TNLA Brigadier General Taboon Kyaw and some members visiting Namkham in February (Photo - TNLA News and Information Department)
Mizzima
The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) has asked the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC), a coalition of seven ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) to mediate in its escalating conflict with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Mantong, Namtu, and Kutkai towns in northern Shan State.
In an open letter sent to the FPNCC on 31 May the TNLA said: “To protect and understand the civilians who have long suffered from war in the Ta’ang region, we earnestly request your intervention to resolve the conflicts arising with other armed groups.”
The TNLA is one of the three EAOs that make up the Three Brotherhood Alliance, the other two are the Arakan Army (AA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). The KIA is allied to the Three Brotherhood Alliance.
During the Three Brotherhood Alliance’s 1027 offensive in northern Shan State the TNLA captured and took control of the seven northern Shan towns of Namhkam, Kutkai Mantong, Namtu, Namhsan, Mongngaw, and Monglon.
According to the TNLA the KIA has been interfering in TNLA-run administrative, healthcare and educational activities in the TNLA-controlled areas of Mantong, Namtu, and Kutkai by doing things such as unjustly increasing taxes, and forcibly conscripting detaining and exerting control over people living there.
The TNLA said that it wants to resolve these problems through meetings and negotiations without causing disruptions.
The TNLA also said that the KIA has been obstructing the Bawhokyan mining operation which comes under a TNLA administration in the Nhonlaw- Minebaw area of Mantong Township.
Regarding the TNLA’s request for mediation, Colonel Naw Bu, a Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) Press officer said: “So far we have only seen their official letter, we have not yet received a comment or response to it from our KIO Central Committee.
The FPNCC coalition is led by the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and consists of the KIA, the TNLA, the (MNDAA), the AA, the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) and the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP).
Earlier this year, in April, the TNLA told the KIA to shut its liaison office in Kutkai, which it still has not done. In February the TNLA also complained to the KIA when it raised a KIA flag during Kachin National Revolution Day celebrations in Kutkai.
Also earlier, in May 2023, the TNLA and KIA met in the town of Majiayang in Kachin State where they agreed to avoid fighting each other and instead uphold a permanent alliance.
Currently, there are also tensions between the TNLA and the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) over territorial disputes in Namhkam Town.
