Myanmar Spring Chronicle – March 26 Scenes
MoeMaKa, March 27 2023
Fighting continues in Myawaddy and Kawkareik Townships
An attack by some Karen armed groups and PDF joint forces from Myawaddy Township and Kawkareik Township of Karen State to take over military council battalions, trade zones, police stations, etc., which started on March 25, resulted in widespread fighting.
There were clashes between the military council troops and joint forces of Karen armed groups and PDFs in some places, including Kyondoe, Thingannyinaung, the BGF Border Guard Station, the section of Asia Road between Myawaddy and Kawkareik, and the trade zone outside Myawaddy.
Thai-Myanmar border friendship bridge No. 1 was also closed on the day of the battle, but was reopened on March 26, according to news reports. The military council also released a statement saying that Karen armed groups and PDF joint forces burned down the camp where goods are stored and transported back to Myanmar and Thailand, as well as the camp that inspects goods exported from Thailand and imported from Thailand. The Albino Tiger Column, one of the columns under the DKBA breakaway group, Klo Htoo Baw, has also issued a letter prohibiting civilians from passing through Kyondoe Township and Myawaddy-Kawkareik Road starting on the 25th.
It has been reported in the news that some local civilians have been killed due to the military council’s artillery firing and aerial attack on Kawkareik and Kyondoe. A few days before the annual March 27 Anti-Fascist Resistance Day (called Armed Forces Day by them) held by the military council, fierce armed clashes broke out in some areas of Karen State.
The areas where KNU and other Karen armed organizations are based in Karen State are the areas where the People’s Defense Forces (PDF) from lower and central Myanmar go to learn military training, as well as being a link and route to purchase weapons. For the PDF groups in upper Sagaing, upper Magway, Kachin and Chin states, they get and buy weapons through ethnic armed groups based in northern Myanmar. As for the rest of the PDF groups, they mainly rely on the areas in Shan bordering Thailand, Kayah and areas controlled by the Karen armed groups.
The military council seems to be implementing a strategy to control the border trade route of Karen State and attack the armed groups that are providing assistance in military training and arms procurement of the PDFs described above.
After December 2021, there have been frequent clashes in Myawaddy Township, Kawkareik Township, and Kyainseikgyi Township in Karen State, some of which have lasted for weeks. There were cases where border trade routes were closed for weeks. Thailand wants to keep the Myawaddy-Kawkareik trade route open for its own exports and imports from Myanmar, and does not want frequent armed clashes in the border area. However, Thailand has yet to publicly pressurize the Karen armed organizations. There were discussions on border security between the military council and the committee.
In Karen State, when the military council forces are under threat and attack on their mobile bases, trading posts, and border trade routes, in the eastern part of Demoso Township, which is the Karenni region, there are also reports that some of the military council’s offensive columns have been almost completely demolished, resulting in casualties and the loss of weapons.
Although the military council is not yet in a frenzy of fire, there is a possibility that such battles may occur in different parts of the country before the rainy season.