In early August the junta’s key base which has existed for more than 50 years to control the Northern Shan hill area had fallen to the hands of the MNDAA troops. Tens of thousands of the junta troops in Northeastern Command based in Lashio had surrendered to the MNDAA. Never in the history of the Myanmar military history its regional headquarters fallen into the hands of the rebel group. Such a case did not happen even during the height of the Communist insurgency in the Northern Shan State during the 1960s and 1970s.
Since the taking control of the Northeastern Command and Lashio town[1], the comments made by the local residents to independent media tend to indicate that, even though MNDAA is not ideal in terms of civilian protection and providing an effective administration, however, they said current conditions under MNDAA are far better than at the time when the town was under the junta’s control.
Some major battles were fought in Rakhine State as well during the month of August and the rebel group there AA has made significant gains of territory including taking over a key tourist town of Thandwe. After AA took control of the town one of the first moves was to release the political prisoners the junta held in the prison in the town in very inhumane conditions[2].
The month of August also saw AA making an advance to the Northern Rakhine State close to the border with Bangladesh, where AA faced criticisms over possible atrocities committed by the Rohingya communities in the area. The situation seems to be still very complicated to verify the actual situation. However, the International Crisis Group said in its report Breaking Away: The Battle for Myanmar’s Rakhine State published on 27 August, advised AA that “to foster stability, the Arakan Army should mend relations with the Rohingya, support an independent investigation of alleged abuses, and reach out to Dhaka and donors, which should find ways to work with the group on shared humanitarian and security objectives”.