As fighting between local resistance groups and the junta’s armed forces intensifies in Sagaing Region’s Kawlin Township, many local administrators have resigned.
On Sunday, eight village tract administrators submitted their resignations. They included Chit Naing of Oakkan, Aung Myint of Singaung, Min Shwe of Thayakchin, Win Zaw Tun of Gyopin, San Kae of Tagaung Eine, Myo Win Zaw of Taunggya, Htay Min of Moe Nan, and Thein Tun of Yintike.
In their resignation letters, which have since gone viral online, the administrators said they were stepping down for health reasons.
Kawlin residents told Myanmar Now that the village tract heads likely left out of concern for their safety; the killings of military-backed administrators across Myanmar has led others still holding the positions to fear for their lives.
“The reason for their resignation is that the administrators do not consider themselves safe,” a local said.
To date, no administrator has been killed in Kawlin Township.
At the time of reporting, Myanmar Now was unable to make contact with the former administrators.
Fighting erupted in and around Kawlin after the killing of an alleged military informant on July 1. The following day, a military convoy was ambushed by the Kawlin People’s Defence Force (PDF) in Thitseinkone village, and fighting continued.
The Kawlin PDF then attacked three military trucks in Kokkokone village that had been travelling from Shwebo. Two PDF members were reportedly killed in the July 4 clash.
Outside of Kawlin, the Htigyaing and Katha township PDFs have also been fighting the junta’s army, and have been supported by troops from the Kachin Independence Army.
Fighting broke out in Htigyaing and Katha on June 24 and 26. Representatives of the PDF reported that 44 of the coup regime’s soldiers were killed on those days and many more injured.
On Tuesday, the military council’s forces conducted a massive search of houses in Kokkokone, a resident of Kawlin Township said.
“I heard that around 13 military vehicles, including a tank, came from Shwebo. Yesterday, it was reported that they conducted searches of houses in villages in the area where fighting took place,” he told Myanmar Now on Tuesday, adding that Kokkokone was one of those villages.
Following the junta’s deadly crackdown on anti-dictatorship protesters, residents of Kani, Yinmarbin, Depayin, Kalay, Tamu, Kawlin and Kantbalu townships in Sagaing Region have been fighting back against the military by using handmade rifles and other traditional weaponry.
Clashes between the junta’s army and local PDFs have frequently broken out in neighbouring Chin State, as well as in Mandalay and Magwe regions, which also border Sagaing.
As conflict escalates, a total of four people accused of acting as informants to the junta were killed in late June in Yinmarbin Township’s Kapai and Theekone villages by unidentified perpetrators.
A member of Kawlin District’s military council was detained by locals in mid-March while he was reportedly informing the military about the activities and locations of anti-coup protesters. The army arrived at the scene and opened fire, killing one civilian.
