MYAWADDY, Myanmar - A Myanmar rebel group has withdrawn its troops from a town along the Thai border, following a counter-offensive by soldiers of the ruling junta from whom the rebels had earlier in April wrested the key trading post, an official said on April 24.
A spokesman for the Karen National Union (KNU) said the “temporary retreat” from the town of Myawaddy came after the return of junta soldiers to the vital strategic area that is a conduit for annual foreign trade of more than US$1 billion (S$1.35 billion).
“KNLA troops will... destroy the junta troops and their back-up troops who marched to Myawaddy,” Mr Saw Taw Nee said, referring to the group’s armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, one of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic fighting forces.
He did not say what its next move would be, however.
Fighting had flared as recently as April 20 in Myawaddy, forcing 3,000 civilians to flee as rebels fought to flush out Myanmar junta troops holed up for days at a border bridge crossing.
On April 24, Thailand said the fighting had eased and it hoped to reopen its border crossing, as trade had been hit. It said most civilians had returned and 650 remained, adding that it had also urged Myanmar to keep the fighting from spilling across the border.
“The situation has improved significantly,” spokesman Nikorndej Balankura told a briefing. “Nevertheless, we are closely monitoring the situation, which is highly uncertain and can change.”
Thailand has received reports negotiations may be starting between rival groups on the Myanmar side, and the Thai government has proposed to Laos, chair of Asean, that it could host a meeting seeking to end the Myanmar crisis.
Photographs posted on some pro-junta social media groups showed a handful of soldiers raising the Myanmar flag at a military base the KNU had controlled just days before and where the rebel group had raised its own banner.
The junta, which has mounted a counter-offensive to retake Myawaddy, was able to enter the area with the help of a regional militia that had stood aside when the KNU laid siege to Myawaddy early in April, according to Mr Saw Taw Nee.
Officials from the militia group, the KNLA, and the junta did not respond to telephone calls from Reuters to seek comment.
Three years after its coup ousted a democratically elected civilian government, Myanmar's junta is under unprecedented pressure, having lost control of a string of key frontier areas to rebel groups. REUTERS
