The Myanmar military regime has branded the three ethnic armed organizations that comprise the Brotherhood Alliance as “terrorist groups” after suffering a series of humiliating battlefield defeats and losing swathes of territory to the ethnic armies.
In a statement on Monday, the military regime accused the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Arakan Army (AA)—the latter is the armed wing of the United League of Arakan—of conducing “terrorist acts” including bombing civilian areas and destroying state-owned infrastructure and buildings.
The military junta also accused the ethnic armies of killing innocent civilians and conducting forced recruitment.
The regime has committed war crimes and crimes against humanity including massacring civilians, burning villages and bombarding residential areas across the country since it staged a military coup in February 2021.
By designating the armed groups as terrorist organizations, the military regime rules out engaging in dialogue or peace talks with them. It also means that China can no longer host peace talks between the regime’s military and the ethnic alliance, as it has done in the past.
During a visit to the headquarters of the Myanmar military’s Eastern Command in Taunggyi, the capital of southern Shan State, on Tuesday, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing also warned that anyone with ties to the ethnic alliance must be regarded as supporters of terrorism.
Along with allied resistance groups including People’s Defense Force units (PDFs) under the civilian National Unity Government (NUG), the Brotherhood Alliance launched a major offensive, dubbed Operation 1027, in October last year, attacking regime targets across northern Shan State.
Since then, the alliance has seized almost the whole of northern Shan State, capturing around 25 towns including Lashio, the capital of northern Shan. Fighting continues in Nawnghkio Township near Mandalay Region’s Pyin Oo Lwin, a junta garrison town. The TNLA and allied resistance groups are currently attempting to seize the junta’s remaining bases in Nawnghkio’s Taung Hkam Village.
Meanwhile, the AA has seized almost the whole of Rakhine State in western Myanmar since it widened Operation 1027 to the state in November last year.
After losing control of the territory, the junta has been bombing towns and villages in the liberated areas of Rakhine and northern Shan states, killing civilians and destroying civilian buildings.
A military analyst who closely monitors nationwide resistance attacks told The Irrawaddy that by declaring them as terrorist groups the military junta was taking a more aggressive stance toward the ethnic alliance.
However, he said the move would have no effect on the ethnic armies, as the international community does not recognize the junta’s declarations.
The analyst added that in taking the step, the junta was likely looking to secure more military assistance from Russia, as the regime and Moscow are cooperating on “counterterrorism”.
In late July, Khin Yi, the chair of the junta military’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party, asked Russia to recognize the armed conflict in the country as a war against terrorism and to help the regime fight it.
In May 2021, the junta declared the NUG, its parliamentary committee and the PDF as “terrorist groups” for what it called “acts of incitement” against the regime.
The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), which formed the NUG, in March 2021 declared the military regime a “terrorist group” for ousting the democratically elected government and committing violence in the country.
An independent group of former United Nations human rights observers, the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M), stated in December 2021 that the junta military should be designated and treated as a terrorist organization due to its extreme acts of criminal violence against civilians.
Since the military coup in February 2021, 5,592 people have been killed and 27,294, including elected government leaders, have been arrested or jailed by the military regime as of Monday, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
