A joint force made up of soldiers from a Mon ceasefire group and the Burmese army attacked ethnic Karen insurgents in Tenasserim Division yesterday. The attack marks the first combined Mon-Burmese army operation against the Karen forces and adds on to offensives sustained against the insurgent group farther north.  

At 8:40am on April 8th, soldiers from Burmese army Light Infantry Brigade (LIB) No. 594 and the Mon Peace Group – Chaung Chi (MPG – Chaung Chi) attacked a temporary camp of soldiers from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in northeast Mergui District.  

The attack by the MPG – Chuang Chi is the first time the Mon group has operated in concert with the Burmese army. The MPG – Chaung Chi split from the New Mon State Party (NMSP) in 1997, and though it had remained quiet militarily it has nonetheless cooperated with the State Peace and Development Council junta, including participating in the National Convention convened to draft a new constitution. According to a source in the NMSP, the MPG – Chuang Chi had dwindled to just 20 soldiers before a recruiting effort by the SPDC doubled its ranks to 40 or 50.  

Yesterday’s clash lasted approximately an hour, during which the KNLA was able to repel the government forces after initially retreating from their temporary camp. According to a source in the KNLA, the joint Mon-Burmese government force left behind 7 causalities; the KNLA suffered none.   

“The battle took time of over one hour. We could protect ourselves from their offensive action,” said the source in KNLA 4th Brigade. “As a list, Captain Myo Lwin and 6 soldiers with unknown names were killed... Two soldiers from the Mon Peace Group are included in the total of 6 soldiers killed.”  

The attack by the new Mon-SPDC army force come as the KNLA and its political counterpart the Karen National Union face mounting military and political pressure to cease fighting. The group has maintained armed resistance to successive central governments in Burma since virtually the moment the country achieved independence; it remains of symbolic importance to many as the largest actively fighting group and a key member of a variety of coalition groups like the National Council of the Union of Burma and the Democratic Alliance of Burma.  

“This… means that the Burmese army is now joined with the DKBA [Democratic Karen Buddhist Army] to… create a combined operation against the KNLA 6th Brigade area and joined with the Mon Peace group to create a combined operation against the KNLA 4th Brigade area,” said a source carefully monitoring military affairs in Mergui, where the 4th Brigade’s position makes it the KNLA’s most southerly outpost.  

“The DKBA officially joined with the Burmese army to make offensive action not only in Taungoo District and Pa-an District but also in the KNLA 6th Brigade controlled area,” continued the source, describing areas to the north of 4th Brigade. “Now for the first time, the Mon Peace Group has joined to attack 4th Brigade.”  

The KNU has long faced pressure by the Burmese government, which has launched cyclical dry-season offensives while whittling away at the group’s strength by encouraging commanders to split and form small ceasefire groups. The latter process, which began with a devastating defection by the DKBA in 1994 that precipitated the fall of the KNU’s headquarters in Manerplaw, continued last week when the youngest son of late KNU leader Gen Saw Bo Mya surrendered along with 71 soldiers and 88 family members.  

The pressure has increased as the SPDC prepares for the country’s first parliamentary elections in two decades. This has been supported by the Thai government, which recently asked the KNU to “reconcile” with Burma’s military junta.   

The Thai government has also been forcing key KNU/KNLA leaders residing in Thailand to return to Burma, where they have faced offensives by the joint SPDC-DKBA and, now, SPDC-MPG – Chaung Chi forces. Exile media groups have also reported that the KNLA has been attacked from the rear by DKBA forces entering from Thailand, though this could not be independently confirmed by IMNA.  

Importantly, the NMSP, whose 1995 ceasefire gave it control of territory loosely situated between KNLA 4th and 6th Brigades, was careful to distance itself from the conflict and clarify the party’s separation from the MPG – Chaung Chi. “This group betrayed us and branched out from our party to surrender to the SPDC,” a major in the NMSP’s armed wing told IMNA. “Since the time they branched out, they have been our enemy. The name of the group is a Mon name, but they are under control of the Burmese army.”  

“Although the Mon Peace group joined with the Burmese army, the KNU clearly knows that this group is not connected with the NMSP,” continued the major. “So, there will not be problems between the KNU and NMSP in the future.”