August 3rd, 2022
The Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) and the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA) are urgently seeking new recruits in Loilem District in southern Han State, it has been reported.
A local man, who did not want to be named, told the Shan Herald that the SSPP/SSA forces are making a list of the population and also arresting some in Sanen area in of Panglong.
“They [RCSS members] identify and arrest some who have links to the armed group with a list of names. They also recruited some youth over 18 in the villages. Some people have been arrested being linked to the RCSS have been arrested and we don’t know where they disappeared to,” he said.
Currently, more than 30 locals have been recruited in Sanen area and some arrested on suspicion of links to the RCSS/SSA, locals said.
In addition, since July, the RCSS/SSA has been recruiting people for new soldiers in Nawnglai village and in the downtown area of Laihka, and has also arrested villagers to recruit them for new soldiers, locals report.
On July 29th, members of RCSS visited households with sons who have reached the age of 18 in neighborhoods from Myoma Quarter to Quarter (1) in Laihka and took them away, claiming it was their turn to serve as soldiers, locals reported.
“They even come to downtown Laihka to take new recruits. If a household does not have a son, they take the parents. If the household has neither a son nor a father, they even take the mother. I have heard that RCSS members in plainclothes people with their guns holstered are looking for new recruits. And more than 50 were also arrested in Nawnghlan village in Panglong,” a man from Laihka who did not want to be named told the Shan Herald.
It is reported that due to the economic downturn triggered by the military coup and the spread of Covid-19, local residents are facing difficulties as they are forcibly recruited by the armed groups.
The forced recruitment and arbitrary arrests of mothers by the two Shan armed groups are causing hardship to the residents, forcing some of them to flee to Thailand.
It is known that most Shan do not want to join the armed Shan groups because they are often involved in fighting with each other.
The two spokesmen of the two armed groups were contacted on the matter, but the efforts were unsuccessful.
Sent by The Shan Herald