The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) has begun blocking shipments of goods to four towns in northern Shan State under the control of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), according to local sources.
The blockade began Sunday and affects the towns of Kutkai, Namtu, Namhsan, and Mantong, which can only be reached from central Myanmar through Lashio. Both the MNDAA and Myanmar’s military maintain checkpoints in Lashio Township.
“Not even a single crate of bottled drinking water is allowed to be carried. All the trucks loaded with goods heading up to Kutkai were ordered to turn back,” said a man living in Hsenwi, an MNDAA-controlled town on the highway from Lashio to Kutkai.
According to some traders, trucks carrying melons from Kutkai to China via Hsenwi have also been prevented from reaching the border.
“Not even the musk melon trucks are allowed to go up [to. . .
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