Control of Sittaung River basin in hands of resistance, Karen fighters

We rode down from the Karen Hills, which rise over 1,000 feet, on a motorbike and arrived at the open plains. Dust billowed around us as we traveled along a dirt road running through broad bean fields. At the outset of our journey, we hadn’t anticipated going beyond the Sittaung River—but we eventually found ourselves crossing to its western bank. As we stepped onto the other side, it struck me that I was finally returning to my homeland, Bago Region, after more than three years away. I left my hometown in eastern Bago Region on April 9, 2021, after the fall of the Magatit barricade built by anti-coup protesters—uncertain of when I would set foot in my native land again. Now, although I hadn’t reached my hometown, I was returning to the region it belonged to for the first time, this time as an observer and journalist. “This is the road that leads us home. We believe in that,” said a soldier from the Royal Peacock Battalion, as he welcomed us to the shelter on the west bank of the Sittaung River. The Royal Peacock Column, operating under the NUG’s Southern Sub-Military Region 2, comprises fighters from Ayeyarwady, Bago, and Yangon regions, along with a doctor from Shwebo, whom I met. Members of the Royal Peacock Column seen on the west bank of the Sittaung River (Photo: Saw Reh) Having secured parts of the west bank of the Sittaung River, east of Bago Region, the forces remain intent on capturing territories still controlled by the junta. They aimed to expand their operations to connect their controlled zones with areas already held by allied resistance forces. Over four years since the military coup, the junta has faced a series of battlefield defeats and territorial losses, including the eastern Bago Region, which encompasses the Sittaung River Basin in central Myanmar. The junta’s administrative presence in these areas has been dismantled, with the People’s Defence Forces (PDF) commanded by the National Unity Government (NUG) now exercising authority. A territory of nearly 75 square miles is under the full control of the PDF, which has taken on sole responsibility for maintaining security and governance in the region. It spans from the old Yangon–Mandalay highway to the foothills east of the Sittaung River, which are in turn under the control of the Karen National Union (KNU) and its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). While members of KNU’s Brigade 3 are occasionally seen west of the river near towns in eastern Bago Region, the PDF maintains greater strength in the area, especially since the launch of their offensive against the military in 2022. In my capacity as a Myanmar Now reporter, I spent a month in a PDF-controlled area on the west bank of the Sittaung to observe conditions on the ground first-hand. In response to sustained attacks by PDF and KNU forces, the junta had withdrawn its weaker and more poorly-equipped units from rural villages, reportedly to regroup nearer the new Yangon–Mandalay highway. The PDF filled the power vacuum left by the retreating army troops, implementing its own administrative system in several villages starting in July 2023. They appointed village administrators to enforce security directives from the PDF battalions and penalise civilians who violated their rules, reportedly even locking some in wooden stocks. Armed PDF members active on the west bank of the Sittaung now number in the thousands. They operate under the southern command of the NUG’s defence ministry, also called Sub-Military Region 2. They include the Royal Peacock Column, Seven Ravens Column, and Bago District Battalions 3703 and 3702. A territorial map of KNU and PDF influence across the Sittaung River basin Surviving amid the fire of war Although full-scale fighting has yet to break out in the region, both sides have been testing each other’s strength in constant skirmishes. The area’s open terrain and lack of cover during daylight hours forces them to fight mostly at night. According to the PDF fighters, advancing during the day would expose troops to open farmland with no cover—essentially a kill zone—so most movements and assaults are strategically carried out under the cover of night. The fighters said they had pledged to remain with the villagers, and they would not withdraw even if junta forces moved closer to the area. Local resistance fighters once invited a photojournalist and me to an evening meal near a temporary junta base in Pu Zun Myaung village, Nyaunglebin Township. At around 11pm, two deafening artillery explosions broke through the silence, followed by a sustained burst of small arms fire, an unsettling experience for the photojournalist and me, as it would have been for anyone unaccustomed to the front lines. However, the resistance commander, seated at the head of the table, kept his composure. “There’s no need to be alarmed. This is a normal occurrence,” he said, before relaying instructions to the front lines by radio. “The junta troops often make nighttime advances like this. A clash might follow, but our defences are ready.” Myanmar Now’s reporter was able to visit the west bank of the Sittaung River—which has become a frontline in the war with junta forces—and see the PDF’s defensive positions firsthand. The military has stationed in villages near the town, blocking access to the railway and the old Yangon-Mandalay highway. In some areas, their outposts are just a mile away from PDF-held villages. Every house we saw had constructed bomb shelters for protection against airstrikes and artillery fire. U Hla*, a man in his 40s who operates a betel stall near a ferry on the Sittaung River, built a