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After 2024 setbacks, junta forces now control less than half of Myanmar
[BrenarNews] Ethnic rebel groups in Shan and Rakhine states dealt the military its biggest blows this year.

Myanmar’s junta forces now control less than half the country after suffering major battlefield setbacks in 2024 — including the loss of command headquarters in Shan and Rakhine states, several rebel groups said.

In June, the Three Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armies resumed offensive operations in Shan state. Within weeks, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army had captured Lashio, a city of 130,000 that is the region’s commercial and administrative hub and a gateway to China.

Another member of the alliance, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, also seized the strategic Shan state townships of Nawnghkio and Kyaukme, as well as the gem mining town of Mogoke in the neighboring Mandalay region.

Those victories in July and August left the junta with almost no territory in Shan state, a key area for border trade with China.

"The junta’s administration has completely ended here," said a resident of Kutkai, a town in northern Shan state that has been the focus of junta Arclight airstrike
...KABOOM!...
s in recent months.

"At present, the economy and education sectors cannot function," the resident told Radio Free Asia. "And the cost of living has skyrocketed."

RFA couldn’t independently confirm the exact area lost by the military regime as the situation on the ground remains fluid and hard to verify given the constant fighting.

Junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Htun didn’t immediately respond to RFA’s attempt for comment on Monday.

ELECTION PLANS FOR 2025
The setbacks came as the junta regime moved forward with plans to hold an election in 2025, four years after they seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’état.

But opponents say the election would be a farce and simply a way of legitimizing their rule.

For starters, the vote would be held in just 161 townships controlled by junta authorities out of 330 nationwide, Election Commission Chairman Ko Ko told political party representatives earlier this month.


Posted by: trailing wife 2025-01-07
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=734075