YANGON: At least 19 people have been killed in clashes between Myanmar's military and an ethnic armed group on Saturday in northern Shan State, Myanmar army and local sources told AFP, the most deadly flare-up in recent years as fighting in the borderlands intensifies.
Rights defenders say clashes in northern Myanmar near the China border have ramped up since January as the international community focuses on the Rohingya crisis in the west of the country.
The military stands accused of carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign against the stateless minority in Rakhine.
Saturday's violence was between the military and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, one of several insurgent groups fighting for more autonomy in the north.
"Nineteen [people] were killed in fighting," the Myanmar military source said, adding that two dozen had been injured.
Thaung Tun, a local NGO leader who helped carry the injured to the hospital, said the dead included one police officer, one rebel fighter, four members of a state-backed militia, and two women civilians.
Pictures of burned out vehicles and armed men running for cover spread quickly on social media.
TNLA spokesman Major Mai Aik Kyaw told AFP that the group attacked joint military and militia posts in the Shan state town of Muse and on a road to Lashio.
"We fight because of thorough fighting in our region and the serious offensive in Kachin State," he said, referring to fresh confrontations in Myanmar's northernmost state between the army and the TNLA-aligned Kachin Independence Army.
Upwards of 90,000 people reside in IDP camps in Kachin and Shan states since a ceasefire between the powerful Kachin Independence Army and the military broke down in 2011.
Those fleeing violence have sheltered in tents and even churches in Kachin, which is mainly Christian, as rights groups accuse the military of blocking aid.
Myanmar's patchwork of ethnic groups make up round a third of the population, but the Bamar or Burmese have filled the Buddhist-majority country's power structures since independence in 1948.
Civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi said ending Myanmar's long-running conflicts was her main priority after she took power in 2016, but she shares power with the military that fought the insurgencies for decades.
Suu Kyi managed to bring two ethnic groups into a ceasefire accord in February, adding to eight others who had inked the deal before she took office.
19 dead in fighting between Myanmar army, rebels: military
19 dead in fighting between Myanmar army, rebels: military
- At least 19 people have been killed in clashes between Myanmar's military and an ethnic armed group on Saturday in northern Shan State
- Pictures of burned out vehicles and armed men running for cover spread quickly on social media
Venezuela’s furious street forces ready to ‘fight’ after US raid
- As proud defenders of the Venezuelan leadership’s socialist “Bolivarian revolution,” the ousting of Maduro has left them furious and bewildered, convinced that he was betrayed by close allies
CARACAS: When explosions boomed in the night and US warplanes roared in the sky over Caracas, Jorge Suarez and his companions rushed fearfully for their guns.
For these members of the “colectivos” — armed loyalists of the leftist leadership — the US raid that ousted Nicolas Maduro as their president was the most dramatic challenge yet.
“We’re not used to it — it was like a best-seller, like something out of a movie,” said Suarez, in black sunglasses and a cap bearing the slogan: “Doubt is treason.”
“We took to the streets, waiting for instructions from our leaders.”
As proud defenders of the Venezuelan leadership’s socialist “Bolivarian revolution,” the ousting of Maduro has left them furious and bewildered, convinced that he was betrayed by close allies.
“There is frustration, anger and a will to fight,” said a 43-year-old member of one collective the Boina Roja — which translates to Red Beret — who identified himself only as Willians, in a black cap and hooded jacket.
“It’s still not really clear what happened...What is clear is that there were many betrayals,” he added — pointing to implausible failures in Maduro’s defenses.
“We don’t understand how the anti-aircraft system failed. We don’t know what happened with the rocket-launch system.”
- Policing the transition -
Established in their current form under Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez, the colectivos are tasked with keeping social order on the streets — but accused by opponents of beating and intimidating rivals.
They have closed ranks behind Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s former deputy who took over as interim president.
She has pledged to cooperate with US President Donald Trump over his demand for access to Venezuela’s huge oil reserves — but has insisted the country is not “subordinate” to Washington.
Willians said the colectivos were resisting certain post-Maduro narratives, which he dismissed as mind games — such as “that Trump might bomb again, or that Delcy Rodriguez is with the United States.”
They respect her ideological pedigree — Rodriguez is the daughter of a far-left militant who died in the custody of the intelligence services in 1976.
“I don’t think anyone would betray her father,” said Alfredo Canchica, leader of another collective, the Fundacion 3 Raíces.
“You can betray the people, but not your father.”
Colectivo members declined to be drawn out on how the post-Maduro phase might play out under Trump and Rodriguez, however.
“We don’t believe the threats that the Americans are going to come, dig in and take us out,” said Canchica.
“They’ll have to kill us first.”
- Maduro ‘betrayed’ -
Feared by opponents as a rifle-wielding, motorbike-mounted shock force, the colectivos are welcomed in some neighborhoods where they are credited with preventing crime — and where authorities hand out subsidized food parcels.
Speaking at the Chato Candela baseball stadium in the working-class 23 de Enero district, Canchica rejected the negative image they have gained.
When opposition demonstrators and some world powers were accusing Maduro of stealing an election in July 2014, “we stopped the shantytowns from rising up,” he said.
The colectivos also claim to run sports programs, coordinate with hospitals and transport networks, and visit traders to keep price speculation in check.
Fiercely committed to the “Chavista” cause, they felt the sting of betrayal in Maduro’s capture.
“The betrayal must have come from someone very close to our commander” Maduro, said Canchica.
“It was so perfect we didn’t notice, and we still don’t know who betrayed us, how they betrayed us — it happened so fast.”
In his office with images of independence hero Simon Bolivar, Chavez and Maduro on the wall, and books, bullets and a sound-wave bomb on the table, Suarez bitterly recalled watching animated reconstructions of Maduro’s capture published online.
“It makes you angry,” he said.
“Despite all the support Commander (Vladimir) Putin, China and North Korea have given us militarily, how can we react in real time when (the US) has more advanced technology than we do?“