sandbag bomb shelter on the ground floor of his home, citing frequent artillery fire by junta forces as the reason. After the military coup in Myanmar, U Hla migrated to Thailand in search of work. But when factory owners began laying off workers due to operational challenges, he lost his job and returned to Myanmar by car via the border. U Hla is now settled back in his home village, earning a living by running a small shop that sells betel nut, soft drinks, and instant coffee mix. He also aids the resistance by helping source essential supplies, coordinating with buyers in the nearby town. We witnessed the regular shelling from junta forces in towns and villages on the Sittaung such as Nyaunglebin, Pein Za Loke, Kyauktaga, and Penwegon, where PDF and KNU members are active. A Myanmar Now reporter also came under artillery fire during the field visit. On that occasion, neither the PDF fighters nor the Myanmar Now reporter was harmed, having taken shelter in a bomb bunker. When a heavy artillery gun fires, there is always a faintly audible sound of shells launching at first, around 50 seconds before the noise of the explosion as the shell hits the ground. If it lands nearby, the whizzing sound as it cuts through the air can be clearly heard, whereas if it lands farther away the sound is usually inaudible. The explosion itself can be deafening—like thunder—and is powerful enough to make the ground shake. We stayed in the bunker for nearly half an hour as the shelling continued, and were thankful there were no casualties that day. Artillery strikes have killed and injured civilians on numerous occasions, prompting some civilians to flee villages along the west bank of the Sittaung, while others have stayed behind with the PDF members. The occupants of the homes in these villages are now mostly middle-aged, elderly, or children, while younger adults are scarce. Local residents said most of the youth were working abroad in Thailand. The low-lying river basin is susceptible to flooding during the monsoon season, but as the floodwaters recede they leave behind rich alluvial silt that keeps the soil highly fertile. Farmers cultivate paddy during the rainy season, then mung beans during the dry and cool seasons. PDF units and battalions also make the most of the fertile farmland, growing beans, eggplant, roselle, morning glory, gourds, chilis, and squash to supplement their troops’ rations. The river, along with nearby ponds and tributary streams, also supports a thriving local fishing industry. Solar panels and generators are the predominant sources of electricity in the area. The utility poles on either side of the roads are largely unused since the military cut the power supply. PDF battalion doctors operate simple, meagrely equipped clinics, but there are no hospitals on the west bank of the Sittaung capable of providing surgery, and any patients needing operations must be transported across the river. Schooling in a war zone The junta’s relentless shelling has also interrupted basic education, compelling parents to send their children to study in small groups in areas deemed relatively safe. Teachers participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM)—which has organised people in opposition to the military regime since the 2021 coup— rely on support from villagers and provide free lessons based on curricula introduced during the civilian administration of the deposed National League for Democracy party. Sayar Kyaung*, 28, recounted his experience of teaching children on the west bank. A native of Ayeyarwady Region, Sayar Kyaung is bespectacled and slender, with a dark complexion. He worked as a preschool teacher before the military coup, later joining the CDM, then becoming involved in the armed resistance, serving as a platoon commander in the Royal Peacock Battalion. He was hit by shrapnel from a junta drone strike in the arm, head, and chest while fighting in Bago Region’s Penwegon Township in December 2023, then stepped back from combat service and settled in a west bank village with his wife, another teacher. Sayar Kyaung teaches more than 30 children at kindergarten to fourth grade level in a house in his village. He explained that he decided against holding classes in a formal school setting because of the risk of junta airstrikes, which are known to sometimes hit schools. Children attending a class taught by Sayar Kyaung, a CDM teacher Limited in their ability to coordinate with the NUG’s ministry of education or the KNU-connected education department, teachers like Sayar Kyaung have persisted in teaching children independently, designing their own lessons and curricula. However, due to the lack of official recognition or accreditation, schoolchildren who complete grade four at Sayar Kyaung’s home school often struggle to continue their education. “I want the children to have access to formal schooling and proper education,” he said. “But without official recognition, it's hard for them to move forward in their studies.” Life for the displaced Myanmar Now also visited a displaced people’s camp, where more than 100 people—from 26 mostly low-income households in Nyaunglebin Township’s Pu Zun Myaung village—had taken shelter. Pu Zun Myaung, known as the birthplace of prominent journalist and author Lu Htu U Hla, was all but abandoned after junta troops invaded and occupied it, prompting locals to leave for their own safety. As we arrived shortly after 7am, we saw a field dotted with simple, bamboo shelters and roofed with thatched palm leaves. The camp had been set up near an oxbow lake that had formed from a bend in the Sittaung. Displacement camp sheltering residents who fled from Pa Zun Myaung