The inclusion of Myanmar’s anti-regime ethnic armed groups and resistance forces in a terrorism report prepared by a US State Department contractor has attracted condemnation from security experts and the Myanmar community in the US while putting the US government in an awkward position.
The Annex of Statistical Information 2022, which is attached to the department’s Country Reports on Terrorism 2022 was made public on Nov. 30, 2023. The State Department’s Reports on Terrorism itself makes no mention of Myanmar or the resistance groups.
The annex was prepared by Development Services Group Inc. (DSG)’s Global Terrorism Trends and Analysis Center for the State Department.
In the annex, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), People’s Defense Force (PDF), Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) and Chinland Defense Force (CDF) are named as “perpetrators of incidents” of terrorism in 2022, implying they are terrorist organizations.
The annex says there were 391 incidents in Myanmar in 2022, with 2,130 fatalities, with the People’s Defense Forces being the main perpetrator of the incidents, responsible for 50 percent of the total. It added that the CDF and KNDF were each responsible for 7 percent of the incidents.
The KNLA is the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU)—one of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armed organizations. The PDF is the armed wing of Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government (NUG), while the KNDF and CDF are local armed groups in Karenni (Kayah) and Chin states.
Mostly importantly, all of the armed groups named in the terrorist report have been fighting against the Myanmar regime since the 2021 coup with the aim of rooting out the military dictatorship in Myanmar. The PDF, KNDF and CDF—among many others—were formed in the wake of the takeover to fight against the regime. Furthermore, all four groups named in the report enjoy popular support for their missions.
Dr. Zachary Abuza, professor at the National War College in Washington, DC, told The Irrawaddy that the DSG report was “appallingly bad”, adding that it was devoid of any context or expertise and displayed nothing but ignorance about Myanmar.
“It has put the US government in an awkward position, and more dangerously, been used as propaganda and succor for a brutal military regime,” he said, referring to the junta’s use of the report to attack the groups.
Calling the DSG “utter charlatans” and “a for-profit consulting firm”, Abuza said they hire inexperienced people to do the coding and are automatically predisposed to consider any sub-state actor a “terrorist.”
“The State Department did not properly vet the piece or engage in any quality control, they end up looking terrible. A US taxpayer-funded product was used as propaganda by a regime that both the government and Congress are opposed to,” he added.
The Myanmar regime used the inclusions of anti-regime armed groups in the annex for propaganda purposes last week, claiming that even the US State Department has designated the PDF and others named in the report as terrorists. The junta has denounced the PDF and NUG as terrorist groups.
The junta’s claims prompted a strong reaction from democracy activists from 26 Myanmar diaspora organizations in the US.
“After brainstorming, we agreed to send a letter to the Burma Desk at the State Department to express our concern about the inclusion and demand their explanation,” said James Shwe, a member of the Los Angeles Myanmar Movement (LA2M).
He sent the letter to the Burma Desk on Dec. 6. Burma Unit Chief Jack Dart replied that the annex was compiled by a contractor based on open source data and “it doesn’t represent a statement of policy or reflect a legal determination made by the United States government.”
James Shwe told The Irrawaddy that even though it was done by a contractor, the State Department is responsible, and Myanmar diaspora organizations wanted an official response from the department on the issue.
“They are supposed to review what the contractor submitted. Given what had happened, we want something like a press release on the issue. We will have a meeting with them next week,” he added.
