Myanmar communists take in liberated elephants as battle against junta rages

Communist rebels in Myanmar shelter 138 elephants from junta, fearing they may fall into the hands of traffickers.

Communist rebels battling Myanmar's junta have taken in 138 elephants as fighting rages in the jungles and scrubland around Mandalay.

The tuskers have been coming into the rebel camp in twos and threes since July, many led by handlers fleeing the junta-controlled timber camps that employ them.

Others have been taken as spoils in territory captured by the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) as it battles the military and its 2021 coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's government.

"We were worried that if no one took control of them, these elephants would fall into the hands of traffickers," said Ni Ni Kyaw, the general secretary of the CPB's People's Liberation Army.

"If these elephants reach the black market or are taken by traffickers, they will have a huge problem," she told AFP on Thursday.

State timber enterprises in Myanmar are thought to employ around 3,000 elephants, the majority dragging freshly cut trees through the dense jungle to transport hubs and mills.

At one PLA camp last week, around a dozen of the animals knelt in a line alongside their handlers before heading off on a march.