The towns that escaped the junta’s grasp in Sagaing Region

Personal names in this article have been changed to protect our sources’ security. At first, Myo Kyaw was startled by the shots he heard at dawn near his home in Kawlin, but he relaxed after a few moments, knowing from his experience of nearby clashes that the sounds of fighting would likely subside before long. However, when the gunfire continued into the late morning that day, Myo Kyaw could not leave his house for fear of being shot by mistake. Although he lived in an area where clashes broke out frequently between the army and anti-regime forces, and was no stranger to hearing shots in the distance, the events of that day would stay seared into his memory for months. Ultimately forced to shelter inside his house for most of the day, Myo Kyaw was only able to leave when rescue workers arrived. The date was November 3, 2023, and anti-junta forces had launched an assault aimed at seizing control of Kawlin from the military. “We couldn’t even bring anything. We had to flee with nothing but the clothes on our backs. It all happened so suddenly,” Myo Kyaw said. Anti-regime fighters finished their takeover of Kawlin over the course of the next four days, with assaults on the land registry office, Myanma Economic Bank branch, high school, and general administration office held by the police, soldiers, and other junta personnel still in the town. This was the first time that resistance forces under the command of the publicly mandated, shadow National Unity Government (NUG)—with assistance from anti-junta ethnic armed groups active in the area for decades—had been able to seize a district-level administrative seat controlled by the junta. Resistance forces raise their flag at the district general administration office in Kawlin, Sagaing Region, on November 6 (NUG) Anti-regime forces held Kawlin for three months after recapturing it. It was retaken by the military this week after two weeks of intense fighting. However, anti-junta groups have also captured and maintained control over the Sagaing Region towns of Khampat, Tamu Township; Shwe Pyi Aye, Homalin Township; and Maw Luu, Indaw Township. The armed anti-junta groups initiated their assault on Khampat, located on the India-Myanmar border, on November 3 and seized control of it on November 7. They had to fight from November 21 to 23 for control over Shwe Pyi Aye, a small town located up the Chindwin River, but managed to seize Maw Luu in a matter of hours on December 13. Shwe Pyi Aye in February 2023 (Supplied) The junta fights back with artillery, airstrikes, ground assaults Despite these successes on the part of anti-junta forces, residents of the towns that they wrested from junta control continue to face significant hardship. Some have resettled in the towns under the control of the anti-junta groups, but others have decided not to return for fear that the military will take the towns back, as they have in Kawlin. Myo Kyaw and his family, who have been staying in Magway Region with relatives since the clashes displaced them from Kawlin, had not been able to return home yet at the time he spoke with Myanmar Now. Another Kawlin resident, Khin Mar, fled to Kachin State and has also had to delay plans to return home. “They were still shelling with heavy artillery, so we couldn’t go back home yet. We couldn’t live there not knowing when the shells might fall on us and kill us,” Khin Mar said. Army units based in Wuntho, located some 15 miles north of Kawlin, were responsible for most of the shelling in that area while anti-regime forces held the town. One of the shells fired from Wuntho killed six civilians when it fell near the market in central Kawlin. 10 other civilians have been killed by junta artillery in the aftermath of the town’s capture by anti-regime forces, prompting many residents to leave town. Central Kawlin after a heavy artillery strike on January 2 (Kawlin Revolution- KR) The military has carried out a relentless series of attacks on the towns lost to anti-regime forces by land, air, and water in addition to firing on them with heavy artillery. While unable to stop the shelling, anti-regime forces had some success in repelling the junta’s ground forces from captured towns. They repelled a junta infantry column sent to reclaim Kawlin shortly after the takeover, and have also held their position against infantry assaults on Khampat. However, after their troops were forced to retreat from a ground assault on Khampat, the military carried out a massive airstrike on the neighbouring village of Kannan, killing nine children and eight other civilians, and injuring 19. “It’s very hard for us to go anywhere, so we just have to stay home, despite the danger,” said Tun Min, a Khampat resident. The military has deployed every means at its disposal in its attempts to retake Shwe Pyi Aye since late January, forcing local civilians to flee their homes. Many