Shwe Kokko Offensive

Last updated
Shwe Kokko Offensive
Part of the Myanmar civil war (2021–present) and internal conflict in Myanmar
DateApril 1, 2023- April 11, 2023
Location
Result SAC victory
Belligerents

Flag of the Karen National Union.svg Kawthoolei Army

Flag of the KNLA.svg Karen National Liberation Army Brigade 5 [1]

Flag of PDF Myanmar.svg People's Defense Force [2]

KNU/KNLA Peace Council Renegades [3]

Flag of Myanmar.svg State Administration Council

Flag of the KNLA.svg Karen National Liberation Army Brigade 7 (disputed) [1]
Commanders and leaders
Flag of the Karen National Union.svg Nerdah Myah
Saw Lat Kai and Saw Kyaw Kayaw [4]
Army Flag of Myanmar.svg Min Aung Hlaing
Saw Chit Thu
Strength
Unknown Unknown
Casualties and losses
At least 24 Killed [1] At least 80 killed [5]
At least 10,000 refugees [1]

The Shwe Kokko Offensive was a failed offensive by Karen EAOs and the People's Defense Force (including rogue elements of the KNU/KNLA Peace Council and Kawthoolei Army splinter group) on the city of Shwe Kokko. [6]

Contents

Background

Shwe Kokko, a town in the Thai border area of Myawaddy District, serves as the headquarters of Saw Chit Thu's Karen BGF. [7] [8]

Overtime, it gained notoriety as a gambling hotspot for Chinese tourists, a scam center, and a destination for human trafficking. [9] [10] [11]

Kawthoolei Army

On 17 July 2022, ousted KNDO commander-in-chief, Nerdah Myah, formed the Kawthoolei Army to fight the Myanmar SAC junta independently. [12] According to Karen media, he formed the group after allegedly obstructing an investigation related to a massacre of 25 unarmed civilians. [13]

Offensive

In spite of animosity, KNLA Brigade 5, the Kawthoolei Army, a rogue faction of the KNU/KNLA Peace Council, and the People's Defense Force jointly launched attacks on Myanmar Army and BGF positions near Shwe Kokko. [14] Initially, the attacks went somewhat smoothly, resulting in the capture of at least five BGF outposts. [15]

However, starting in April 8th, the offensive began to falter as Myanmar Army Mi-35 helicopters started to bomb anti-junta positions. [2]

Aftermath

By April 11th, the BGF fully regained control of Shwe Kokko. At least 10,000 civilians of various nationalities fled to Thailand. [1] Allegedly, some KNLA commanders (such as the leader of Brigade 7) aided the BGF in exchange for profits from another Myawaddy fraud factory, KK Park. [1] Although Brigade 7 denied this charge, it announced that KTLA forces are forbidden from moving within their operational area. [1]

While Shwe Kokko did not face another attack, the Three Brotherhood Alliance and other anti-junta forces successfully crippled scam operations in the Kokang Region as part of Operation 1027 six months later. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen National Union</span> Ethno-political organisation

The Karen National Union is a political organisation with an armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), that claims to represent the Karen people of Myanmar. It operates in mountainous eastern Myanmar and has underground networks in other areas of Myanmar where Karen people live as a minority group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen National Liberation Army</span> Military organization in Myanmar

The Karen National Liberation Army is the military branch of the Karen National Union (KNU), which campaigns for the self-determination of the Karen people of Myanmar. The KNLA has been fighting the Burmese government since 1960s as part of the Karen conflict, which has been ongoing since 1949.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myawaddy</span> Township in Kayin State, Myanmar

Myawaddy is a town in southeastern Myanmar, in Kayin State, close to the border with Thailand. Separated from the Thai border town of Mae Sot by the Moei River, the town is the most important trading point between Myanmar and Thailand. Myawaddy is 170 kilometres (110 mi) east of Mawlamyine, the fourth largest city of Myanmar, and 426 kilometres (265 mi) northwest of Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Karen Buddhist Army</span> Former insurgent group in Myanmar

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army was an insurgent group of Buddhist soldiers and officers in Myanmar that split from the predominantly Christian-led Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), one of the largest rebel factions in Myanmar. Shortly after splitting from the KNLA in December 1994, the DKBA signed a ceasefire agreement with the government of Myanmar in exchange for military and financial assistance; provided that it supported government offensives against the KNU and its allies.

