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Burma coup resistance notes September 28, 2024
Resistance rejects another phony junta peace offer; British documentary from Karenni wins Emmy Award; India opens talks with NUG, Arakan, & Kachin.
Operation 10/27 Second Wave-------------------
The Ta’ang army (TNLA) launched an offensive on Sept. 22 to clear out 3 remaining junta battalions north of the liberated town of Thibaw. On Sept. 27 it took 2 of them after intercepting reinforcements sent to support them. The remnant battalions have been surrounded and stranded, and are now tens of kilometers behind the front line, so the Ta’ang want them out. (The Irrawaddy B 9/22, 9/27)
Kawthoolei-------------------
As the junta’s Aung Zeya column continues to try to retake the Asia Highway between Kaw T’Ree and Myawaddy, the Karen army surrounded part of the column in the Dawna Mountains, after which 30 junta troops fled, according to a Sept. 27 report. The junta continued to send weapons and ammunition after they ran away, due to loss of communication. Meanwhile, the junta is training local civilian militias in Kruh Tu (Kyondo). (Salween Press 9/27)
Karen armed splinter groups continue to pose a problem for the Kawthoolei government (KNU) and armed forces (KNLA/KNDO). Already the pro-junta BGF and DKBA factions have been building a new organized crime hub in the Dooplaya-Thailand border town of Xrotherpler (3 pagodas). Now a breakaway DKBA sub-factional warlord calling himself “Lieutenant B” is building an armed camp in front of a KNU school in Windayei in Doo Tha Htoo District, which is scaring students and their families from attending. “Lt. B” is proceeding anyway. (Karen Information Center 9/26) These renegade armed factions will have to be dealt with by the KNU and Karen army at some poin, most likely after the immediate danger of the junta has been resolved.
During 2023 the junta started construction on a large new prison in Zeeja village near Tavoy in Beit-Tavoy District, but work stopped after Karen PDFs destroyed worker barracks and equipment. Now the junta has sent troops into the area and is bombing nearby villages with drones. Troops are occupying Maung Mae Shaung near Zeeja. (Tanintharyi Times 9/26) The area has been the scene of frequent PDF attacks on junta troops throughout the war.
Further south in Lei Mu Lah (Tanintharyi) Township, a running battle between the Karen army with allied PDFs vs. a column of 300 junta troops ran from Sept. 4 to the 22. At least 30 troops died during the fighting and 40+ were wounded. Various weapons were captured. A Karen soldier also died and 11 were wounded. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 9/26) Then on Sept. 25 Karen forces stormed the Thindaw camp on the Thai border, sending the 150 troops there fleeing. This was a base camp that supported several others nearby. (Khit Thit Media 9/28)
Male workers at a junta-owned cement factory outside of Pa’an city are being kidnapped and forced into military training. The factory employes about 300 workers, down from 600 before the 2021 coup attempt. (Local sources 9/26)
Karenni-----------------
The British Sky News documentary 'Last Hospital: 30 Days in Myanmar' won an Emmy Award for documentaries. It highlights the work of war medics and CDM doctors in the jungle in Karenni State and documents war crimes committed by the terrorist regime. The filming was facilitated by the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force and the Free Burma Rangers humanitarian group. (People's Spring 9/27) The film is viewable here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uytfF9Nt60w
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
A column of 120 junta troops and Pyu Saw Htee terrorists invaded a PDF camp in Myinchan Township of Mandalay Region at dawn on Sept. 27, initially driving the PDF soldiers back. Fellow PDF battalions then came to the rescue, killing 18 troops and Pyus and causing the rest to flee. (Khit Thit Media 9/27)
In the Sept. 19 PDF takeover of a junta/Pyu Saw Htee camp in Chaung Oo Township of Sagaing Region, it is now reported that 15 troops were killed and more than 30 including the commander were captured alive, along with many weapons. (Khit Thit Media 9/22) PDFs also captured Pyu Saw Htee camps in Magway Region’s Yesajo Township and Sagaing’s Tantse Township on Sept. 24. (People's Spring 9/24) Since the Pyus terrorize and destroy neighboring villages, the elimination of their camps renders those villages safe.
