Tensions increase between ethnic armed organisations in Kutkai, northern Shan State

With multiple ethnic armed organisations having established a presence in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township, locals have described recent disputes that have arisen between the groups, ranging from questions over who has the right to administrate the area to an alleged exchange of gunfire. The tension has been occurring between the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and both the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). The TNLA drove the military out of Kutkai town in January by seizing the bases of Infantry Battalions (IBs) 241, 242, and 45 and Artillery Battalion 247 and then set up their own administrative system. The group has deployed hundreds of security personnel, restored telecommunications services, and is working on rebuilding infrastructure to distribute electricity. Muse District, where Kutkai is located, is where the ethnic Kokang MNDAA and the Arakan Army also operate, which—alongside the TNLA—comprise the Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed groups. Together, they launched a major offensive against the junta in northern Shan State in late 2023, dubbed Operation 1027, which ended with a China-brokered ceasefire in early January. After the TNLA’s seizure of Kutkai, the MNDAA deployed troops to at least five of the town’s ward administration and departmental offices, and its members have been engaged in road repair, traffic monitoring, and handling criminal cases involving drugs and theft in areas where ethnic Kokang and Chinese residents live. A participant in a recent meeting between officers from the TNLA and MNDAA told Myanmar Now that the TNLA proposed taking sole responsibility for the administration of Kutkai. The MNDAA’s response, and the results of the talks, were not known. Gunfire was said to have been exchanged between the TNLA and MNDAA between Kutkai and the town of Tarmonye on April 19, local media outlet the Shan Herald Agency for News reported. Further details around the clash between the allies was not available at the time of reporting. In January, when the Brotherhood Alliance claimed Kutkai town, the KIA overran Namphetka village tract, 30 miles to the north, after repeated attacks on the junta’s IB 123 for more than one month. The KIA also has a liaison office in Ward 1 of the town, and the organisation’s Brigade 4 operates in the township. A KIA soldier guarding the captured junta camp of IB 123 in Namphetka, Kutkai Township (Myat Pan / Myanmar Now) A Kutkai resident close to the TNLA said that a delegation from the ethnic armed group entered the KIA’s Kutkai liaison office on April 15, at the time of the Thingyan water festival, and advised its members to wear plainclothes and not appear in uniform during the festival period. “If the KIA was present at Thingyan festival activities in Kutkai, the TNLA was worried that the military council might carry out airstrikes,” the resident said. “That’s why the TNLA wanted the [KIA’s] office to temporarily close.” “Their aim is to prevent any situation where the military council resorts to bombing due to the KIA’s presence.” The source claimed that the KIA office replied that it would continue operations in accordance with the orders of superior officers. An individual present in the meeting between the two groups said that the TNLA requested a list of leaders, troops, and departmental information related to the KIA liaison office, which the KIA reportedly provided. Locals were on alert during the discussion period, a Ta’ang activist in the town said. “The residents live in fear during times of war," he told Myanmar Now. “Clashes ended not so long ago. I would like to ask [the ethnic armed organisations] not to engage in military preparations that would cause the public to suffer if another conflict were to arise.” In early April, around 10 armed TNLA soldiers raided shops in Namphetka, destroying products affiliated with the junta, a resident of the area said; the KIA responded by regrouping in the area, in which it already had an established presence due to its January operations. Tension allegedly rose the following week when the KIA, which had opened a checkpoint near the village of Namaum on the national highway, was said to have opened fire on two trucks with ties to the TNLA that had been transporting sugarcane. Myanmar Now was unable to verify the details surrounding the incident. During the Thingyan water festival, local youth came to Namphetka to refill their water supply in the village, leading to a reported confrontation with TNLA troops also in the area. Locals said that KIA soldiers arrived, and a confrontation followed, until local Kachin and Ta’ang cultural organisations intervened and deescalated the situation. A woman from the area claimed that the Ta’ang soldiers fired warning shots, which Myanmar Now was unable to confirm. “There was an incident between civilians and the TNLA in Namphetka—it started with a dispute over taking water,” she said. “The TNLA opened fire as a warning and threatened the people, but fortunately, no one was hit by bullets. The situation has now been resolved.” On Kachin Revolution Day—February 5—TNLA troops took down KIA flags that the group and Kachin locals had raised after a 50-soldier unit set up camp in some of Kutkai’s urban wards one day earlier. A TNLA officer based on Kutkai told Myanmar Now that Ta’ang troops removed the flags because the KIA had held their Revolution Day commemorations without informing the TNLA in advance, which “worried the civilians.” Around 200 KIA troops arrived at a bridge between Kutkai and Namphetka last December, just as some 100 TNLA soldiers launched an attack on a junta base at the site, raising tensions between the ethnic armed organisations. The KIA, along with the three members of the Brotherhood Alliance members, the United Wa State Army, the Shan State Progress Party, and the Mongla-based National Democratic Alliance Army, belong to the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee, a negotiating body of ethnic armed organisations.

Tensions increase between ethnic armed organisations in Kutkai, northern Shan State

Having driven out the junta, Kachin, Kokang, and Ta’ang forces are all present in the township

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