village, which is currently occupied by the military (Photo: Saw Reh) At the edge of the oxbow, five women were busy making fish paste in their mortars, using the catch of small fish brought to them by two local fishermen, who had just made the delivery by boat. Sheatfish, freshwater catfish, and other larger fish were being cleaned, cut, and sold out of a large tent in front of the camp. While most of the camp’s residents were now forced to eke out a living from odd jobs or day labour, they had all previously worked their own farmland and owned homes in Pu Zun Myaung. There were now virtually no men of working age in the camp, with the remaining women, children, and elderly people barely getting enough food, medicine, or material to maintain dwellings adequate to shelter them from the elements. Most of them, when asked, said they wanted to return home to Pu Zun Myaung. Daw Yi*, 56, was living in the camp with her husband and grandchild. Her husband was earning 10,000 kyat (US $2.30) per day catching fish for the lake property’s leaseholder. Her son had been killed by an unidentified armed group after the 2021 coup, Daw Yi told Myanmar Now. Because of her daughter-in-law’s and other relatives’ connections to the military, the anti-junta armed group suspected him of collaboration. Daw Yi insists he had no ties to the military and there was no justification for what happened to him. Beyond the utter devastation to Daw Yi’s family of losing a son—added to the hardship of their material poverty—deaths like his raise an urgent question in a territory where adherence to the law is far from perfect: how many others may have wrongfully targeted and killed for suspected collaboration. KNU territory Apart from the areas under PDF control, some parts of the Sittaung River Basin have remained out of junta control due to the dominance of the KNU—a group with a seven-decade history of resisting the Myanmar military—and its armed wing, the KNLA. Rural areas on the east bank are largely under KNU governance, although the boundaries of their control remain difficult to delineate precisely. Most rural villages fly KNU flags at their entrances or even display Karen text on their signboards, with only “KNU” in English letters. The KNU commands seven brigades, each running different parts of the territory claimed by the group. Brigade 3 is active in and around Shwegyin Township, Bago Region, which is also home to one of the military’s tactical operations command offices and three battalion bases. The military controls most of the towns and the roads connecting them, with the Karen forces in control of villages and rural areas. The sale and transport of alcohol, including beer, as well as marijuana and other narcotics are strictly banned in the territory controlled by the KNU, which has posted notices warning of harsh penalties for anyone caught violating the prohibitions. Residents crossing the Sittaung River by motorboat (Photo: Saw Reh) The KNU collects taxes and tolls, including one for crossing the Sittaung. There is no bridge across the river in this area, and people instead cross on wooden platforms lashed to motorboats. According to residents, the KNU controls and collects tolls—2,000 kyat (US $0.23) for each motorbike carried across—on dozens of these platforms along the river. The Karen Education and Culture Department (KECD) oversees the education of children living on the east bank, who attend school in uniforms consisting of white shirts with blue trousers or skirts. The KNU has also established small hospitals. Padoh Saw Taw Nee, spokesperson for the KNU’s central command, claimed that the KNU’s control—previously confined to the east bank of the Sittaung—has now also extended west of the river. “I personally deployed our forces along the Yangon-Mandalay highway, extending up to the railway line,” he said. “At this stage, we are effectively in control of the entire Sittaung River Basin. It’s fair to say that the junta’s administrative structure in this area is disintegrating.” Spokespersons for the PDF forces neither confirmed nor denied the KNU spokesperson’s claims. What comes next The NUG announced in January that resistance forces and anti-junta ethnic armed groups had actively seized 48 of Myanmar’s 330 townships in addition to 96 where they had maintained control. This tally of resistance-held townships includes the west bank of the Sittaung River, where the PDF exercises authority over the area south of the Penwegon–Nat Than Kwin–Kyauk Gyi road. The area remained stable during Myanmar Now’s visit, with reports of only minor skirmishes emerging. The frontlines moved in December, when resistance fighters of the southern military region’s Battalion 3703 seized rifles landmines, and ammunition during a raid on a junta outpost on the Nyuaunglebin-Madauk road, but were soon pushed back by hundreds of regime troops in a counteroffensive.The Fire Dragon PDF, which regularly reports the movements of Battalion 3703, documented these movements in public Facebook posts. With the junta yet to deploy large-scale forces in PDF-controlled areas south of the Penwegon–Nat Than Kwin–Kyauk Gyi road, and the PDF similarly refraining from major offensives along the Yangon–Mandalay highway, the belligerents remain at an impasse and the area in a precarious state of calm. *Our sources’ names were changed to protect their security.

Control of Sittaung River basin in hands of resistance, Karen fighters

A Myanmar Now reporter spent a month on the west bank of the Sittaung River, seeing some of the broad territory where the People’s Defence Forces (PDF), not the military, now exercise control

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