Armed ethnic group in Myanmar battles to hold prized city

MNDAA flags and Alliance flags raised in downtown Lashio in Myanmar’s Shan State.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Red flags flutter over bullet-scarred buildings in the strategic Myanmar city of Lashio, which an ethnic minority armed group linked to China seized from the military in its biggest defeat for decades.

Lashio is the largest urban centre to fall to any of Myanmar’s myriad ethnic minority armed groups — who have been fighting the central authorities on and off for decades — since the military first seized power in 1962.

But analysts said the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) will struggle to govern Lashio, which straddles a key trade route to China and normally has a population of 1,50,000.

Most fled during the weeks of fighting that culminated in the city’s capture last month, and those who remain fear a return to the bloody violence.

Residents and rescue groups said dozens of civilians were killed or wounded as the military pounded the town with air strikes and both sides launched rockets and shells at each other.

While the fighting has eased since August, junta planes are still flying sorties and conducting air strikes, including on Monday (September 23, 2024) and Tuesday (September 24, 2024) night.

“We cannot say Lashio is back to normal but everyone is trying to act like it is normal,” real estate agent Soe Soe said.

She fled in July but returned after the MNDAA took over and said she will stay, even as smaller clashes continue in the vicinity.

“The situation is uncertain right now,” she added. “Everyone is afraid.”

Junta jets are still pounding the city and targets have included hospitals and administrative buildings, according to the U.S. Institute of Peace’s Myanmar programme chief Jason Tower. Running Lashio will stretch the MNDAA’s manpower and capacity, he said.

Junta air strikes have killed and wounded several civilians, according to the MNDAA.

Chinese links

The ethnically Chinese MNDAA are an unknown quantity for Lashio’s diverse population of Bamar, Shan, and other groups.

In areas controlled by the group in its Kokang homeland along the border with China’s Yunnan province, the language of administration, the currency and internet providers are all Chinese. The MNDAA was part of a trio of ethnic armed groups that launched a coordinated offensive against the junta —which ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in 2021 — a year ago, taking it by surprise and seizing swathes of Shan State.