Myanmar ethnic armed group moves into strategic northern town

YANGON – Fighters from Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic minority armed group have moved into a strategic town fought over by the junta and another ethnic armed group for weeks, they and the military said on July 28.

Fighting has rocked Lashio in northern Shan state since early July after the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) renewed an offensive against the military.

On July 25, the MNDAA claimed it had captured the town of around 150,000 people as well as the military’s north-eastern command there – a claim that was denied by the junta.

On July 27, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) – another ethnic minority armed group with greater manpower – moved personnel into Lashio to “protect” the group’s properties there, its spokesman told AFP.

The UWSA is the best-equipped of Myanmar’s dozen or so ethnic rebel groups, with close ties to China, which analysts say supplies much of its weaponry.

It has so far stayed out of the fighting sparked by

the military’s 2021 coup,

which reignited decades-old conflicts with some ethnic minority groups.

“Security members from Wa State entered into Lashio town on the night of the 27th to protect our external relations office and properties in Lashio township,” UWSA spokesman Nyi Rang told AFP.

“Before entering the town, we informed both sides which are fighting and entered smoothly with their approval.”

Wa personnel in Lashio “are not going to intervene, cooperate or give support to the groups which are fighting”, he said.

He did not say how many UWSA fighters were now in the town, or how long they would stay.

The military had “been informed in advance” about the move, the junta’s information team said in a statement, without giving details.

Military sources told AFP on July 28 that the north-eastern command was still under its control.

AFP was unable to reach a spokesman for the MNDAA for comment.

The loss of Lashio and the regional military command would be a huge blow to the junta, which has lost territory to the MNDAA and other armed groups in recent weeks.

In January, the MNDAA captured the city of Laukkai near Myanmar’s border with China after around 2,000 junta troops surrendered, in one of the military’s biggest defeats in decades.

South of Laukkai, the Wa region remains virtually locked off, ringed by checkpoints and tight internal controls, and uses the Chinese renminbi and internet services.

China is a major ally and arms supplier to the junta, but analysts say that it also maintains ties with armed ethnic groups in Myanmar that hold territory near its border.

Beijing was “paying close attention to the situation in northern Myanmar” and urged a halt to the fighting, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a press conference on July 25.

Neither the junta nor the MNDAA have released casualty figures from the fighting in Lashio, which broke out on July 3.

Local rescue groups say dozens of civilians have been killed and wounded. AFP