Entire junta military battalions based in Karenni (Kayah) State will switch sides and join the resistance as soon as agreements have been finalized with junta commanders, the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) said on Wednesday.
The junta defectors will be allowed to serve for the anti-regime revolutionary government with the same positions and ranks they have in the junta military, the KNDF said.
Revolutionary groups and People’s Administration Groups will provide special allowances to the defectors according to a defection plan already drafted, it said.
It also urged remaining junta forces to join the mass defection.
“Even though they [junta forces] are sacrificing their lives in battles, they were not reinforced or [provided with] supplies, and sometimes they were shelled by units from their own military from behind [frontlines],” a KNDF spokesperson told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
“As a result, junta troops and their commanders have come to the realization that the situation they have been forced into is to die meaninglessly,” the spokesperson explained.
That is why there were discussions and agreements between resistance groups and leaders of junta soldiers deployed to Karenni, as well as the officials of junta military battalions based in the state, to switch sides, the spokesperson added.
The KNDF declined to say how many of the junta’s battalions, commanders or troops had agreed to defect.
“We will not force them [defectors] to fight the junta. They are free to choose whether they want to fight back [against the junta] or live with their families peacefully. We will respect their desires. We will help them attain their dreams, including relocation in exile,” the KNDF spokesperson said.
The KNDF previously said in a statement that the army has a strict policy to completely annihilate all regime forces who have committed war crimes, including massacres of civilians, arson attacks and destruction of civilian homes across Karenni State.
However, the statement said the ethnic army will fully comply with international law covering prisoners of war.
Armed resistance against the junta’s military started in Karenni State in May 2021 when ethnic Karenni youths were among the first to take up arms – including home-made weapons – while junta troops were killing hundreds of people during crackdowns on peaceful anti-coup protests across the country.
On Nov. 11 last year, the KNDF, other Karenni armies and several People’s Defense Forces launched the anti-regime offensive Operation 1111 against regime targets across Karenni State.
Since the launch of the operation, Karenni resistance groups have seized dozens of regime bases and killed hundreds of junta soldiers. Resistance groups have taken control of most of the Karenni State, although fighting is still occurring in parts of the state capital, Loikaw.
Dozens of junta troops have already surrendered to resistance groups in the state.
