Anti-regime forces have captured key towns in eastern Myanmar on the Thai border where the Karen National Union (KNU) has negotiated the surrender of hundreds of military soldiers, as the United Nations announced the appointment of a special envoy.
The KNU said it had accepted the surrender of a battalion based in the town of Thanganyinaung, late on April 5. It moved about 10 kilometers west towards Myawaddy over the weekend where hundreds of junta troops are based and were calling on them to lay down their arms.
Myawaddy shares an international border with Mae Sot in Thailand and is a key transport route for goods in and out of Myanmar and trade with Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city about 400 km away.
“Not many people have been hurt because the military surrendered and about 700 soldiers and their families have been moved to safe ground. KNU-PDF [People’s Defence Force] are now in control of more than 40 percent of Myawaddy but airstrikes by military jets are continuing,” a PDF source said.
She said the military had cut phone and internet lines into Myawaddy forcing locals to rely on Thailand for wifi connections. Overall, the KNU and its Karen National Liberation Army were consolidating and were “happy and celebrating” their victory.
The loss of the Myawaddy frontier is a serious blow for the junta, which has suffered a series of battlefield defeats since the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and the PDF launched their dry season offensive about five months ago.
Some 20 EAOs and the PDF — the armed wing of the National Unity Government (NUG) — have effectively encircled the military led by Gen. Min Aung Hlaing around the Yangon to Naypyidaw corridor. Hlaing seized control of the country in early 2021, sparking a civil war.
Elsewhere, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) continued mopping up after claiming control of the last junta outpost along a 60 km stretch of road leading to the Chinese frontier in Kachin state and had captured more than 10 junta soldiers over the weekend.
It also said it had seized Ganhtak camp from the military after three days of attacks on the Bhamo-Mandalay road.
The Arakan Army, in the west, added it had seized the headquarters of the Light Infantry Battalion 564 in Buthidaung Township, Rakhine State, by late April 5 after five days of attacks. Over 80 junta soldiers were killed, it said.
The PDF source also said people aged under 35 were continuing to flee conscription in Myanmar by crossing into Mae Sot and often in an orderly fashion.
“There’s a bus stop in Myawaddy that can transport about 200 people a day into Mae Sot and the buses are running at capacity,” she said.
The latest victories for the EAOs-PDF came as United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop as the UN Special Envoy on Myanmar. The appointment followed a request made by Britain last month.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Bishop would bring a wealth of experience to the role, and her appointment comes at a critical time as the political, humanitarian and security situation in Myanmar continues to worsen.
“The people of Myanmar continue to demonstrate great resolve in the face of unspeakable violence and human rights abuses, and Australia remains resolute in our support for them,” she said, noting Bishop would play a vital support role in coordinating a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
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