This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.
Myanmar’s junta has begun forcibly recruiting male civilians up to age 65 – including even those who are disabled – to protect villages, towns and cities against encroaching rebel militias, residents told Radio Free Asia.
The move comes amid mounting battlefield losses since the junta’s 2021 coup d’etat as rebel groups and ethnic armies have gained the upper hand in Myanmar’s three-year civil war.
In February, the military rulers enacted a draft law to shore up troop shortages and has since trained around 9,000 recruits for front-line fighting, with more on the way.
These new conscripts, however, are being armed to defend residential areas after the formation of a People’s Security and Counter-Terrorism Central Committee last month.
Political analysts say the move is essentially arming civilians to fight the rebels. They warned that doing so would lead to increased bloodshed, rather than improving security.
The committee will distribute weapons and other military equipment according to the needs of conflict zones, as well as provide food and conduct combat and medic training. Additionally, the committee is tasked with “expanding forces” and “recruiting experts capable of using high-tech military equipment.”
Residents told RFA Burmese this week that junta administrative officials at the ward and village level are now holding meetings and forcibly recruiting new troops in Naypyidaw; the regions of Yangon, Mandalay and Ayeyarwady; and Kayin state to the east.
In Ayeyarwady region’s Hinthada, Pantanaw, Nyaungdon, Danubyu, and Yae Kyi townships, men aged 35-65 are being counted and prohibited from traveling as part of the rollout, said a resident of Yae Kyi who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
“The junta is forcing men aged 35-65 to serve in local militia groups, in addition to the military,” he said. “They will have to take part in local security services based on drawing lots.”
The resident said that in some Yae Kyi villages, the junta is “requiring the disabled to serve in the public security forces.”
“Those who refuse to be recruited have to pay money [to get out of service],” he added.
Residents of Kayin state’s Hpa-an township told RFA that a similar recruitment plan has been underway there since Aug. 19.
And in Yangon region’s Thar Kay Ta township, junta officials have ordered ward and village administrators to take a census of inhabitants who are of valid age for military service, said a resident, who also declined to be named.
“They have also ordered veteran soldiers to enlist,” he said. “The list of recruits has yet to be collected, but discussions are being held.”
Public opposition
Reports of the forced recruitment follow an Aug. 25 meeting between junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and local junta officials in the central Mandalay region, during which he called on the public to “participate in the public security forces for the stability of the country and the rule of law.”
A resident of Mandalay told RFA that he will not join the public security team.
“Authorities said that recruitment should not be done against the will of the people,” he said. “I will not join because I do not agree with it.”
Attempts by RFA to contact junta spokesperson Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on recruitment efforts for the public security forces went unanswered.
Miemie Win Byrd, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and commentator on Myanmar military policy, told RFA that the more the junta’s forces are weakened, the worse its policies have become.
“The people are increasingly refusing to abide by the conscription law and the junta’s soldiers aren’t strong enough to fight,” she said. “But instead of learning lessons from the wrong policies of the past, they are making more mistakes.”
Since the 2021 coup, junta forces have lost 76 towns across the country to ethnic rebels and other armed opposition groups, the Myanmar Peace Monitor said in an Aug. 28 statement.
Artillery command center seized
Forced recruitment for junta “supervisory bodies” at the local level also comes as joint forces under the ethnic Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, captured a junta artillery command center around 32 km (20 miles) from Shan state’s Nawnghkio township, according to residents and sources close to the armed opposition.
The TNLA seized the No. 902 Artillery Operations Command – the headquarters of the junta’s artillery camp – in Taungkham village on Wednesday, they said, leaving only No. 354 Artillery Battalion to defend the area. Fighting remains fierce, they added.
The Ta’ang rebels began attacking Taungkham on Aug. 10 and captured No. 206 and 406 Artillery Battalions there on Aug. 28.
Residents told RFA that the junta is defending the area using heavy weapons and airstrikes, and has sent ground troops as reinforcements.
Inhabitants of Taungkham and other nearby villages have been forced to seek shelter, said a resident of Nawnghkio town, and “many people now have their belongings ready, so that if the fighting breaks out near us, we’ll be prepared to flee.”
Taungkham is located less than 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Pyin Oo Lwin – a city of some 250,000 people – and residents said they fear that the fighting will soon reach their area.
Junta forces have tightened security in the city and visitors from other regions are no longer permitted to register as guests, said one resident.
Link between north and south
A former army officer told RFA that Taungkham is a strategic location for both the junta and the armed opposition because it serves as a link between the north and south of Shan state.
Last month, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, captured Lashio, the largest town in northern Shan state, and the former army officer said that if the armed opposition hopes to push further, “it is necessary to seize [Taungkham].”
Attempts by RFA to contact TNLA spokesperson Lway Yay Oo for more details about the situation in Taungkham went unanswered Thursday, as did effort to reach junta Shan state spokesperson Khun Thein Maung.
The TNLA took over Nawnghkio town on June 10 as part of an ethnic offensive launched last October. Following the takeover, fleeing junta troops fell back to artillery positions in Taungkham village, where they met with reinforcements from southern Shan state.
