April 9, 2024
BANGKOK – Thailand granted permission to the Myanmar junta on April 7 to run a special flight evacuating its personnel after hundreds of troops near the strategic Myanmar border trading hub of Myawaddy surrendered to resistance forces.
The losses in Myanmar’s Kayin state are the latest in a string of defeats since October 2023 that forced the military regime – which seized power through a 2021 coup – to cede control in key border areas such as Rakhine state and Shan state.
The Karen National Union (KNU), an ethnic armed organisation that operates by the Thai border, said in a Facebook post on April 6 that more than 600 of the junta’s military officers and their family members in a large base surrendered after it was overrun by KNU and allied fighters.
The Thai government confirmed on April 8 that it had received a request from the Myanmar junta-run foreign ministry to approve three special flights from April 7 to 9 between Yangon and Mae Sot – the Thai town next to Myawaddy – to “transport passengers and cargo”. It did not specify the type of passengers and cargo to be conveyed.
“Upon considering the urgency of the situation and the possibility of an evacuation of Myanmar personnel and their families to safe areas, a decision was made at the government level to approve the request from Myanmar on humanitarian grounds,” Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The Myanmar military authorities have since cancelled the request to run the remaining flights on April 8 and 9.
In response to online allegations that Bangkok was siding with the junta in Myanmar’s three-year-old crisis, Thailand’s foreign ministry said: “In the past, the Thai side has provided assistance to all parties in Myanmar based on humanitarian principles without discrimination.
“The security agencies have clear guidelines for managing various situations, including cases when someone is injured or requests to be evacuated across the border and, in any event, will not allow weapons from any side to enter Thailand.”
Thailand’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Jakkapong Sangmanee denied in a Facebook post on April 8 that soldiers were transported, saying “it was a diplomatic request to bring in a civilian aircraft to transport diplomatic supplies”.
Bangkok on March 25 sent aid to Myanmar via the Myawaddy-Mae Sot border as part of wider efforts to establish a humanitarian corridor. The delivery of this aid involved the Thai and Myanmar Red Cross societies, the latter being controlled by the junta. It is not clear what will happen to this initiative should Myawaddy come under full control of the KNU.
KNU spokesman Padoh Saw Taw Nee told The Straits Times on April 8 that the organisation now controls 80 per cent to 90 per cent of Myawaddy town. He said some of the town’s residents have started to flee in anticipation of shelling and aerial bombing – which the military has a record of doing in territories that it withdraws from.
“The people are very concerned about retaliation and air strikes,” he said. “Some are trying to leave the town.”
The Thai government will hold a meeting on April 9 to decide on its next course of action.
The United Nations Human Rights Council, which comprises 47 countries, has sought to get UN member states to restrict the Myanmar regime’s access to jet fuel.
Long-established ethnic armed groups and “people’s defence forces” under the control of the shadow National Unity Government are stretching the military junta through multi-fronted battles. The junta is trying to replenish its ranks with conscription, fuelling the informal migration of young people seeking to flee military service.
More than 2.5 million people have been displaced since the coup, and Myanmar’s economy is projected by the World Bank to grow just 1.3 per cent in 2024.
With opposing sides in Myanmar locked in battle, Asean has not managed to make headway on its blueprint to try to facilitate a solution to Myanmar’s crisis.
Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin told Reuters on April 7: “The current regime is starting to lose some strength. But even if they are losing, they have the power, they have the weapons.
“Maybe it’s time to reach out and make a deal.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on April 5 appointed former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop as the new UN special envoy on Myanmar. The post has been vacant since the June 2023 departure of Singaporean Noeleen Heyzer.