Myanmar accuses armed groups of forced conscription

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar (AA) - The government of Myanmar accused ethnic armed groups Monday of forcibly recruiting villagers into their ranks amid ongoing fighting in restive Shan state.

The information committee for the State Counselor’s Office claimed in a statement that Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), a rebel group fighting the military in northeastern Shan state, had taken 21 villagers in Kyauk Mae Township late Sunday night.

Forced conscription is a common strategy among Myanmar rebel groups when fighting breaks out.

Similar recruitment drives were also reported last week in Mongkoe Township in Shan, which the army now says has been brought back under government control.

On Nov. 20, fighting erupted in northeastern Shan when the combined forces of the Northern Alliance -- the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Arakan Army (AA) -- attacked military checkpoints, police stations and a trade zone near the country’s border with China.

Since then, at least 29 people -- including 15 police and 13 civilians -- have died in the area, around 62 have been injured, and thousands have been displaced -- some 3,000 fleeing to China to escape the fighting.

On Monday, the United States embassy in Yangon urged all concerned parties to cease fighting.

“We are deeply concerned by the escalating violence in Kachin and Shan State and reports of abuses against civilians,” the embassy said in a statement.

“Continued conflict undermines the trust necessary to achieve a durable peace, and disproportionately affects the lives of innocent civilians and the thousands of IDPs forced from their homes.”

The embassy has called for immediate and unrestricted humanitarian access be given to all those affected by conflict in the area.