have sought refuge in monasteries in the township’s administrative seat, Homalin. An officer of a Homalin-based resistance force said his group had issued announcements urging civilians to evacuate. Since a Chinese-mediated ceasefire went into effect in northern Shan State in January, the announcements warned, the military has been able to concentrate more of its air and artillery attacks on targets in Sagaing Region. Establishing a resistance administration Having captured almost 30 towns in northern Shan state, Sagaing Region, Chin State, Karenni State, and Rakhine State since the launch of the coordinated Operation 1027 offensive in late October, anti-regime forces have made efforts to establish a functioning administrative and governance apparatus where they have taken control. Just as the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army have instituted new governing mechanisms in the towns they seized in northern Shan State before the ceasefire, resistance forces have attempted to do the same in the Sagaing Region towns under their control according to plans laid out by the NUG. The NUG announced in early December, one month after the seizure of Kawlin, that a “people’s administration system” had taken on the responsibility of governing the township. Nay Bhone Latt, a spokesperson for the NUG’s office of the union prime minister, said plans were in place to establish people’s administration systems in Khampat, Shwe Pyi Aye, and Maw Luu as well. The NUG would issue an announcement on the implementation of these plans once conditions became stable and secure, he added. Regional military command headquarters in Khampat, Sagaing Region, seen on November 7 (NUG) “We are still establishing proper security measures as we value the public’s safety foremost. We will issue an announcement as we did in Kawlin once we are fully ready,” he said. He said that they were still unable to open physical offices in the townships they had seized due to the threat from the junta air force, they had already elected “representatives” for each ward and that they were implementing administrative procedures. While in control of Kawlin, the township people’s administration team said that temporary hospitals had been established in “safe spots” in the town after the main hospital had to be shut down due to the risk of airstrikes. Schools had also reopened outside of urban areas targeted by the air force. In towns under the NUG’s, TNLA’s, and other anti-regime forces’ control, participants in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM)—mostly teachers and educational workers—have been recruited to fill administrative and public service roles. The CDM is made up of workers and professionals who went on strike to protest military rule in the wake of the coup in 2021. Kyaw Zaw, a spokesperson for the NUG’s office of the president, said that interim administrative procedures were underway not only in the captured Sagaing Region towns, but in hundreds of villages and regions under NUG control and throughout the country. However, he noted that the junta “are still committing massacres and attacking our territories from the air or from a distance using heavy artillery.” Junta attempts to cut off resistance-controlled towns Civilian residents said the military had stopped the movement of consumer goods to the towns they lost, as well as cutting off telecommunications services. Although the connections have been restored in some areas, they have reportedly remained unstable and difficult to access. Airstrike on Kannan village on January 7 (Myanmar Now) The military reportedly imposed fines—or solicited bribes—totalling tens of millions of kyat at the Koe Pin checkpoint in Shwebo Township on truckers attempting to take goods north towards Kawlin. They had also reportedly cut off routes from the towns of Kale and Tamu to Khampat. “They’re asking for bribes from the cars from Khampat at the Tar Han gate of Kale two to three times a week, and no truck driver dares to drive there anymore, resulting in commodity shortages,” said Tun Min, a Khampat resident. While the junta has finally been able to retake Kawlin this week, it remains to be seen whether the same mix of tactics will enable them to retake other Sagaing Region towns, especially while attacks on their forces and bases in other parts of Myanmar continue to preoccupy them. Whether and when the civilians displaced by conflict will be able to return to their everyday lives at home is even less certain. “Things will only go back to working normally when we are able to claim our towns as our own,” said Myo Kyaw.

The towns that escaped the junta’s grasp in Sagaing Region

Despite constant attacks and attempts to cut them off from communications and supplies, three Sagaing Region towns are still under anti-regime forces’ control after the military retook Kawlin this week

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