A sanctioned strongman and the ‘fall’ of Myanmar’s Myawaddy

The key border town was ‘liberated’ by Myanmar’s anti-coup fighters, but the story was far more complex than many realised.

Mae Sot, Thailand –  On April 11, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of Myanmar’s Karen National Union (KNU) a staunch opponent of the military coup, captured the 275 Light Infantry Battalion base about 5km (3.1 miles) west of Myawaddy, a town of crucial strategic importance on the Myanmar-Thai border.

The KNU immediately claimed a successful offensive, sharing photos of its troops at the entrance to the city. Although the KNU did not definitively claim they had taken the town, many thought Myawaddy had been fully liberated by the forces fighting against the generals who seized power from the elected government in a 2021 coup.

But the situation was not quite as it seemed.

Just two weeks after the KNLA took control of the base, the Myanmar military was back, sharing a picture of its soldiers raising their flag back at the site in a sudden and surprising turn of events.

Interviews with Myawaddy residents, sources close to the offensive and analysts indicate the KNLA never took the entire town. Rather, Myawaddy was under the control of the Border Guard Forces (BGF), a notorious militia operating in the border areas that are home to the ethnic Karen, Myanmar’s second largest ethnic group. And at the heart of the incident is Colonel Saw Chit Thu – an ethnic Karen strongman who leads the BGF with thousands of armed men under his command.