Under pressure from Beijing, rebels left the capital of Shan State, northern Myanmar, although they will remain around the city. Meas fighting continues in the rest of the country, other rebel groups won some victories yesterday and today. Citing the earthquake, the regime suspends tourist visas.

 

Yangon (AsiaNews) – Under pressure from China, the National Democratic Alliance of Myanmar (MNDAA) has agreed to withdraw from Lashio, the capital of Shan State and a strategic military stronghold, which will also be partly controlled by Beijing.

However, MNDAA forces, which have been fighting against the junta since 2021, will remain stationed around the city and in the junta’s main bases, de facto maintaining control over military movements in the area.

“The regime is not allowed to fire a single artillery shell in Lashio,” a source told The Irrawaddy. "If that happens, the MNDAA will immediately return" to the city, which had fallen to the resistance thanks to a joint offensive by ethnic militias in August last year.

Lashio was home to the junta’s North-Eastern Command and its fall to rebel forces highlighted for the first time the military’s difficulties against advancing armed resistance groups.

Still, following the earthquake that hit the country on 28 March, the junta is tightening its control. After banning foreign media, the Ministry of Immigration and Population also suspended all visas for tourists, citing the earthquake as the main cause.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding during this time. A further announcement will be made once the service resumes,” the ministry announced.

Foreign rescue teams need prior authorisation to operate independently in Myanmar, but this is granted if they cooperate with the authorities, the military said last week.

In Lashio, a MNDAA commander will remain to manage the local administrative committee, according to agreements brokered by Beijing, which also provides for a Chinese representative to monitor the situation.

The city's public hospital will also be jointly run by the Chinese government and the United Wa State Army (UWSA), an armed organisation close to Beijing.

Meanwhile, the MNDAA reported the transfer of medical equipment from the hospital in Lashio to the Hsenwi Hospital, which it controls.

China is interested in the city because it is a key trade hub with Myanmar. To put pressure on the MNDAA, it threatened to close all border crossings, on which part of the local population depends.

While Myanmar is facing increasing fragmentation, where each region is administered by a different ethnic militia, Beijing has an interest in stabilising only the border areas that are essential to ensure trade and the development of infrastructure projects.

Fears of reprisals against those who collaborated with the MNDAA administration or joined the Civil Disobedience Movement, the protest movement born after the 2021 military coup, are growing among Lashio residents.

Others fear being forcibly recruited by the military, which recently imposed mandatory military service to boost its ranks, weakened by more than four years of civil war.

Rumours of the MNDAA's forced withdrawal sparked a "silent protest" against Beijing last month, The Irrawaddy reported.

For their part, ethnic militias have scored new victories in Chin State. Yesterday, the Chin Brotherhood, which includes several armed groups, took full control of the city of Falam, after a siege that lasted five months.

According to local sources, rebel forces are still clearing the city, while junta drones and reconnaissance planes continue to fly over the area.

Falam also represents a fundamental strategic hub, located along the land link between the junta’s regional operational command in Kale (Sagaing Region) and that in Hakha, capital of Chin State.

“The seizure of Falam means Kale has been cut off from Hakha on the overland route, so that threatens both positions,” said former captain Zin Yaw, a defector from the military.

After almost nine months of fighting, the Kachin Independence Army today took Indaw, a city in the north of the Sagaing Region (one of the areas most affected by the recent earthquake), on the border with Kachin State.

“Junta fighter jets bombed from the air nonstop, so we resorted to a nighttime raid to seize the base. They (regime troops) suffered significant casualties, and we captured a large haul of weapons and ammunition,” a member of the joint resistance force told a local media.

• myanmar
• china
• chin
• kachin
• sagaing
• falam
• shan
• lashio
• civil war
• junta
• rebel groups