Myanmar regime declares ethnic alliance members ‘terrorist organisations’

Myanmar’s military junta has officially labelled the three members of the Brotherhood Alliance as “terrorist” organisations, according to a notice published by state media on Tuesday.The decision, made by the regime’s Anti-Terrorism Central Committee, comes more than 10 months after the alliance’s launch of a major anti-junta offensive in northern Shan State in October of last year.The three members of the alliance—the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and the Arakan Army (AA)—have since inflicted substantial losses on the regime in areas near Myanmar’s border with China and along the country’s western coast.The AA, which now controls more than half of Rakhine State, was previously designated a terrorist organisation in March 2020 by the National League for Democracy government, which was ousted by the military in February 2021.A month after seizing power, the junta revoked the AA’s terrorist designation in an effort to “restore durable peace nationwide,” according to Tuesday’s notice. However, the regime’s tenure has seen an unprecedented escalation of violence, resulting in the military losing control over border regions as well as parts of central Myanmar.In January, the junta and the alliance agreed to a Chinese-brokered ceasefire in northern Shan State, but fighting persisted in other regions. Following the collapse of the truce on June 25, the MNDAA and TNLA have continued to gain ground. The MNDAA has captured Lashio, the largest city in northern Shan State, while the TNLA has seized nearly a dozen towns, including the ruby-mining town of Mogok in Mandalay Region, in recent months.The junta’s designation of the Brotherhood Alliance members as terrorist organisations comes just days after the TNLA said that it had received a letter from Chinese authorities warning the group to halt its offensive against the Myanmar junta. In May 2021, the regime designated the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG) and its armed wing, the People’s Defence Force, as well as the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, as terrorist organisations. The NUG also regularly refers to the military junta as a terror group.

Myanmar regime declares ethnic alliance members ‘terrorist organisations’

The move comes as China is reportedly pressuring members of the Brotherhood Alliance to end their anti-junta offensive

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