Myanmar’s military regime has begun arming local militias in Bago Region, which borders Naypyitaw, the junta’s administrative capital and its last fortress against the rising resistance.
The regime supplied arms, military equipment and food for militias in Pyay in the west of Bago and Taungoo in the east, on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to junta media.
Unlike ethnic states such as Kachin and Shan, there have never been armed militias in Bago. Hence, the Bago supplies were meant for junta-affiliated vigilante groups known as Pyu Saw Htee, said an ethnic affairs analyst.
The regime has been forced to transfer the majority of its troops in Bago Region to the front line in Karen and Karenni (Kayah) states, and is therefore arming Pyu Saw Htee groups there to make up for the gap, said the analyst.
Pyay in western Bago is close to the resistance stronghold of Magwe Region while Taungoo in eastern Bago is adjacent to Karen State, where Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armed organization (EAO), the Karen National Union, and People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) are actively fighting the regime. Resistance forces and junta troops recently clashed in eastern Bago including Taungoo, directly threatening Naypyitaw.
Following the attacks, a team of junta officials led by Naypyitaw Council member Colonel Min Naung has been soliciting support from local residents in the administrative capital by providing them with food supplies and healthcare services.
With his regime embroiled in a multi-front war against EAOs and PDFs, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing wooed local militias in northern Shan State on September 10. The junta chief acknowledged them as important forces “assisting the regime in national security.”
The ceremonies to hand over weapons and food in Pyay and Taungoo were attended by senior military officers including the chief of Southern Command, Brigadier-General Kyi Thaik.
Kyi Thaik oversees Htantabin, Okpho, Natalin, Paungde, and Paukkaung townships in Bago where the regime has imposed martial law. Kyi Thaik reportedly began conscripting locals into militias in some of the townships last month.
Min Aung Hlaing has admitted that the fighting with EAOs and PDFs is a challenge to his plan to hold so-called elections in certain regions including Bago.
