Most Lashio residents have fled fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic armed groups, who haven’t been welcomed as liberators by those who have had their lives upended by the conflict.
By FRONTIER
U Soe spends his days dodging air strikes and artillery attacks to dig bomb shelters for the few residents of Lashio who haven’t fled the town.
“Actually my job before was to prepare the ground ahead of construction projects,” he told Frontier in a telephone interview, asking to be identified by a pseudonym due to security concerns. “But when the political situation worsened, local residents started hiring our team to dig bunkers.”
He and his two employees started building bomb shelters in late October, when the Three Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed groups launched a stunning offensive across northern Shan State, known as Operation 1027.
The team built around 30 bunkers then, charging K130,000 per project, or about US$27 at the black market rate, with property owners expected to supply the building materials. A typical household bunker measures about two metres wide, 2.4 metres long and two metres deep, and can accommodate around six people.
The Brotherhood seized huge swathes of territory, leaving Lashio an isolated island of military rule in northern Shan. A China-brokered ceasefire brought the fighting to a halt in January, but a renewed offensive in late June put Lashio firmly in the crosshairs.
“When Operation 1027 resumed, almost the entire town wanted a bunker. People were scared and kept calling me, asking us to dig bunkers all over the place,” said U Soe, adding he needed to hire three more workers to keep up with the demand.
Lashio is the largest town and administrative hub of northern Shan, with a population of over 170,000 according to the 2014 census, and hosts the military’s powerful North Eastern Command. While the regime has suffered humiliating battlefield losses in the borderlands in recent months, it has never lost one of its 13 regional commands.
Given the deep unpopularity of the military regime, which seized power in a 2021 coup, many watching from afar have welcomed the attack on Lashio as another potential major blow to its hold on the country. But the assault has displaced tens of thousands, who have been forced to flee through other conflict-affected areas to reach safety. Meanwhile, those left behind are struggling to get by in the face of war and the total breakdown of public services.
The ethnic armed groups leading the assault – the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and Ta’ang National Liberation Army – have no historic presence in the town, and even those who oppose the military regime haven’t welcomed them as liberators.
Since fighting resumed in late June, the MNDAA and TNLA have seized military camps and bases on the outskirts of the town, while the regime has fought fiercely to maintain its hold. Local outlet Shwe Phee Myay reported on July 18 that 100 residential homes were destroyed in the fighting, while 38 civilians including four children were killed between July 3 and 17 alone. Both sides have blamed each other for the civilian casualties.
“July 4 and 5 was when most people left the town,” said a woman who was still in Lashio as of July 16. “Some others waited to assess the situation and left soon after that. Now, the military council prohibits entry into the town and only allows people to leave.”
Escape from Lashio
In the past, including during the first phase of Operation 1027, people typically fled to Lashio to escape fighting in the countryside. Now, they’re going as far as Taunggyi town, some 350 kilometres south, or Mandalay city, 280km to the southwest.
But that requires traveling through areas recently devastated by conflict, or where fighting still continues. The Sint Inn bridge, about 40km southwest of Lashio, was bombed in December, forcing travellers headed for Hsipaw town or Mandalay to use rafts to cross the river of the same name.
Others are taking more circuitous routes to avoid damaged infrastructure and ongoing fighting, but then must navigate rural backroads, some of which have been turned into mud pits by the heavy seasonal rains.
“We left at 5am, but we had to wait six hours to get out of the city due to the sheer number of vehicles trying to flee,” said Sai Kyaw*, an ethnic Shan resident of Lashio town now sheltering at a monastery in Taunggyi. “There were hundreds of vehicles, and we had to spend one night sleeping on the side of the road. The roads are so bad and I can’t even remember the route we took because we had to take so many detours.”
He left on July 6 with his wife and young children, disrupting their studies and his preparations for the October corn harvest. As poor farmers, they had only about K200,000 on hand, and had to pile into a friend’s car to escape.
There are around 40 other displaced people staying at the same monastery, where Sai Kyaw said locals provide them food. Other displaced people with more money are able to rent homes, but he said prices have surged in response to the sudden influx of outsiders.
