BANGKOK – Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin confirmed on Monday that he had given permission to a Myanmar plane that landed at Mae Sot Airport in Thailand’s Tak province at 10 p.m. Sunday. This plane was planned to carry an unarmed and unspecified number of civilians evacuated from the Burmese city of Myawaddy.
He added there were no soldiers or weapons onboard the flight as earlier reported by some Thai press. The people fled Myawaddy after it was overtaken by Karen National Union (KNU) and anti-junta forces.
The PM said all was done in accordance with the laws and he will discuss the situation in Myanmar with Foreign Ministry Panpree Pahittanukorn and military top brass tomorrow. Srettha said Thailand wishes to see peace in Myanmar but must be prepared as the kingdom shares over 2,000 kilometres of border with Myanmar.
The Myanmar opposition, which included soldiers from the Karen National Union (KNU) and the People’s Defence Force (PDF), has seized the largest Myanmar military camp in Myawaddy, including Myanmar soldiers’ tactical command at Ban Pang Kan, opposite Tha Sai Luat Subdistrict, Mae Sot District, Tak Province, Thailand.
Civil servants from the Myanmar Military Administration Council, including Customs, Immigration, and other departments in Myawaddy Province, fled to Kogarek, which is Colonel Maung Chi Tu’s area.
Later, on April 7, the Myanmar government contacted the Thai government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, requesting permission for the Myanmar military aircraft ATR 72-600 to land at the airport in Mae Sot District, Tak Province, as well as refuge for government officials who were waiting at the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge.
Jonathan Head, a BBC South East Asia correspondent, reported that the KNU announced on Friday that it had accepted the surrender of a battalion based in the town of Thanganyinaung, about 10km west of Myawaddy. It posted a video of its jubilant fighters showing off a substantial arsenal of weapons they had captured.
“This is a serious setback for the military junta, which in recent months has also been driven out of large areas along the Chinese border in Shan State and in Rakhine State near the border with Bangladesh.
Thousands of soldiers have already either been killed or have surrendered or defected to the opposition, forcing the military to impose conscription on the population to try to make up the losses,” he stated.
Previously, according to the Associated Press report on U.N. officials, Myanmar’s escalating conflict and worst violence since the military takeover in 2021 have had a devastating impact on human rights, fundamental freedoms, and the basic needs of millions of people, as well as “alarming spillover effects” in the region.
Assistant Secretary-General for political affairs Khaled Khiari told the U.N. Security Council that “the civilian toll keeps rising” amid reports of indiscriminate bombing by Myanmar’s armed forces and artillery shelling by various parties.
The nationwide armed conflict in Myanmar began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and suppressed widespread nonviolent protests that sought a return to democratic rule.
Thousands of young people fled to jungles and mountains in remote border areas as a result of the military’s suppression and made common cause with ethnic guerrilla forces battle-hardened by decades of combat with the army in pursuit of autonomy.
Despite its great advantage in armaments and manpower, the military has been unable to quell the resistance movement. Over the past five months, the army has been routed in northern Shan state, is conceding swaths of territory in Rakhine state in the west, and is under growing attack elsewhere.
Myanmar’s main pro-democracy resistance group said Thursday its armed wing launched drone attacks on the airport and a military headquarters in the capital, Naypyitaw, but the ruling military said it destroyed the drones as they attacked. It wasn’t possible to independently verify most details of the incident, but the military’s acknowledgement that it had taken place in one of the country’s most heavily guarded locations will be seen by many as the latest indication that it is losing the initiative.
The crisis continues to spill over the borders and added that conflicts in key border areas have weakened security, Khiari said. The breakdown in the rule of law has enabled illicit economies to thrive, with criminal networks preying on vulnerable people with no livelihoods.
“Myanmar has become a global epicenter of methamphetamine and opium production, along with a rapid expansion of global cyber-scam operations, particularly in border areas,” he said. “What began as a regional crime threat in Southeast Asia is now a rampant human trafficking and illicit trade crisis with global implications.”
Senior U.N. humanitarian official Lisa Doughten said the ongoing escalation has left 12.9 million people — nearly 25% of Myanmar’s population — without enough food, stressing that children and pregnant women face malnutrition.
“Across Myanmar, the humanitarian community estimates that some 18.6 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2024 — a nineteen-fold increase since February 2021,” she said.
Both Khiari and Doughten echoed U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for a unified international response to the escalating conflict, and for neighboring countries especially to use their influence to open humanitarian channels, end the violence, and seek a political solution.
Khiari said Guterres intends to appoint a new U.N. special envoy for Myanmar soon to engage with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, and other key parties toward those goals.
