YANGON: At least 29 more Myanmar soldiers entered India on Thursday fleeing an attack by insurgents on their military base close to the Indian border, an Indian police official said, as rebels step up their assaults against the ruling junta.

Earlier this week, 43 Myanmar soldiers entered India’s Mizoram state after their military bases were overrun by the rebels. Nearly 40 were sent back by Indian authorities through a different border crossing point a few hundred kms east.

The country’s military rulers have ordered all government staff and those with military experience to prepare to serve in case of emergency, Tin Maung Swe, secretary of an administrative council in the capital, Naypyitaw said on Thursday, after the junta reported “heavy assaults” in several places.

“If necessary, such a unit might be required to go out and serve for natural disasters, and security,” the junta’s council said in an order. Tin Maung Swe confirmed the order while stressing that the situation in the capital, in central Myanmar, was calm.

UN chief ‘deeply concerned’ over widening conflict

Zaw Min Tun said some military positions had been evacuated and the insurgents had been using drones to drop hundreds of bombs on military posts. “This is the plan to help in the event of an emergency,” he said.

A parallel government formed by pro-democracy politicians to oppose the military, and allied with some insurgent factions, has launched a “Road to Naypyitaw” campaign which it says is aimed at taking control of the capital.

Junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said late on Wednesday the military was facing “heavy assau­lts from a significant number of armed rebel soldiers” in Shan State in the northeast, Kayah State in the east and Rakhine State in the west.

“We are urgently taking measures to protect against drone bomb attacks effectively,” the junta spokesperson said.

UN concern

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was deeply concerned by the “expansion of conflict in Myanmar” and called for all parties to protect civilians, a spokesperson said.

“The number of displaced people in Myanmar now exceeds two million,” the spokesperson said.

The Arakan Army (AA) rebel group fighting for autonomy in Rakhine State said on Wednesday that dozens of police and military men had surrendered or been captured as its forces advanced.

The junta spokesperson denounced the group saying it was “destroying” Rakhine State. Separately, a video posted on social media by anti-military forces in Kayah State showed wounded junta troops surrendering to insurgents, who were seen offering medical help.

China resettles fleeing people

China said on Thursday it was helping resettle people who have crossed its border fleeing clashes in northern Myanmar, where the UN says over 200,000 people have been displaced by fighting between the junta and an alliance of ethnic minority groups. “Since the outbreak of fighting in northern Myanmar, some people from the Myanmar side have entered the Chinese territory to escape the fighting,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular briefing.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2023