A trip down the old Yangon-Mandalay highway, now militarised beyond recognition

I recently traveled along the old Yangon–Mandalay Highway where junta outposts are under constant threat from resistance attacks. I chose to travel by a bus which runs through Meikhtila-Yangon to send my mother to Bago. I was afflicted with anxiety that morning as I knew that just days before, on June 24, the anti-regime People’s Defence Force (PDF) had launched coordinated attacks on nine positions along the route. The assaults effectively turned the highway into a battleground.Although two highways connect Yangon and Mandalay, most civilian traffic now stays on the newer, faster path—leaving the old road exposed to armed groups and junta forces. The old highway, which passes through several towns, is mainly used by local residents. I took a simple passenger bus that followed this route to Yangon. Along the road, I passed through junta-controlled towns like Meiktila, Yamethin, Pyawbwe, and Naypyitaw. Over the journey I personally saw traffic police and armed soldiers routinely demanding money from passing vehicles. The bus conductor handed passengers’ ID cards, along with money and water bottles, to the soldiers directly.Security checks have become increasingly strict along the old highway between Meiktila and Naypyitaw. With clashes occasionally spilling into Yedashe Township—just south of the junta’s capital in Bago Region—authorities have tightened controls, particularly at the Thar Wut Hit and Yae Ni checkpoints near the Naypyitaw-Bago border.The amount of corruption on these roads makes everyday life increasingly difficult for people who need to use them. In addition to official checkpoints, there are also more than a dozen spots along the road between Meiktila and Naypyitaw where groups of traffic police routinely stop motorists to demand money. Each group consists of at least five officers. Seeing these groups reminded me of something a traffic police friend once told me. “If you get posted along the old highway where freight trucks pass, you can easily make hundreds of thousands of kyat every day,” he told me. “In just three months, you could even afford to buy a car.”But being forced to pay bribes is not the only thing travelers have to worry about. Prior to arriving at the checkpoints, the bus attendants warn passengers to conceal their mobile phones and refrain from taking any photos.“Please avoid using your phones,” a bus attendant advised us. “If you do, they might stop you for inspections, causing delays. Please stay cautious.” A group of travelers is instructed to leave their cars and give bribes to local Myanmar police at a checkpoint on the old Yangon-Mandalay road (Myanmar Now / Aung Zay) I saw numerous soldiers in uniform along the old highway in eastern Bago, many seated and waiting. This area is considered a likely hotspot for joint operations by PDF groups and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). Assaults could take place at any moment.The Sittaung River is situated just to the east of the old highway. Since the 2021 coup, military battalions positioned on the western bank of the river have regularly launched artillery strikes and drone attacks targeting KNLA-held territories on the eastern side, resulting in civilian casualties and injuries. Ongoing clashes have transformed the towns of Phyu, Mone, Kyaukkyi, Yedashe, Waw, and Nyaunglebin into active conflict zones. The situation intensified earlier this year when resistance forces launched raids on junta camps along the old highway, causing the battlefront to widen. When our vehicle reached the entrance of the Light Infantry Battalion 19 base in Hswar, a town about 40 miles south of Naypyitaw in Yedashe Township, we saw two soldiers standing guard. A local man in his early 40s shared that in February 2022, five fully armed soldiers had deserted the base.Armed junta soldiers, many either very young or elderly, were spotted along the routes running through villages. These are the same routes that also connect the old and new highways.Between Naypyitaw and Bago, we went through three checkpoints, each staffed by at least 10 junta personnel, where our IDs were carefully checked. A 28-year-old bus attendant, who told me he had been working there for nearly five years, said that everything only runs smoothly when they pay large bribes to the soldiers at checkpoints in eastern Bago.“If we pay less than usual, they board the bus to find any excuse to cause problems,” he told me. “It’s just a show of power. But when we pay them well, they don’t even step on the bus.”A Bago resident in his 30s, who frequently travels this road, told me that those assigned to duty in these areas often face frequent attacks.“The old highway doesn’t have large bases with many troops,” he said. “The camps along this route are small, isolated outposts, including some security posts along the village connecting roads. That’s why they’re vulnerable to attacks.” He added that since soldiers focus more on extorting money than on military operations, they tend to fail in battle when they come under attack. Despite frequent clashes, residents in Taungoo and Nyaunglebin townships continue with their daily lives as usual. A man from Taungoo told me that even when clashes do occur, they are usually sudden, but brief. A junta soldier in downtown Yangon (Photo: EPA) “The clashes don’t extend into the towns themselves,” the man said. “Typically, attacks target junta camps along railway lines and village roads, and the fighters withdraw afterward. As a result, once the fighting subsides, people continue their daily routines on these roads.”A 40-year-old male passenger familiar with the route said that he always tries to gather information about the towns along the way, since he has no choice but to make the journey, despite his fears of getting caught in the crossfire if fighting breaks out.According to the man, travelling along this road without an identification card is asking for trouble. In February, he said, he saw a passenger in his 20s get pulled off the bus for failing to show his ID. The young man was made to kneel with his hands raised behind his head as soldiers inspected his phone.“I’m not sure what they discovered on his phone,” he said. “They instantly made him kneel like a criminal and placed urgent calls. After that, they ordered the bus to continue and left the young man behind. I don’t know what happened to him afterward.” This made me reminisce even more about the past. I remember when there were no checkpoints along this road at all.As Min Aung Hliang’s forces are given free rein, any traveler risks the same fate as that young man on his knees. Today, we are all forced to travel in fear.As we entered Daik-U and Kyauktaga townships in Bago Region, we saw young men in tank tops and shorts carrying firearms near the railway tracks—locals said they were junta troops guarding the rail line. In the city of Bago, uniformed soldiers and traffic police were openly extorting money from travelers heading to Mawlamyine and Mandalay. A bus attendant explained that after attacks on local administrators, passengers are often forced off at the Bago toll gate for individual checks. Further along, at Yangon’s Ta Dar Gyi gate, soldiers reportedly demand more bribes. Near Sule Pagoda in downtown Yangon, soldiers regularly stop vehicles for inspection. Both traffic police and soldiers were visibly stationed along the road to Aung Mingalar Bus Station. As I reached my destination, the reality of life in today’s Myanmar hit me forcefully. Travel, which once promised a break from the concerns of our day-to-day routines, is now marked by the same fear and uncertainty that pervades every other aspect of life in our war-torn nation.

A trip down the old Yangon-Mandalay highway, now militarised beyond recognition

Once-peaceful highways connecting towns have turned into pathways dominated by fear, extortion, and armed conflict

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