Myanmar regime labels key ethnic armed groups ‘terrorist’ organisations

The designation bans anyone from joining or having contact with the MNDAA, TNLA and the Arakan Army.

The Myanmar military has designated three major ethnic armed groups that have advanced across swaths of northern and western Myanmar over the past year as “terrorist” groups.

The designation was made on September 2 and applies to the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Arakan Army, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar reported on Wednesday.

Under the Anti-Terror Law, membership and contact with groups labelled “terrorist” organisations are banned.

“Those who contact these terrorists are also committing terror acts,” the outlet quoted Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who chairs the military’s State Administration Council (SAC), as saying.

The armed groups formed the Three Brotherhood Alliance to launch a major offensive towards the end of last year that has given new momentum to efforts to remove the generals who seized power in a February 2021 coup.

Their fighters have advanced in parts of Myanmar bordering China and Thailand, as well as in far western Rakhine where conflict research firm Crisis Group said at the end of August the Arakan Army appeared to be in control of territory with a population of about one million people.

People’s Defence Forces (PDFs), civilians who have taken up arms against the military, have also advanced notably in the central Mandalay region.

The PDFs were set up in 2021 by the National Unity Government (NUG) of elected politicians and activists after the military responded to mass protests with force.

The SAC designated the NUG a “terrorist” group in May 2021. The NUG refers to the military as “terrorists”.

The Arakan Army, which, like the military has been accused of rights abuses, was previously labelled a “terrorist” organisation by the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The military removed the designation two months after the coup, saying the group, with which it then had a ceasefire, was helping to establish peace. The truce later broke down.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a local monitoring group, says 5,599 people have been killed since the coup, while more than 20,000 are being held in prison.