“Rent is high in Taunggyi. The locals said that rent has increased after the arrival of the refugees, from about K300,000 per month to K400,000 or K500,000,” he explained.
A Bamar woman from Lashio told Frontier she paid a driver K200,000 to take her to a relative’s house in Mandalay city. But fighting has spread from northern Shan to neighbouring parts of northern Mandalay Region, and rumours abound of an imminent attack on Mandalay city itself – the second biggest in Myanmar.
“I stayed in Mandalay for three days, but people in Taunggyi told me there could be fighting soon in Mandalay too, so I went to Taunggyi,” she said. “May all organisations that harm the people be destroyed.”
Digging in
Most Lashio residents have fled the town, and those who stayed behind are finding life increasingly untenable. An official from a social welfare organisation based in Lashio estimated that three quarters of the population have left.
“There are very few people left in the town,” he said. He added that most hospitals and clinics have closed, and there’s only one other social welfare team operating there.
“Patients are mainly being sent to the Lashio General Hospital, but much of the staff there have also left. Only the hospital director and four staff members remain,” he said.
The volunteer teams face difficulties in reaching people in need, mainly due to the scarcity and high price of fuel.
“The price of diesel is about K30,000 per litre. Even so, we can’t buy as much as we need. Even if a donor provides the funds, we don’t know where to purchase it,” he said.
U Soe, the construction worker, said he’s had to more than double the price of a bunker to K300,000 due to fuel prices and heightened risk.
“Our team lives on the outskirts of the town, and the price of fuel for travel has increased. We’re also working amid bombs and missiles, which is very dangerous. We’re constantly worried that one might fall on us. That’s why we had to increase our fees,” he said.
He lives in a rental home with his wife and three children, where he also built a bunker for his own family. “We don’t understand politics, but we want things to return to how they were before. I believe all the locals feel the same way,” U Soe said.
Poorer residents, like Nang Cho Cho’s* family, can’t even afford to flee.
“We have no money and fleeing the war isn’t easy,” the Shan woman told Frontier. “It’s difficult to cover travel expenses, and we can’t be sure in advance if the place we’re fleeing to will be safe anyway.”
Her husband is a manual labourer who took odd jobs for a daily wage, typically earning about K30,000 per day, but most of those tasks have dried up. They sublet a room in somebody else’s house for just K60,000 per month, but even that is becoming a struggle.
“Now we have no income because there are no jobs. We’re getting by just on the money we saved. If this situation continues, it will be difficult to support ourselves. I just want this to end as soon as possible,” she said.
While hiring a driver to travel to Taunggyi or Mandalay cost around K150,000 in early July, that price has skyrocketed to K400,000 today. Residents also noted that the few remaining grocery stores are only open part time, and most pharmacies are completely shut.
“The main issue is that it’s difficult to buy medicine. It’s not easy to leave the house because of the shooting. Food prices have gone up a little, but at least there isn’t a shortage. Fuel and some other products are unavailable. The phone lines are also poor,” said another resident on July 15.
Locals were looking forward to a four-day ceasefire announced by the MNDAA, to coincide with the Third Plenary Session of the central committee of the Communist Party of China, from July 14-18. But the relief was short-lived. They said the fighting continued through the 15th, and resumed again on the 19th.
Cho Cho said fighting was the most intense around July 7, when news broke that the MNDAA had captured the military’s Light Infantry Battalion 507 base.
“The military regime troops sometimes patrol the town but they have closed off the entrance. I don’t know if they are weakened, but they mostly attack from the air. In the evening, they use heavy weapons, followed by airstrikes. They usually follow this pattern, with more airstrikes at night,” said Cho Cho.
On July 23, the MNDAA announced that some 300 soldiers had surrendered two days earlier, posting photographs of the prisoners online.
“Today the MNDAA has planted their flags on the outskirts of Lashio town,” Cho Cho said that same day. “Both sides are still fighting hard.”
No hero’s welcome
While the vast majority of people in Myanmar oppose military rule, the assault on Lashio has not been welcomed by local residents to the same degree as fighting elsewhere in the country.
