An Interview with Bo Galon Yarzar, Leader of Chaung-U Local Defense Force (CLDF)
August 5, 2022
Not only the People’s Defense Forces (PDF), but also other resistance forces are waging a revolution in the Sagaing Region against the State Administration Council (SAC) with all the weapons they can get. However, these defense forces have a high demand for weapons and ammunition. Bo Galon Yarzar, leader of the Chaung-U Local Defense Force (CLDF), was interviewed about this situation.
Q: Can you tell me what led you to take the path of armed revolution?
A: It all started with the Spring Revolution. Later, the whole population realized that it was no longer enough just to hold protest rallies. Therefore, we decided to take the path of armed revolution. Let’s just say that our resistance group came into being after many forces came together.
Q: What’s the structure of the CLDF?
A: There are four units under the Local Defense Force (LDF). Each unit has a strength of nearly 300 members. Each group is systematically divided into a mine team, an assault team, a finance team, a medical team and a logistics team.
Q: What kind of missions is the CLDF currently conducting?
A: We’re conducting mission plans on an ongoing basis. We have been attacking the [junta forces] with mines from the beginning, but we’ve not been involved in many battles yet. To counter the junta forces, we need a lot of weapons and ammunition. Therefore, we only use guerrilla tactics and mines. We also conduct ambushes and mine attacks on them when they enter villages. We could coordinate the attacks very well.
Q: What difficulties are you currently facing?
A: I’d like to talk about the difficulties we’re facing. Each of our units has about 300 members. From them, about 50 troops are selected. We’ve applied for recognition as a local defense battalion at MOD (Ministry of Defense of the Government of National Unity). However, we’re still waiting for the battalion number from the ministry. Apart from the 50 soldiers in each group, the rest of the troops are reorganized into a separate assault group. Our real need is to arm these assault groups, which is very large. We’ve also asked them to help us solve this problem.
Q: Have you informed the NUG at all about your need for weapons and ammunition?
A: No, we haven’t yet. This is because we’ve only applied for recognition as a battalion.
Q: What are you going to ask the NUG regarding the need for weapons and ammunition?
A: That’s exactly what I was going to tell you. But I think they are working on it. We don’t want to be a nuisance to them because we understand that the NUG also has a lot of difficulties. We also expect support from the international community.
Q: Finally: What’s your message to people?
A: I’d like to ask people to stay strong. Because we want to give you the good news that we’ve already won this battle to a certain extent.
Sent by Than Lwin Times