Myanmar rebels say recapture HQ after almost 30 years

Soldiers from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) patrol on a vehicle. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A Myanmar ethnic rebel group said on Tuesday (December 17, 2024) it had recaptured its headquarters from the Myanmar military, almost 30 years after it was forced out.

Karen National Union (KNU) fighters had seized Manerplaw on the Thai border following days of fighting, KNU leader Saw Thamain Tun said.

Myanmar junta troops “still want to take it back and they used drones and tried to bomb our troops,” he said.

“But, our troops took the base already,” he said.

For years Manerplaw was the headquarters of the KNU’s decades-long armed struggle for rights for the Karen minority and home to other dissident politicians opposing Myanmar’s then-junta.

Following a split within the Christian-majority KNU, the junta and a breakaway Buddhist faction captured the base in 1995, sending thousands fleeing into Thailand.

After the fall of Manerplaw, the junta renamed the area Kayin state and put the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Organization, an allied armed group, in charge of it.

The KNU has clashed repeatedly with the current junta following its latest coup in 2021 and has provided shelter and training to other opponents seeking to topple the military.

Manerplaw “was a historical place for the Karen”, said Saw Thamain Tun, with around 100 of its soldiers buried there.

“We need to rebuild the area to pay respect to all of them,” he said.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the 2021 coup, which sparked renewed fighting with rebel groups such as the KNU and birthed dozens of pro-democracy “People’s Defence Forces” now battling the military across the country.

More than three million people have been displaced by the fighting according to the United Nations.

Clashes regularly send thousands fleeing across Myanmar’s 2,400-km border with Thailand.