Five anti-junta forces collaborated in attacking a police outpost in the Dawei Special Economic Zone (Dawei SEZ) in Myanmar’s southernmost region on Saturday morning, ultimately failing to take control.
The military proved well-prepared to withstand the assault on the outpost, located near Na Bu Le village in Yebyu Township, Tanintharyi Region, some 18 miles northwest of the regional capital of Dawei. Despite fighting for over an hour, the rebel forces were ultimately forced to withdraw, according to Moe Thee, member of the Dawei Guerrilla Revolutionary Force (DGRF).
“We came so close to taking over the base. We had already passed over the barbed wire and were inside the compound. But from there, seizing control would have meant sacrificing some of our troops and we couldn’t risk that, so we retreated,” he said.
The alliance of anti-junta forces consisted of some 20 troops equipped with small arms and a 40mm grenade launcher, according to Moe Thee. Some 20 military personnel were present at the outpost, he claimed.
There were reportedly no casualties among the rebel forces, and casualties on the junta side remain unconfirmed.
The police outpost targeted by the anti-junta fighters exercises jurisdiction within the Dawei SEZ, an area designated for industrial projects such as seaport development and construction of an oil refinery and steel mill. At the outset, the ostensible goal of the Dawei SEZ project was to make Dawei one of Southeast Asia’s major industrial and commercial hubs.
Myanmar authorities initiated the Dawei SEZ via a memorandum of understanding with the Thai government in 2008, authorising the Thailand-based company Italian-Thai Development (ITD) to seek foreign investment for development projects in a designated zone of nearly 50,000 acres in the Tanintharyi Region.
The Dawei SEZ faced strong opposition from locals due to its potential impacts on the environment and quality of life, and was later beset by financial and other difficulties. Its projects stalled for more than a decade before Myanmar authorities terminated the agreement with ITD in January 2021, just before the February coup.
However, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing—head of the coup regime—visited the SEZ area in November this year and declared the development projects’ operations would resume.
An officer of the local anti-junta group Black Panther said the military was in the area to provide security for development projects staffed by Thai workers.
“We didn’t think they’d have 60mm weapons and went unprepared, and that’s why we had to retreat,” the officer said.
Citing locals, the officer also said that the military had conducted raids in and near Na Bu Le village on December 24 after the attack on the police base, capturing and questioning several residents of the area.
As in other parts of Myanmar, the coup regime is confronting unprecedented armed resistance in Tanintharyi Region, and the scale of conflict has inflicted grave hardship on local civilians.
Only a month before the reported assault on the Yebyu Township police base, fighting between resistance and pro-junta forces displaced more than 3,000 inhabitants of the region’s Myeik District.
