MYAWADDY, Myanmar
Myawaddy, a critical trading post in Myanmar that rebel forces seized from the ruling junta last week, offers a glimpse of dynamics playing out across the Southeast Asian country as its vaunted military reels from battlefield losses.
At the border town's
outskirts, the site of the most intense fighting, abandoned homes sat next to
buildings pockmarked with bullet holes, gas stations damaged by blasts and
structures flattened by airstrikes, our reporters saw on a visit this week.
Rebels who fought against
junta troops in Myawaddy described a demoralised military that was unwilling to
hold its ground.
"We managed to seize
three bases and control the area in a very short period of time," said Saw
Kaw, a commander of a rebel unit involved in the battle for Myawaddy.
"Then, they fled."
Guards from ethnic militias
until recently loyal to the military administration roamed streets in the town
- normally a conduit for over $1 billion of annual border trade with nearby
Thailand. Those fighters stood aside when forces led by the Karen National
Union (KNU) laid siege in early April.
Our reporter gained rare
access to rebel-held territory on Monday and interviewed seven resistance
officials for this story, alongside three Thai officials with detailed
knowledge of the conflict and four security analysts.
They provided insight into the
delicate diplomacy between armed groups with longstanding rivalries as they
seek to hold key population centres and keep the junta they want to topple on
the backfoot.
will be some of the first to
vote in the seven-phase election on Friday, but campaigning is being held
behind doors due to fears of violence.
The fall of Myawaddy means
that Myanmar's two most important land border crossings are in resistance
hands, after the rebels last year claimed control of Muse, near the Chinese
border.
Rebel successes have now cut
off the cash-strapped junta from almost all the country's major land borders,
with the economy in free-fall and poverty doubling since 2017, according to
U.N. data.
The Thailand-based Institute
for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar (ISP) think-tank said in an estimate after
Myawaddy's fall that the junta has been deprived of 60% of land-based customs
revenue.
It leaves the junta, which has
failed to repel any
major rebel offensive since October, in its weakest
position since its 2021 coup against Aung San Suu Kyi's elected
civilian government, according to analysts.
Neighbours such as Thailand,
who were previously focused on engaging the junta, have started to rethink
their stance on the conflict.
Thai Vice Foreign Minister
Sihask Phuangketkeow told Reuters on Wednesday that Thai security officials
have been in communication with the KNU and other groups and that they were
"open to more dialogue," particularly on humanitarian issues.
"We don't blindly side
with the Myanmar military but because we want peace we have to talk to
them," he said.
A junta spokesperson did not
respond to calls from Reuters seeking comment.
Junta chief Gen. Min Aung
Hlaing has accused rebel groups of seeking to undermine Myanmar's unity through
armed insurgency and his government has called resistance fighters
"terrorists."
The Democratic Karen Buddhist
Army and Karen National Army (KNA), the forces still patrolling parts of
Myawaddy and its vicinity even after they abandoned the junta, did not return
requests for comment. The groups have not pledged loyalty to the resistance.
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