Working in Myanmar’s Kayin state within the spring, Maung Phyo’s unit made regular progress in opposition to the pro-democracy forces arrayed in opposition to the army regime, pushing deeper into insurgent territory regardless of dealing with a every day barrage of drone strikes, artillery assaults, and land mines.
However Maung Phyo was not a prepared soldier: The 25-year-old mentioned that he was kidnapped at gunpoint final December by the Myanmar army whereas harvesting rice at a farm 500 miles away. Throughout primary coaching, his hair was shaved and his private belongings had been confiscated earlier than he was given a army uniform and an identification quantity.
Working in Myanmar’s Kayin state within the spring, Maung Phyo’s unit made regular progress in opposition to the pro-democracy forces arrayed in opposition to the army regime, pushing deeper into insurgent territory regardless of dealing with a every day barrage of drone strikes, artillery assaults, and land mines.
However Maung Phyo was not a prepared soldier: The 25-year-old mentioned that he was kidnapped at gunpoint final December by the Myanmar army whereas harvesting rice at a farm 500 miles away. Throughout primary coaching, his hair was shaved and his private belongings had been confiscated earlier than he was given a army uniform and an identification quantity.
The Myanmar army seized energy in a coup almost 5 years in the past, plunging the nation into an enormous civil battle as new pro-democracy forces teamed up with veteran ethnic armed teams that had lengthy fought for autonomy within the nation’s borderlands. All through the battle, the army has been accused of committing battle crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity, together with the current bombing of a political demonstration in insurgent territory that killed at the least 24 folks, together with kids.
After struggling unexpectedly heavy battlefield losses in late 2023 and early 2024, the army enacted a conscription coverage in February 2024, sending the primary batch of recent troopers to coaching in April. On the time, some analysts predicted that such pressured recruitment would backfire, pushing extra younger folks to hitch Myanmar’s resistance forces and even to undermine the army from inside.
As a substitute, conscription seems to have been one main issue—together with elevated political assist from China—in reversing the momentum of the battle in Myanmar again within the army regime’s favor. As of November, the army has drafted 17 batches of between 4,000 and 5,000 new recruits resembling Maung Phyo.
“The army’s conscription plan seems to achieve success,” mentioned political analyst Min Zaw Oo, who added that as a substitute of a excessive desertion charge, many new recruits have obtained discipline promotions. He mentioned that the primary two batches of conscripts had been full of army supporters to make sure loyalty, whereas later rounds appeared to prey on the economically susceptible.
“They’ve already crammed the ranks they misplaced throughout post-coup combating. However they nonetheless want extra conscripts to make the items shut to plain battalions,” Min Zaw Oo mentioned, referring to the comparatively small measurement of Myanmar’s battalions.
Throughout an interview in Thailand final month, Maung Phyo mentioned he had met different recruits who had been kidnapped in addition to these extra formally drafted into the army, however he added that many others had been males from poor households who had been paid by different conscripts to take their locations. These funds are sometimes recurring, incentivizing Myanmar’s poorest to stay in uniform.
The army appeared to adapt its techniques after October 2023, when it suffered main defeats by the hands of a trio of ethnic armed teams often known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance, which launched a surprising offensive that reshaped the contours of the battle. The insurgent alliance—whose constituent teams additionally interact in pressured recruitment—seized swaths of territory in northern Shan state, on Myanmar’s border with China, and in far western Rakhine state.
Maung Phyo described an intensive and sometimes brutal coaching routine for conscripts. Through the first three months, new recruits practiced parade formations, weapons dealing with (together with assault rifles, carbines, grenades and landmines), and tactical workouts resembling simulating evening fight. This was adopted by two weeks of superior fight coaching earlier than being deployed to the entrance strains.
Bodily abuse was widespread, in line with Maung Phyo, with entire dormitories collectively disciplined for the errors of 1 trainee. Two recruits with mental disabilities had been routinely abused, he mentioned.
His account echoes a condemnation final yr by the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations’ Parliamentarians for Human Rights group: “This brutal apply, involving abductions, threats, and violence, not solely deprives younger folks of their company but in addition coerces them to participate in a battle that’s in clear violation of worldwide humanitarian legislation,” the group wrote in a assertion in December.
In current months, the army has mounted a significant counteroffensive throughout Myanmar, reversing opposition good points in a number of theaters, together with in Kayin state. Some rebel-held territory visited by International Coverage final yr, together with the city of Skinny Gan Nyi Naung and a stretch of the Asian Freeway, at the moment are again in regime arms.
Maung Pyo mentioned that in his unit of roughly 250 troopers, solely 21 had been new conscripts, suggesting that items should not overly reliant on conscripts—making it harder for these forcibly recruited to flee or shirk duties. Nonetheless, Maung Phyo managed to get in contact with the Karen Nationwide Union (KNU), Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armed group, which has lengthy been a core member of the broader pro-democracy motion. He reported his unit’s actions to the KNU till the group helped him desert and flee to Thailand.
The conscription coverage has led to an enormous inflow of younger males into neighboring Thailand, which is now house to round 4 million Myanmar nationals, a major variety of whom are undocumented. Thailand has been extra welcoming to nationals from Myanmar than different nations; the same inflow of ethnic Chin refugees from Myanmar into northeast India contributed to ethnic clashes in 2023.
However life is much from straightforward for these immigrants, significantly as their rising numbers check the boundaries of Thailand’s tolerance. Migrants from Myanmar usually have bother securing correct documentation and are prevented from touring past the Thai border city of Mae Sot; police extortion is routine.
When Thit Paing was registered for the conscription lottery, he mentioned that he determined to not check his luck and fled to Mae Sot in Might 2024. However as soon as he arrived, he mentioned that he was fined 6,000 baht ($185) for driving a bike with no license, way over the standard charge of 500 baht ($15). He struggled to search out work whereas a heavy safety presence on the town contributed to a relentless air of tension.
Ultimately, Thit Paing joined a pro-democracy insurgent group throughout the border in Kayin state. “I’ve been dwelling in concern and operating out of locations to cover from state brutality,” he mentioned.
Although conscription might have pushed some extra younger males to hitch the resistance, manpower for these combating the junta has by no means been an issue: Because the coup, insurgent leaders have reported having much more troopers than weapons. Certainly, many teams are affected by a scarcity of weapons and ammunition. Cautious of the resistance motion and rising instability, Beijing has heaped stress on the armed teams alongside its border with Myanmar to distance themselves from the pro-democracy teams.
In Myanmar, pressured recruitment has due to this fact replenished the army’s ranks whereas it fights an enemy with one hand now tied behind its again.
