Aug 4 (Reuters) - Poet turned militia leader Maung Saungkha, one of the most prominent figures fighting for democracy in Myanmar, says his armed group plans to start carving out territory in the country's heartlands to confront the junta more directly.
Maung Saungkha said the move is a key strategic aim for his Bamar People's Liberation Army (BPLA) - a militia formed in the wake of the junta's February 2021 coup - now that it has gained training from allies and battle experience in the country's borderlands. Most BPLA members are Buddhist Bamars, the ethnic group that accounts for two-thirds of the population and dominates central Myanmar where government institutions are based.
"For an army formed from Bamar people, it's an important part of our vision to be based in a Bamar region and to be active there," the 30-year-old commander said via text from his jungle camp near the border with Thailand.
Maung Saungkha said the BPLA wants to work with the People's Defense Forces (PDF) - the armed wing of the National Unity Government formed from the remnants of Aung Sang Suu Kyi's administration that is seeking to supplant the junta. The PDF is comprised of hundreds of militias, many of which are mostly Bamar.
The Myanmar-based Institute for Strategy and Policy estimates the BPLA has some 1,000 members - a figure that would make it one of the country's biggest new militias.
The BPLA's growth owes much to Maung Saungkha's skills in building bridges with other armed groups, according to a key ally and two analysts. It also underscores how new militias have become entrenched in Myanmar's political landscape, even if they a...
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