Armed soldiers loyal to a turncoat warlord patrol the streets of the border town of Myawaddy, as troops of the ruling Myanmar junta and rebels jostle for control of the outpost that handles more than US$1 billion in border trade every year.
The struggle for Myawaddy has highlighted the role played by Colonel Saw Chit Thu, his militia and sprawling business enterprises, underlining his outsized influence in the strategically vital territory.
The Karen National Army (KNA) that he leads has long had a presence in the region lying across from Tak province of Thailand, which has become a key battleground in recent weeks as an anti-junta resistance gains momentum against the powerful military.
Saw Chit Thu’s ties to Myanmar’s military rulers, evidenced by an honorary title for “outstanding performance” conferred on him by junta chief Gen Min Aung Hlaing in November 2022, have helped him build his position.
But Britain has imposed sanctions on him for serious human rights violations such as people-trafficking, and analysts have flagged his ties to border scam centres run by Chinese-led crime networks.
Saw Chit Thu and a junta spokesman did not respond to telephone calls from Reuters seeking comment.
Early in April, Myawaddy became the frontline as resistance fighters led by the Karen National Union (KNU), one of the country’s oldest ethnic armies, pushed into the area and dislodged hundreds of junta troops from their bases.
But the KNA, once entirely loyal to the junta, stood aside after Saw Chit Thu declared that the militia, previously known as the Border Guard Force (BGF), would stop accepting salaries and rations from the military.
“We do not want to fight among our Karen people,” he told the media in January.
Lack of logistical and tactical support from the KNA impeded the junta’s ability to fight back in Myawaddy, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) said in a report this week, estimating the strength of the militia at about 8,000 soldiers.
At the time, the loss of Myawaddy was yet another battlefield defeat for the junta, which is locked in a widening civil war with established ethnic minority armies and a grassroots resistance movement that emerged after its 2021 coup.
But the KNA’s status as being neither entirely loyal to the junta nor pledging alliance to the rebels has thrust it into the spotlight.
The military, which retains significant firepower, has mounted a counteroffensive for the town, forcing a temporary withdrawal from Myawaddy by KNU resistance forces, some moving about 12 kilometres away to control key routes, the group’s spokesman, Saw Taw Nee, told Reuters.
It was the support of Saw Chit Thu’s KNA militia that enabled the return of some junta troops to Myawaddy, Saw Taw Nee added.
Other sources have said that the warlord switched sides again after Myanmar military commanders said it would be in his best interests, unless he wanted to see his businesses bombed from the air.
On Thursday, small groups of KNA soldiers drove through the town of about 200,000 people that remains peaceful, two Myawaddy residents told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The town is normal,” a 42-year-old resident said. “The government offices are open.”
A soldier from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) carries a rocket-propelled grenade launcher in Thingyan Nyi Naung village on the outskirts of Myawaddy on April 15. (Photo: Reuters)
Criminal empire
Saw Chit Thu’s militia emerged out a faction of the armed wing of the KNU around 2010, siding with Myanmar’s military to take on their opponents, including the KNU and its military wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), in parts of the southeastern highlands mainly home to the Karen ethnic group.
By 2017, the warlord become involved in the construction of Shwe Kokko, a so-called Special Economic Zone along the Thai-Myanmar border.
The project has become a centre for transnational crime and gambling backed by Chinese-origin gangs, earning the KNA around $190 million a year, analysts say.
Gambling is illegal in mainland China and online gaming operators, mostly targeting Chinese gamblers, have flourished in parts of Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, in recent years.
Shwe Kokko expanded rapidly, satellite images show, transforming within decades from a largely barren tract of riverside land into a sprawling settlement of low-rise and multi-storied buildings.
Britain sanctioned Saw Chit Thu late last year for serious violations of human rights, accusing him of involvement in “trafficking of individuals”.
Taken to Shwe Kokko, they were forced to work as scammers and subject to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, the sanctions notice issued in December said.
In recent months, as authorities in China have cracked down on scam compounds along the border with Myanmar, some criminal syndicates have relocated to Thai-Myanmar border, including areas controlled by Saw Chit Thu, according to the USIP.
“The dozens of scam centres established in Karen State by Chinese-led crime networks have grown visibly along the Thai border since the compounds on the Chinese frontier shut down,” the think-tank said in its April report.
“Chit Thu has remained focused on reinforcing his crime empire and ensuring that it retains access to key support services, such as security, communications connectivity and electricity.”