An announcement by the Myanmar junta in its mouthpiece newspapers on Monday encouraging soldiers who have deserted or gone AWOL (absent without leave) to return to their barracks has further exposed the frailty of the regime’s military amid an expanding nationwide resistance offensive.
In the announcement the junta says soldiers that return will be exonerated from any minor crimes they may have committed. The announcement doesn’t specify what the minor offenses are.
The regime says its offer to take the soldiers back was being made “at their request,” but the claim has been widely dismissed, as the Myanmar military is known to have been seriously depleted since the 2021 putsch, thanks to a recruitment crisis, desertions and heavy casualties suffered in daily clashes with resistance forces.
A sergeant who is currently serving in the Myanmar military and who has taken part in earlier arrests of deserters said that not only have many soldiers already deserted, but “Even the soldiers [still] in the military earnestly wish to flee. Those who have deserted will never return.” He added that in his experience, deserters who are arrested typically run away again after their punishment is completed. “No one wants to serve in a military with such capricious leadership. I have never heard of such an announcement before.”
Since last year, the regime has drawn up lists of deserters and sent notices to their homes, ordering them to return to duty or face punishment. It has also recalled veterans, threatening to suspend their pensions if they don’t return.
The civilian National Unity Government (NUG) said over 20,000 soldiers and police have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement over the past two years.
From late October to Nov. 30, the Myanmar regime lost 19 towns and 303 outposts across the country to the resistance offensive. Hundreds of junta soldiers have surrendered in northern Shan, Chin, Mon, Karenni (Kayah) and Rakhine states. In Kokang in northern Shan State, three junta battalions—infantry battalions 125 and 143, and Light Infantry Battalion 129—surrendered in their entirety.
Meanwhile, the NUG and the Brotherhood Alliance—a group of three ethnic armed organizations fighting the regime in Shan and Rakhine states and other parts of the country—have urged junta personnel to surrender, promising that they will be treated humanely and offering them a safety guarantee.
Since the Brotherhood Alliance launched its Operation 1027 offensive in late October, the regime has reportedly stepped up conscription, and has allegedly resorted to forcing family members of existing personnel to undergo military training.
