Karen National Union announces plans to replace regime administration in Myawaddy

The Karen National Union (KNU) said on Friday that it will set up its own administrative mechanism in territory recently captured from the military in and around the critical trade hub of Myawaddy, on Myanmar’s border with Thailand. “We will take decisive measures to abolish the regime’s administration and replace it with our own,” KNU spokesperson Padoh Saw Taw Nee said. “To end military rule, our first step is to liberate junta-controlled areas, driving junta troops out of our territory. We will continue to implement our plan to establish our administration one step at a time.” The KNU has several established departments in its governance infrastructure, including those for health, education, foreign affairs, and defence and operates in seven districts across southeastern Myanmar, including in Karen and Mon states and Bago and Tanintharyi regions. The organisation claimed on Thursday that its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), had seized full control of Myawaddy, located on the western banks of the Moei (Thaungyin) River opposite the town of Mae Sot in Thailand’s Tak Province. Earlier that day, the ethnic armed organisation and its allies succeeded in capturing the Myanmar army’s last base near the town, that of the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 275, after fierce battles for the control of Myawaddy broke out on April 5 in the village of Thin Gan Nyi Naung, 10 miles to the west. Myanmar Now reported on Thursday that, with the continued presence of the Karen Border Guard Force in Myawaddy—a longtime ally of the military that now claims neutrality—and incoming junta reinforcements refusing to relinquish the town, it remained unclear whether the KNU was in a position to assume full control of the location. Sources on the ground in Myawaddy said they saw LIB 275 soldiers waiting at the second of two “Friendship” bridges to Thailand on Thursday, likely intending to cross to safety. Trade with Thailand came to a halt after the same bridge was closed that day, briefly reopening before closing again on Friday. At the time of reporting, the other bridge remained accessible to civilians seeking refuge from the fighting. The Myawaddy-Mae Sot crossing serves as the largest border trade hub between Thailand and Myanmar. It has handled a total of US$4.4 billion in imports and exports since the 2021 coup, constituting 23 percent of all bilateral trade in the same period, according to data collected by the junta-controlled ministry of commerce. Meanwhile, intense clashes have continued around Kawkareik, less than 30 miles west of Myawaddy. The KNU has claimed that most of the township is under the control of its Brigade 6, though the junta retains some strongholds in the area. The ethnic armed organisation and its allies also seized the town of Hpapun, in the territory of the KNLA’s Brigade 5, at the end of March.

Karen National Union announces plans to replace regime administration in Myawaddy

The ethnic armed and governance organisation says it has seized full control of the border trade hub and aims to see its governance infrastructure implemented there

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