The 2010–2012 Myanmar border clashes were a series of skirmishes between the Tatmadaw on one side, and the DKBA-5 and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) on the other. The clashes erupted along the border with Thailand shortly after Myanmar's general election on 7 November 2010. An estimated 10,000 refugees have fled into nearby neighbouring Thailand to escape the violent conflict. There was concern that due to discontent with the elections, and speculations of electoral fraud, that the conflict could escalate into a civil war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen conflict</span> Armed conflict in southeastern Myanmar

The Karen conflict is an armed conflict in Kayin State, Myanmar. It is part of the wider internal conflict in Myanmar between the military government and various minority groups. Karen nationalists have been fighting for an independent state, known as Kawthoolei, since 1949. The Karen National Union (KNU) and its Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) are the most prominent Karen rebel groups. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced by the conflict, many of whom fled to neighbouring Thailand and survive in refugee camps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mon National Liberation Army</span> Insurgent group in Myanmar

The Mon National Liberation Army is a Mon insurgent group in Myanmar (Burma). It is the armed wing of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), and has been fighting government forces since 1949, though under different names. The NMSP signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) on 15 October 2015 with several other insurgent groups and the government of Myanmar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen National Defence Organisation</span> Insurgent group in Myanmar

The Karen National Defence Organisation is the older of two main military branches of the Karen National Union (KNU), the other being the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). The KNDO fought against the government of Myanmar from 1947 until 1949 as the armed wing of the KNU. It was succeeded by the KNLA when KNDO militias were combined with KNLA forces in 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shwe Kokko</span> Place in Karen State, Myanmar

Shwe Kokko Myaing, commonly known as Shwe Kokko, is a town in Myawaddy Township, Myawaddy District in the Kayin State of south-east Myanmar. Shwe Kokko lies on the left (western) bank of the Moei River, facing Thailand to the east. The town is located 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Myawaddy. In recent years, Shwe Kokko has evolved into an organized crime and human trafficking hub, due to the Burmese government's limited reach and oversight in this remote area. Chinese-led development projects in Shwe Kokko, including Yatai New City, have been involved in illegal gambling, human trafficking, extortion, and cyber scam operations. As Cambodia intensified its crackdown on illegal online gambling in 2019, Chinese crime syndicates and casino operators have found a new base in Myanmar's peripheral border areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myanmar civil war (2021–present)</span> Ongoing armed conflict in Myanmar since the 2021 coup detat

The Myanmar civil war, also called the Burmese Spring Revolution, Burmese civil war or People's Defensive War, is an ongoing civil war following Myanmar's long-running insurgencies, which escalated significantly in response to the 2021 military coup d'état and the subsequent violent crackdown on anti-coup protests. The exiled National Unity Government and major ethnic armed organisations repudiated the 2008 Constitution and called instead for a democratic federal state. Besides engaging this rebel alliance, the junta also contends with other anti-junta forces in areas under its control. Hannah Beech of The New York Times observed the insurgents are apportioned into hundreds of armed groups scattered across the country.

Colonel Saw Chit Thu is a Karen soldier and businessperson, sometimes identified as a warlord, who has held a leading position in armed groups in Karen State, Myanmar, including the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), the Border Guard Forces (BGF) and the Karen National Army (KNA). He is considered a powerful figure in the border area, and has been sanctioned by the United Kingdom for links to projects which use trafficked and forced labour in online scam farms.

The following is a timeline of major events during the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), following the 2021 military coup d'état and protests. It was also a renewed intensity in existing internal conflict in Myanmar.

She Zhijiang, known as Tang Kriang Kai, and by numerous other aliases including She Lunkai, and Dylan She, is a Chinese Cambodian businessman and chairman of Yatai International Holdings Group, which has gambling investments throughout Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, the Philippines, and Myanmar. A convicted criminal in China, She Zhijiang was a fugitive until his capture by Thai police in August 2022. His business operations have been linked with human trafficking, extortion, and cyber scams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KK Park</span> Fraud factory in Myawaddy, Myanmar

KK Park is a fraud factory located in Myawaddy, Myanmar. Located next to the Moei River on the Myanmar–Thailand border, the complex is a major hub of Internet fraud and human trafficking within the larger Golden Triangle region.

The Battle of Kawkareik or siege of Kawkareik occurred in late October 2022 when the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) escalated fighting in southeastern Myanmar and besieged the district-level capital town of Kawkareik. At the time, it appeared to be a significant first seizure of a major town by anti-junta forces since the renewed civil war.

