Pro-government ethnic militias in east Myanmar shift loyalty to join fighters against military rule

By GRANT PECK
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Members of resistance groups in Myanmar say units of an ethnic militia in eastern Kayah state that is nominally part of the military have switched sides, allying themselves with the country’s pro-democracy movement, and have carried out attacks in recent weeks on army outposts and a police station. The two Border Guard Forces units in Kayah are believed to be the first military-affiliated militia units to change sides since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. There are about two dozen BGF units nationwide with a total of 10,000 armed personnel. The units were formed in 2009 from what had been autonomous ethnic insurgent groups that agreed to cease-fires with a previous military government.