On 22 June 2024, Gen. Bee Htoo, Commander of the Karenni Army (KA) and defense advisor to the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) in an interview with “Transborder News” explained about the armed conflict in Karenni between the KA and the Myanmar Army under the State Administration Council (SAC). According to him, in Loikaw, the capital city of Karenni, which has been sieged by the revolutionary armed forces led by the Karenni Army for several months, reinforcement has been made by the Myanmar Army with several hundreds of troops and with the use of quite efficient and new drones. The drones were sent in to bomb the Karenni solders prompting them to spread their forces thin and reshape in a guerrilla warfare. The Myanmar troops managed to make inroads to industrial area of Loikaw which had previously seized by the Karenni Army for quite some time. Right now, wars are raging in Loikaw every day.  

According to the Karenni military commander, the Myanmar Army resorted to mobilizing existing troops from various battalions together with solders from the Pa-o National Organization (PNO), a newly and inexperienced formed armed group which is on the payroll of the Myanmar Army working “like militia for Myanmar.”  Nonetheless, there remain about four or five military barracks belonging to Myanmar while the other 16 barracks spreading around, about 70% of them have been retaken by the revolutionary forces which adopt the guerrilla warfare.

Gen. Bee Htoo further said that in Mae Jae, we managed to siege a lot of ammunition and K120 shells. Despite being in the rainy season, the wars are still raging incessantly. Meanwhile, at Pha Song Camp of the Myanmar Army, the reinforcement has been recently doubled. “In the first round, they lost 16 troops, and second round, 107. They were completely done. We managed to capture 58 solders including the battalion’s commander, his two deputies and three Captains.”

Asked if there are still people living in Loikaw, Gen. Bee Htoo replied that there are some people there, as they had been allowed to returned by the Myanmar Army. We cannot guarantee their safety since the area has been heavily mined by the Myanmar Army. Some got caught while tending to their farms. Similarly, in Demoso, it is heavily mined. We tried the demining and managed to recover at least 460 mines. Previously, Loikaw was highly populated, but people have fled following the armed conflict. They have sought their hiding in the North, the East, and the West while some manage to receive humanitarian assistance, albeit insufficient. Right now, they live in several pockets in a very precarious situation.  

“They shelled us using drones. Two hospitals were bombed. They never cared if these were medical facilities. They shelled close to Ya Mo military barrack and Do Nu Ku displaced person camp.  They intentionally bombed us and attacked the people. Luncikily, we managed to intercept their radio communications just beforehand, and it helped us to evacuate in time, just 15 minutes before the attack. The students could run away from their dormitories before the shelling, Only the janitor was left dead there,” said Gen. Bee Htoo.

Asked that at present, the revolutionary forces have managed to occupy all the border crossings close to Thailand, how will they manage these crossings? Gen. Bee Htoo said that the border trade is still impeded. We have laid down some provisional governance with the Karenni State Interim Executive Council (Karenni IEC) to be in charge of the border crossings serving as the immigration authority.  

“Karenni is home to various armed groups including the KNSO, the KNPLF, the PDF, the KNDF, us, the KA. It is not stable to let each one of them to control the area on their own. Therefore, the Karenni IEC has been established to take charge of the overall situation. Right now, we start to deploy police forces beginning with around 400-500, who have received proper training,” said the KA commander.  

Asked about the protracted armed conflict and its ramification on the governing plan by the Karenni IEC, Gen. Bee Htoo said there shall be no implication since most of the armed conflicts take place in urban area, but we manage to retain the governance since people living in the surrounding area. Many are still living in hiding in the forests, hundreds of thousand of them.  

Asked since the Karenni’s border towns are located close to Myanmar’s capital city, Naypyidaw, is there any possibility to launch an offensive to area in its close proximity, Gen. Bee Htoo said that the Myanmar Army is very concerned about this since it only takes four hours to travel along the border route from Karenni to Naypyidaw. Therefore, they are focused on shelling Loikaw and tried to restore their occupation.  

“Between the Karenni’s border and Naypyidaw, there remain several armed groups including the KNU’s Brigade 2, which used to collaborate with us and there is strategic spot at Lawpita Dam, which is very critical. Even though the dam is situated close to Loikaw, but the residents cannot use its electricity since it has been sent to Yangon. Due to our protracted demands, the power was also eventually fed to Mae Jae. But there is no more electricity. The Lawpita Dam was built by the Japanese,” said Gen. Bee Htoo.

Asked again if the revolutionary forces plan to launch an offensive to siege Naypyidaw, Gen. Bee Htoo said that this has to be gradually done. Right now, the KNU forces manage to progress to Bago with active fighting in various areas where the inroads have been made. In addition, the offensive has been carried out by the PDF, as well.  

“Only in the past few weeks, I have received reports that the Myanmar troops have distributed methamphetamine in Karenni State. They had brought it in through Shan State to hand out free of charge to the villagers together with other merchandise and merchants from other areas. We managed to arrest one of the merchants, a Chinese descendant, 52, who trafficked in 8,000 methamphetamine pills mixed with other merchandise. We tried to crack down on them, but cannot arrest all of them. I think it is a part of their strategy to destroy us using the methamphetamine. We send clear instructions to our solders to stay away from the drug, otherwise they will face severe sanctions,” said Gen. Bee Htoo.

This is a translation of the original Thai article, https://transbordernews.in.th/home/?p=38961

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