The Background History of Mindat Township IDP Camp Management Committee
Followers of our nonprofit may have noted that we have routinely supported IDP camps throughout Myanmar. Given the acute need throughout Chin State, we have made sure to allocate some of the fund here, as there are steadily growing numbers of IDPs given the vicious assaults carried out by the Tatmadaw here. The following report was prepared by a local contact who provides some recent historical background as to why these IDP camps have developed in the Chin region. The picture he sketches is that of a hastily formed defense force charged with protecting their community against Burmese soldiers, and as the clashes have grown larger, the military began to take their vengeance out on the civilian community. Please keep in mind that Better Burma’s donation fund strictly goes towards non-violent, humanitarian causes. For ethical and legal reasons, we are unable to allocate funds towards any actions of resistance forces. Any donation you give, will go towards those innocents who have become IDPs.
Since February 8, 2021, the people of Mindat began to demonstrate peacefully against the military coup and expressed their will. Also, the people of Mindat formed the Mindat Township People’s Administrative Committee (Mindat PAC) with some civil servants involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), and local activists.
On April 24, the junta soldiers and police arrested 7 people, who were posting a sticker campaign at the memorial site of General Aung San in Mindat. Soon after their arrests, people from the community gathered and demanded that the detainees be released. The township Chief of Police met the crowd, and publicly promised that they would release them by 6:00 p.m. that evening. But when the police did not release them, and cracked down on the crowd using guns, the people decided to fight back. Around 8:00 p.m., the battle began, and the people of Mindat fought back with their home-made guns, such as shot guns and old muskets, in various parts of the town.
On April 27, military troop reinforcements were sent to Mindat, from nearby Matupi town. When they arrived at the 30-mile post, they were ambushed by a local defense group with homemade guns. The SAC reinforcements, led by a colonel and his troops, were attacked and surrounded. The SAC started negotiation to release the 7 detainees; and in return, the local defense group agreed to free the colonel and his soldiers (with three trucks). Afterwards, the SAC released the 7 detainees through negotiation, and CDF Mindat (Chin Defense Force – Mindat), allowed their trucks to pass. As a result, a temporary truce was reached.
On May 12, 2022, the temporary truce between the SAC and CDF-Mindat was broken, and fighting resumed. There were three main battle areas in town: the general administration office, the police station, and the gate near the bank.
Since May 13, the military has used modernized light aircraft; sending drones to track and collect military intelligence in Mindat Township areas, including residential areas and the CDF’s defense areas. There was an SAC convoy of six trucks sent as reinforcement from Kyaut Htu, a town located 18 miles away from Mindat in Magwe Division, to suppress CDF-Mindat. There were heavy battles all day between CDF- Mindat and the SAC convoy at the outskirts of the town, specifically on the east side. Fighting also occurred at various locations in town. The SAC received artillery support from the No. 368 Cannon Battalion in Kyaut Htu. At that stage, it was no longer a crackdown on protesters with guns, it was an all-out war between a professional army and a rag-tag local militia.
On May 14, CDF-Mindat repelled the SAC attacks and burned military reinforcements’ vehicles (including 6 trucks) at the east side of town, near the golf field, located three miles away from the town. During that battle, 25 junta soldiers died, and CDF-Mindat seized a lot of the SAC’s weapons. In the evening, three helicopters deployed reinforcement soldiers many times into the compound of No. 274 Light Infantry Battalion in Mindat.
On the morning of May 15, 2021, the SAC troops attacked the town by firing heavy artillery, as well as airstrikes from helicopters. As they were confronted by the CDF, they arrested some people who were hiding in their houses and used them as human shields. Then, they entered the town and arrested many people. The CDF-Mindat had to retreat to minimize casualties and damage to the town and residents.
When CDF-Mindat members were not in town, the military forces raided houses, confiscated properties, kicked people out of their houses, and occupied them as their ‘bases’. They shot civilians and fired indiscriminately at houses inside the town. From May 15-20, 2021, town residents (around 25,000 people) fled their houses towards the nearest villages, becoming IDPs.