Human Rights Watch HRW reported that Chinese Drug-Cartel Army in Myanmar forcibly recruiting civilians

Yangon, 23 December 2023

In a recent report released on 21 December, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) highlighted grave concerns regarding the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), a significant drug cartel in northeastern Myanmar. Led by the Myanmar-born Chinese drug lord from the Peng clan, this organization stands accused of forcibly recruiting and abducting civilians from conflict zones.

The HRW report further elucidates that since 27 October, MNDAA, under the banner of “Operation 1027,” has been operating alongside Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD/NUG Parallel Government to confront the Myanmar Junta Army. Their collaboration extends to the Northern Alliance Brotherhood, a coalition of narco-armies. Disturbingly, these groups have reportedly abducted numerous young individuals attempting to escape conflict zones. Among the purported objectives of “Operation 1027” are efforts to assist the Chinese government in combating mafia networks within Myanmar’s government-controlled territories. Additionally, there appears to be a concerted effort to reinstate the NLD/NUG’s disputed electoral victory from 2020, which was overshadowed by the Junta Army’s 2021 coup d’état.

The systematic recruitment methods employed by MNDAA and affiliated narco-armies involve setting recruitment quotas on households, thereby compelling them to either provide recruits or face severe penalties. Eyewitness testimonies detailed in the HRW report recount numerous cases of abductions and forced disappearances based on ethnic backgrounds. These acts, perpetrated by the Northern Alliance Brotherhood, unequivocally violate international laws governing warfare and constitute egregious human rights violations. In an illustrative incident, Mate Sway News Agency documented an episode on November 2023 wherein MNDAA Chinese forces raided a Buddhist Monastic School, forcibly disrobing Ta\ang ethnic novice monks to conscript them as child soldiers.

Historically, MNDAA, a predominantly Chinese-speaking entity, gained prominence as one of the world’s largest narcotic drug cartel armies. Following its 1989 split from the Communist Party of Burma’s rebel forces, it established control over the conflict-ridden territories, internationally known as world’s largest drug production area, with the Myanmar Junta Army’s support. However, internal power struggles in 2009 led to a fracture within the cartel, eventually sidelining Warlord Peng from Kokang Special Prefecture in the Shan state, bordering China.

The winning function of clan war inside MNDAA Kokang drug cartel kept operating vice business under the auspice of Myanmar Government while Peng’s clan splinter army took refuge inside China and other de fecto independent drug warlord areas of Myanmar. By 2015, under Suu Kyi’s democratically elected NLD Government, MNDAA forged alliances with other non-state narco-armies, aiming to reclaim lost territories. Responding to this threat, Suu Kyi’s government declared martial law in the contentious “Kokang region,” granting the Myanmar Army sweeping powers to quash the rebellion.

The NLD Government was toppled by Myanmar Army with the claim to redress the 2020 electoral fraud where the NLD claimed to win. On 2023, the deposed NLD Government of Suu Kyi formed a parallel Government called NUG National Unity Government and formed alliance with former enemy MNDAA led Narco-Armies of “Northern Brotherhood Alliance” before launching “Operation 1027 ” on Chinese border area, possibly under the blessing of Chinese Government. The United Nations’ drug watchdog UNDOC reported on 12 December 2023 that Myanmar ranked the top producer of Opium and narcotic drugs in the world where almost a million of opposition rebel forces benefited to fund their armed struggle.

This HRW report from December 2023 marks a pivotal moment in holding accountable the perpetrators of atrocities, human rights abuses, and war crimes amidst Myanmar’s ongoing civil unrest since 2021. Historically, international scrutiny has primarily focused on the Myanmar Junta Army’s actions over the past 75 years. Concurrently, opposition forces have often been portrayed favorably, largely due to media biases and selective reporting that overshadowed or downplayed opposition atrocities. The opposition claimed on October 2023 that the number of civilians killed by the Junta since February 2023 as more than 4000 while the Junta claimed the opposition PDF’s death squads political assassinations of civilians as 6700 on the same period. Both of the claim can not be independently verified. But any referral to the country of Myanmar where the active civil war have been raging for 75 years, is the area control by Myanmar army where all the embassies and international organizations are located and access to conflict areas are controlled by partisan forces where freedom of media and expressions are not permitted by regional warlords.

Furthermore, in November 2023, the United States Department of State’s Global Terrorism Report for 2022 highlighted opposition forces, including the PDF, KNDF, and CDF under the exiled NLD/NUG parallel government, among the top three global perpetrators of terrorism-related killings.

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