Military council forcibly recruiting men as old as 60 in Bago Township

The Myanmar junta is forcing villages in Bago Region to offer up men for service in the Pyu Saw Htee militias, demanding exorbitant amounts of money from those that fail to present volunteers, according to locals. The Karen National Union (KNU) and other anti-junta groups operating in the region confirmed that the military was implementing this forcible recruitment strategy in villages near several of the region’s towns including Hswar, Kyauktaga, Nyaunglebin, Okpho, Paungde, Waw, and Yedashe. Each village is forced to present 10 to 30 men for enlistment. “We told them no one from our village wanted to join the militias. Since then, the administrator has been forcibly recruiting men who went outside after 8pm. We had to plead with them not to do that inside the village,” said a resident of one of the villages targeted by the military. He added that the junta officials’ specified age range for volunteers was between 18 and 60. Pyu Saw Htee militias from Taungoo and Pyay receiving weapons from military regime officials in September 2023 (SAC) A displaced person staying in Yamethin Township, Mandalay Region after fleeing his home village confirmed that pro-junta officials were specifically targeting men who went out at night. Most of the middle-aged men in his village fled after they forced at least three locals to join the militia. “They’re essentially forcing every man they see in the streets to enlist. Almost all the men in the village have had to flee and only old people, women, and children are left,” said the man, who is in his 40s. According to a statement issued on Sunday by the Karen National Union (KNU), which operates and claims territory in parts of Bago Region, the military-appointed administrator and the police force of Kyauktaga Township summoned village leaders to a meeting and ordered them to recruit men for the Pyu Saw Htee militias. “They said each village must present a ‘tribute’ of at least 20 men for the militias or security details. They even threatened that there would be airstrikes on villages failing to comply. Win Win Aung, the police commander, also ordered business owners to make payments of 100,000 kyat (US $48),” KNU spokespersons said, citing local sources who asked to remain anonymous. Two locals and a member of the Yedashe People’s Defence Forces (PDF) confirmed pro-junta officials in other villages—including Myo Tint from Tha Yet Kone village, Thar Ga Ya village tract; and Zaw Lwin and Kyaw Soe, from the nearby villages of Dewa Kouk and Set Thay Taung, respectively—were also exerting pressure to join or form new militias. Myanmar Now is still attempting to reach these officials for comment. A man in his 70s living on the east bank of the Sittaung River said the residents of his village had been forced to negotiate with the pro-junta administrators, and had ultimately paid around 1 million kyat (US $475) per household in order to be exempted from the forced recruitment. Pyu Saw Htee militias from Taungoo and Pyay receiving weapons from regime officials in September 2023 (SAC) An anti-junta resistance member based in Waw Township said pro-junta administrators had been forcibly recruiting at least 15 men from the township’s larger villages and 10 from the smaller ones, and had announced that villages failing to present any volunteers for service would be required to pay 20,000 kyat (US $10) per household per month. Members of the “Black Dragon” squadron—which operates as part of Battalion 3802 of the Thayarwaddy PDF—claimed to have rescued more than 30 civilians being forced into militia service in the township’s Kan Ni and Sin Te Kone villages on Sunday. When residents of Ma Au Kwin and Taung Kha Mauk, located in Paungde Township in the foothills of the Bago Yoma range, refused to join the militias, the military retaliated this week with an arson attack, local resistance members told Myanmar Now. According to a spokesperson for Paungde Township PDF Battalion 3601, a column of around 50 soldiers from the army’s Light Infantry Division 66 advanced through the villages on Sunday, torching and destroying 33 houses in Ma Au Kwin and 72 in Taung Kha Mauk. Some 400 residents who fled to the surrounding forests have now been left homeless. Ma Au Kwin and Taung Kha Mauk villages seen after the arson attacks (Supplied) Soldiers from the same division were later reported to be in Pa Det Myaung and Kaing Kwin villages—some 20 miles north of Paungde—ordering locals to provide them with lists of household members. Military forces have been known to target villages near the Bago Yoma hills out of suspicion that the residents are harbouring and supporting members of anti-junta armed groups operating in the area.

Military council forcibly recruiting men as old as 60 in Bago Township

Villages that could not provide the military with enlistees were forced to pay extortionate sums or, in at least two cases, subjected to arson attacks

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