Tension grows between ethnic Ta’ang, Kachin forces in northern Shan State, locals say

Locals are concerned about what appear to be strained relations between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township, where they both claim territory. A KIA unit of some 50 troops reportedly set up new camps in urban wards of Kutkai on February 4, one day ahead of the Kachin Revolution Day, which they were preparing to commemorate. The Kachin soldiers, as well as some ethnic Kachin locals from the area, raised the flags of the KIA at the camps and along the Union highway for the occasion. At around 10am on February 5, TNLA soldiers reportedly came and took the flags down. A Kutkai-based officer in the ethnic Ta’ang armed organisation confirmed that their troops removed the flags, claiming that this was because the KIA held their Revolution Day celebrations without informing the TNLA in advance, which, he said, “worried the civilians.” The KIA has a base in Ward 1 of Kutkai town, a communications office established in 2015, as well as posts in schools in Wards 6 and 7. The organisation’s Brigade 4 operates in the township, but at the time of reporting, KIA spokesperson Col Naw Bu said that he had not been able to make contact with them. He also said he was awaiting further information on the Revolution Day incident, and that no direct orders had been given from the KIA for their troops to set up stations in Kutkai town. “We heard that they took down our flags, but we still don’t know what exactly went down or how it was handled,” he told Myanmar Now. Several armed organisations have long been operating in Kutkai. The TNLA drove the military out of the township in January by seizing the bases of Infantry Battalions 241, 242, and 45 and Artillery Battalion 247s. They then set up their own administrative system, and restored telephone communications. The group is also reportedly in the process of procuring electricity for the area. TNLA troops stand guard at the entrance to Kutkai on January 13 (Myat Pan / Myanmar Now) In January, the KIA also overran Namphetka village tract, around 30 miles north of Kutkai town, after attacking the junta’s Infantry Battalion 123 base there for more than a month. Some 100 TNLA troops attacked a junta base at the Nam Khaing bridge, between Kutkai and Namphetka, in early December last year. Around 200 KIA troops arrived in the area at the same time, raising tensions between the two groups. “No one wants ethnic conflict during times like this,” a woman from Kutkai told Myanmar Now. “People are worried about the armed groups opposing one another and having miscommunication.” Muse District, where Kutkai Township is located, is where the Kokang Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Arakan Army also operate, comprising the Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed groups alongside the TNLA. Together, they launched a major offensive against the junta in northern Shan State in late October 2023, dubbed Operation 1027. The Brotherhood Alliance, the KIA, the United Wa State Army, the Shan State Progress Party and the Mongla-based National Democratic Alliance Army are also members of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee, a negotiating body of ethnic armed organisations.

Tension grows between ethnic Ta’ang, Kachin forces in northern Shan State, locals say

The KIA has a brigade in Kutkai Township, an area now under the administration of the TNLA, which is said to have removed the armed organisation’s flags on display for their revolution day

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