Drones Attack Myanmar Military in Naypyitaw
Kanako Mita and Sawako Utsumi
Modern Tokyo Times
The military leadership of Myanmar is witnessing the war moving closer. Hence, the drone attack by the armed wing of the People’s Defense Force (PDF) targeted the administrative capital city of Naypyitaw (Nay Pyi Taw).
Drones targeted a military airbase, the residence of Min Aung Hlaing (military leader and head of Myanmar), and his military headquarters. However, the full extent of the damage isn’t fully known.
Irrespective of the damage, it highlights that the conflict is moving closer to the seats of power. This also concerns the might of the armed forces of Myanmar.
The PDF and the National Unity Government (NUG – government in exile) will gain psychologically from the attack. Also, for ordinary people opposed to the military leadership, it highlights the growing reach of the PDF and various forces opposed to the leadership of Min Aung Hlaing.
Mg Mg Swe (NUG Deputy Secretary) said, “The synchronized drone operations were simultaneously executed against Nay Pyi Taw targeting both the military headquarters… and Alar air base.”
Late last year, the United Nations Humanitarian Affairs office reported that the conflict in Myanmar now engulfs two-thirds of the country. This is a shocking statistic even by the standards of a nation that is blighted by military conflict and authoritarian rule decade after decade (a brief window of democracy was crushed).
The BBC reports, “Nay Pyi Taw is the center of power for the military regime which named it the capital, replacing Yangon, after it came to rule. Heavily guarded, it has been shielded from much of the fighting that has raged elsewhere across the country.”
Lee Jay Walker says, “Under the leadership of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, the country was on the path to democracy. However, since her arrest – and the crushing of political dissent after the military usurped democracy – Myanmar is unraveling. Henceforth, the Three Brotherhood Alliance and the People’s Defense Force (PDF) are pressuring the military elites to a level unseen.“
Approximately 2.6 million people are internally displaced or have moved to regional nations. This is the brutal upshot of the civil war that erupted three years ago – along with many thousands of dead civilians and military fighters.
The Irrawaddy reports, “As well as last September’s attack on Aye Lar airbase, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and allied forces conducted successful drone strikes on the junta’s Myawaddy District Administration Department Office in Karen State’s Myawaddy Town, killing at least five regime personnel including a district administrator and a military battalion commander.”
If the armed forces within the body politic of Myanmar don’t change, then the nation-state faces disintegration. After all, without the concept of national unity under the banner of democracy, the threat of disintegration is likely to increase if no compromises are made.
Distrust and mutual loathing exist between the ruling elites and opposition forces. Yet, the spiral of war – and the growing power of ethnic forces within the body politic of Myanmar – entail that uncertainty will persist irrespective of the outcome of the conflict.
The final goals should be the democratic path of Myanmar and not authoritarian rule, preserving the territorial integrity of Myanmar, and implementing regional political structures that are inclusive to all ethnic and religious groups throughout the country.
However, the armed forces of Myanmar and the NUG might open up a vacuum that is entered by forces that seek independent states. Therefore, the ultimate disintegration of Myanmar is a real possibility if compromises aren’t made and if the NUG is beholden to ethnic forces that seek a different outcome.
These are dark times for Myanmar – a nation that is mired by authoritarian rule and the meddling of the armed forces within the body politic.
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