Those who don’t live in the town see another opportunity to deliver the military a humiliating blow, and to knock out one of its regional commands.
“If we capture Lashio, it will be the first time in history that we take control of a city with a regional military command,” said U Maung Maung Swe, deputy secretary at the Ministry of Defence in the National Unity Government, a parallel cabinet appointed by elected lawmakers deposed in the coup.
“This would significantly impact their morale and weaken them further.”
Much of northern Shan was seized during the first phase of Operation 1027, and the TNLA has recently taken most of Nawnghkio and Kyaukme townships, near the Mandalay Region border.
If Lashio were to fall, there would be uninterrupted opposition-controlled territory stretching from the Chinese border to Pyin Oo Lwin town, which hosts the military’s premier Defense Service Academy, and Mogok Township, home of extremely valuable ruby mines, both in Mandalay Region.
This would also further strengthen supply routes between the TNLA and MNDAA and the NUG-aligned resistance groups operating in Mandalay and Sagaing regions.
But residents of Lashio seemingly have little affinity for the TNLA or MNDAA, which represent the Ta’ang and Kokang Chinese ethnic groups respectively, and haven’t traditionally had a significant presence in the town.
According to 2019 figures from the General Administration Department, the overall township is about 25 percent Kokang, but 30pc Shan and nearly 17pc Bamar. Most residents that spoke to Frontier expressed either ambivalence or animosity towards the MNDAA and its efforts to seize Lashio town.
Alarming reports of human rights abuses have emerged in other territories the MNDAA has seized, including that it has allegedly forcibly conscripted fighters from outside the Kokang ethnicity it represents and executed those who tried to escape. The group also allegedly prevented Bamar people from returning to their homes after it seized Laukkai, the biggest town in the Kokang region, and even demolished the Bamar quarter there.
In a recent report, the International Institute for Strategic Studies wrote that, “over the last decade, [Lashio town] has also served as a haven for civilians of all ethnicities seeking shelter from violence and [ethnic armed organisation] forced recruitment drives, which accelerated after Operation 1027,” a dynamic that may further explain the lukewarm reception today.
The Bamar leader of the second social welfare organisation operating in Lashio said that statements made by the MNDAA suggest an intention to administer the town, something he didn’t think residents would welcome. He said most Kokang people in the township live outside the town, although Frontier couldn’t confirm this as the GAD doesn’t disaggregate demographic data.
“I don’t have a preference for either side to win, I just don’t want to see any more harm come to our people,” he added.
Others had harsher words for the ethnic armed groups. “Our town was peaceful before, but then they came and we had to flee because of the trouble they caused,” said a 40-year-old Bamar woman who took refuge in Taunggyi.
Regime spokesperson Major-General Zaw Min Tun insisted that even the Chinese community living in Lashio is opposed to the MNDAA and its allies. The MNDAA did not respond to requests for comment as of press time, but has publicised some of its efforts to provide humanitarian aid to those displaced by the fighting.
Although the local Chinese community is diverse and their views largely unknown, two Kokang sources displaced from Lashio were less than enthusiastic when speaking to Frontier.
“I don’t support the MNDAA,” said a Kokang woman sheltering at the Kokang Literary and Cultural Association office in Taunggyi. “Since we live in Myanmar, we encourage Myanmar. Before they attacked, Lashio was a peaceful place. Now we can’t do anything… I want to tell both sides to stop the war.”
Another Kokang woman said she will wait and see before judging.
“We are not yet under their [MNDAA] rule, so we can’t say for sure if they are good or bad. If they’re good, we will support them. But now we have to flee because both sides are attacking,” she said.
Cho Cho said her friends in Hseni town, seized by the MNDAA in January, are dissatisfied with the armed group’s rule, but couldn’t provide specifics. She added that while some people in Lashio support the military, the majority don’t, but they don’t necessarily support the war either.
“It was absolutely not beneficial for the people,” she said of the 2021 military coup. “Since the coup, almost the entire country has been fighting and people are dying. They are losing their homes. We just want peace.”
*indicates the use of a pseudonym on request for security reasons