Junta decline------------------
In a tacit acknowledgement of the illegal regime’s military weakness, dictator Min Aung Hlaing on Sept. 26 called on PDFs and ethnic armies to abandon their armed campaign and “solve the country’s problems in a political way” by converting to political parties and contesting the sham election that the dictator still dreams of holding in 2025. There are renewed attempts to collect voter census data in the shrinking area the junta still controls. The dictator attached the preposterous precondition that the combatants disarm themselves, and he excluded the democratic National Unity Government from the “offer,” signaling that he is still attempting to divide the opposition. Already the Kawthoolei government (KNU) has rejected the spurious junta overture, and the Chin National Front called it a ploy. (All news outlets, KNU 9/26)
The last time the dictator invited the ethnic armies to fake “peace talks,” he excluded the PDFs and was rejected out of hand. In any case the military’s history of lying during negotiations and violating agreements means any such “offer” is impossible to take seriously, except perhaps by China. The continued bombing of civilians and attacks on resistance forces is another barrier to being taken seriously.
On Sept. 23 fighting broke out between junta troops and some of the 6 criminal armed gangs that normally collude with the regime in the enclave of Muse in northern Shan State, a border city that is the main trading gate with China in peacetime. Shooting started when, under pressure from China, the junta troops reportedly moved to close down an organized crime center of the militias. A junta battalion commander and a police chief were wounded. Hundreds of people were arrested including about 100 Chinese nationals working in the crime center. (People's Spring 9/23, 9/24) There are still junta forces in Muse city, but all of the surrounding territory was liberated by the Ta’ang ethnic army (TNLA) during the first Operation 10/27 in late 2023. Muse has historically been home to rampant cross-border smuggling, human trafficking, and other organized crime, where gangs collaborate with corrupt police and army units.
Terrorism--------------------
The junta has been intensively bombing liberated cities including Lashio and Thibaw in northern Shan State and Thandwe in Arakan State, and contested ones like Mindat in Chin State. The airstrikes are killing and injuring civilians and destroying buildings. An airstrike on a refugee shelter in Thandwe massacred 14 civilians and injured 25 seriously on Sept. 26; most casualties were elderly and children. The same day, jets bombed and destroyed a Buddhist monastery in Nwatoji in Mandalay Region. Moreover, the strikes cause tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes and live as refugees. It is a stated component of dictator Min Aung Hlaing’s strategy to destroy places the junta cannot control.
Russia delivered another planeload of equipment to the illegal military regime on Sept. 20. A jumbo IL76 cargo plane from Russia touched down in Naypyitaw and spent several hours offloading unknown hardware, then returned. (Khit Thit Media 9/23) The Yakovlev and Sukhoi jets used in the junta’s air terror campaign were supplied by Russia, and they require replacement parts and supplies.
Ambulance services in Thanphyuzayat have stopped after junta troops kidnapped a number of their volunteers. (Than Lwin Times 9/27)
Political and economic-------------------
The United Nations Deputy Commissioner of Human Rights urged UN agencies and the ASEAN regional bloc to bypass the terrorist junta and interact directly with pro-democracy forces such as the National Unity Government, ethnic homeland governments, and local organizations which in fact control a majority of the country and provide services to citizens. (People's Spring 9/26) This is in the context of international donations for Cyclone Yagi flood relief.
The Indian government officially invited the Burma’s National Unity Government and the Kachin and Arakan homeland governments to an international forum, the Indian Council of World Affairs, in New Delhi. The Chin government also says it will send delegates. The discussion, to be attended by India’s Foreign Minister SJ Shankar, will focus on constitutional and federal issues. The illegal Naypyitaw junta has not yet been invited, though India has maintained warm relations with the rogue regime and has supplied weapons. (Zalen News 9/24) The Kachin and Chin homelands border on India, and New Delhi has been building a transit route connecting its isolated northeast region with the sea through now-liberated territory in Chin and Arakan States.
Even though rice shortages are causing soaring prices, long queues, and rationing, the cash-strapped regime increased August rice exports by 300% over the same period in 2023, generating US$97 million in funds for its terror campaign. Most of the exports went to China, which also funds the illegal regime in other ways.
-စီၤ ထံဆၢ