5/19)
-စီၤ ထံဆၢ