The Kawthoolei Army is a militant and separatist group in Myanmar, splited from Karen National Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Myawaddy</span> 2024 military engagement in Myanmar

The Siege of Myawaddy was a significant military engagement that occurred in early 2024, during the ongoing conflict in Myanmar. The siege took place in the town of Myawaddy, located on the eastern border with Thailand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen National Army</span> Insurgent group in Myanmar

The Karen National Army, formerly the Karen Border Guard Force, is a primarily Karen Buddhist ethnic army active in Kayin State, Myanmar, which split off from the Myanmar Army in January 2024. The KNA was formed as the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) in December 1994 after the insurgent group split off of the Karen National Liberation Army. Shortly after, the DKBA signed a ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar Army, officially joining the army as the Karen Border Guard Force alongside the Karen Peace Force in 2009. In January 2024, after intensified rebel operations throughout Myanmar, the Karen BGF began distancing itself from the ruling military junta, eventually splitting off from the Army and rebranding themselves the "Karen National Army" by April.

The Kawthoolei Armed Forces is an ethnic Karen rebel alliance.

The Battle of Insein was a 1949 battle during the Karen conflict where the Karen National Defence Organisation briefly captured the town of Insein, 9 miles from Rangoon. After 111 days of intense fighting, the KNDO failed their goal of capturing Rangoon, and retreated into the countryside.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Into the lion’s den: The failed attack on Shwe Kokko Frontier Myanmar May 11, 2023 Archived June 30, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 Villagers flee areas near Shwe Kokko as Karen State fighting escalates. Mizzima. April 9, 2023 Archived 2024-04-11 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Fresh Fighting Breaks Out Near Chinese Gambling Hub in Myanmar’s Karen State The Irrawaddy. Archived April 27, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  4. The KNU breakaway “Peace Council” faction Expels Two Commanders Who joined revolutionary offensive near Chinese mafia ‘s Shwe Kokko New City Myawaddy district Karen State. Karen News. April 11, 2023. Archived March 16, 2024, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Shwe Kokko Crime Hub Attacked for Funding Myanmar Junta: KTLA The Irrawaddy. Archived February 24, 2024, at the Wayback Machine
  6. Myanmar coup: Thousands of Burmese flee to Thailand after intense fighting BBC. April 7, 2023 Archived August 6, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Tower, Jason; Clapp, Priscilla A. (2020-07-27). "Myanmar's Casino Cities: The Role of China and Transnational Criminal Networks". United States Institute of Peace. Archived from the original on November 27, 2023. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
  8. Nachemson, Andrew (2020-07-07). "The mystery man behind the Shwe Kokko project". Frontier Myanmar. Archived from the original on December 24, 2023. Retrieved 2023-03-02.
  9. Chinese Mega-Project in Myanmar’s Kayin State Sparks Resentment And Worry. Radio Free Asia November 13, 2019 Archived October 21, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  10. Scam City: How the coup brought Shwe Kokko back to life June 23, 2022. Frontier Myanmar Archived April 29, 2024, at the Wayback Machine
  11. Four Laotian trafficking victims freed from Myanmar casino faced regular beatings Radio Free Asia. February 16, 2023.Archived January 16, 2024, at the Wayback Machine
  12. New armed group formed by ousted KNDO leader will not be recognised by KNU Myanmar Now. July 21, 2022 Archived March 21, 2024, at the Wayback Machine
  13. Kawthoolei Army: How a broken system and a disrespect for the rules of law in the KNU gave birth to another armed group in Karen State. Karen News. August 2, 2022. Archived February 22, 2024, at the Wayback Machine
  14. Resistance Raids Myanmar Junta Outposts Near Chinese Gambling Hub The Irrawaddy. April 7, 2023 Archived May 30, 2023, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ရွှေကုက္ကိုမှာ စစ်ကောင်စီဘက် နဲ့ KNLA တိုက်ပွဲပြင်းထန် (Heavy fighting between the military council and the KNLA in Shwe Kokko) (in Burmese). Voice of America. April 7, 2023 Archived April 11, 2024, at the Wayback Machine
  16. Scam Centres and Ceasefires: China-Myanmar Ties Since the Coup. March 27, 2024. International Crisis Group. Archived May 10, 2024, at the Wayback Machine