Spy troopers in Myanmar assist pro-democracy rebels advance

Myanmar’s once-formidable military is cracking from inside – riddled with spies secretly working for pro-democracy rebels, the BBC has discovered.

The navy has full management of lower than 1 / 4 of Myanmar’s territory, a BBC World Service investigation reveals.

The junta nonetheless controls main cities and stays “extraordinarily harmful”, in line with the UN particular rapporteur on Myanmar. However it has misplaced important floor over the previous 12 months.

The spy troopers are referred to as “Watermelons” – inexperienced on the skin, rebellious purple on the within. Outwardly loyal to the military however secretly working for pro-democracy rebels whose symbolic colour is purple.

A serious primarily based in central Myanmar says it was the military’s brutality that pushed him to change sides.

“I noticed the our bodies of tortured civilians. I shed tears,” says Kyaw [not his real name]. “How can they be so merciless to our personal folks? We’re supposed to guard civilians, however now we’re killing folks. It is not a military, it is a pressure that terrorizes.”

Greater than 20,000 folks have been arrested and hundreds killed, in line with the UN, for the reason that navy seized energy in a coup in February 2021, sparking an rebellion.

Kyaw initially thought of leaving the military, however determined together with his spouse that turning into a spy was “one of the simplest ways to serve the revolution.”

When it deems it secure to take action, it discloses inside navy data to the Folks’s Protection Forces. [PDF] – a community of civilian militias. The rebels use this data to arrange ambushes for the navy or to keep away from assaults. Kyaw additionally sends them a part of his wage to allow them to purchase weapons.

Spies like him assist the resistance obtain what was as soon as unthinkable.

The BBC assessed the steadiness of energy in additional than 14,000 village teams in mid-November this 12 months and located that the navy is in full management of solely 21% of Myanmar’s territory, nearly 4 years after the beginning of the battle.

The survey reveals that ethnic armies and a patchwork of resistance teams now management 42% of the nation’s territory. A lot of the remaining space is contested.

Leaks of details about Watermelon inside the navy assist tip the scales. Two years in the past, the resistance created a specialised unit to handle the rising community of spies and recruit extra.

Brokers like Win Aung [not his real name] Gather watermelon leaks, verify them if doable, then go them on to the insurgent leaders within the affected space.

He’s a former intelligence officer who defected to the resistance after the coup. He says they now obtain new watermelons each week and social media is a key recruitment device.

Their spies, he says, vary from low-ranking troopers to high-ranking officers. In addition they declare to have a stake within the navy authorities – ​​“from ministries to village chiefs”.

They undergo a strict vetting course of to make sure they don’t seem to be double brokers.

Motivations for turning into a spy fluctuate. Whereas in Kyaw’s case it was anger, for the one we name “Moe” – a corporal within the navy – it was merely a need to outlive for his younger household.

His spouse, then pregnant, pushed him, satisfied that the military was dropping and that he would die in fight.

He started leaking data to the Watermelon Unit about weapons and troop actions.

This kind of intelligence is essential, says pro-democracy insurgent chief Daeva.

His resistance unit’s final purpose is to take management of Yangon, Myanmar’s largest metropolis and its former residence. However they’re removed from it.

The navy retains the vast majority of massive city areas, that are residence to important infrastructure and income.

“It is simpler mentioned than carried out to assault and occupy [Yangon]Daeva mentioned. “The enemy is not going to quit [it] simply.”

Unable to bodily enter town, Daeva, from her base within the jungle, directs focused assaults by underground cells in Yangon utilizing Watermelon’s intelligence.

In August, we noticed him make such a name. We weren’t given the small print, however we have been advised it was to direct an assassination try on a colonel.

“We are going to do it inside the safety parameters of the enemy,” he advised them. “Watch out, the enemy is dropping in all instructions,” he added, telling them that this meant they have been extra more likely to be on alert for infiltrators and spies.

Daeva claims that a number of main assaults carried out by her unit have been the results of data.

“We began with nothing and now take a look at our success,” says Daeva.

However this comes at a value. Watermelons should dwell in worry on each side, as marine corporal-turned-spy Moe discovers.

Deployed from Yangon to Rakhine – a border area the place the military is combating an ethnic group allied with the resistance – he needed to dwell with the phobia that his intelligence may imply he himself was below assault.

In March this 12 months, his anchored ship was hit by a missile projectile, adopted by open hearth. “There was no place to run. We have been like rats in a cage.” Seven of his comrades have been killed within the insurgent assault.

“Our capability to guard [the moles] may be very restricted,” admits Win Aung. “We can’t announce publicly that these are watermelons. And we can’t stop our forces from attacking a specific navy convoy. »

He says that when that is defined to the watermelons, they do not wobble. Some even responded: “At that time, don’t hesitate, shoot.”

However there are occasions when spies can not stand hazard.

When Moe was scheduled to be despatched to a different harmful entrance line, he requested the Watermelon Unit to smuggle him to a resistance-controlled space. To do that, they use an underground community of monasteries and refuges.

He left in the midst of the evening. The following morning, when he didn’t present up for work, troopers got here to the home. They questioned his spouse Cho, however she remained silent.

After days on the run, Moe arrived at one among Daeva’s bases. Daeva thanked him through video name, earlier than asking him what function he needed to play any longer. Moe responded that, given his younger household, he wish to play a non-combat function and would as an alternative share his data of navy coaching.

A couple of weeks later, he entered Thailand. Cho and the kids have additionally fled their residence and hope to ultimately be part of him and construct a brand new life there.

The military is aggressively attempting to regain misplaced territory, finishing up a wave of lethal bombings. With Chinese language and Russian-made fighter planes, it has the higher hand within the air. He is aware of that the resistance is way from constituting a homogeneous group and seeks to take advantage of the divisions between them.

“Because the junta loses management, its brutality will increase. The state of affairs is getting worse. The lack of life…the brutality, the torture because it loses floor, actually and figuratively,” mentioned the particular rapporteur of UN, Tom Andrews.

The military additionally carries out watermelon sweeping operations.

“Once I heard in regards to the sweeps, I finished for some time,” says Kyaw. He says he at all times acts as a robust supporter of the navy to keep away from undesirable consideration.

However he’s afraid and would not understand how lengthy he can keep hidden. Defection isn’t an possibility, as he fears abandoning his growing old mother and father. For now, he’ll subsequently proceed to behave as a navy spy, within the hope of in the future seeing the revolution finish.

If and when that day comes, watermelons like Kyaw and Moe is not going to be forgotten, Win Aung guarantees.

“We are going to deal with them with honor and permit them to decide on what they need to do subsequent of their lives.”

The military didn’t reply to the BBC’s request for an interview.

Concerning the information:

From February 12 to November 13, 2024, researchers commissioned by the BBC interviewed a number of sources for every of greater than 14,000 village teams to evaluate the extent of navy management of their space.

The names and bounds of village teams come from the Myanmar Information Management Unit, or MIMU, which is hosted by the United Nations Improvement Program (UNDP).

In every case, the analysis workforce spoke to not less than one supply with out official affiliation with the navy or opposition – corresponding to lecturers, charity staff, journalists and native residents.

When sources offered conflicting details about a village group, unaffiliated sources have been prioritized and cross-checked with media stories.

The responses have been divided into three doable classes of management:

• Navy: The military is current and energetic within the area. It manages an area administration or gives sure public companies, all of which function usually.
• Disputed: The military is current within the area, however its efficient management has limits. This might embrace areas the place normal administration and public companies should not totally operational, or the place the navy divides administration with regional ethnic armed forces. It additionally covers areas the place opposing forces might enter and exit, and the place skirmishes between opposing forces happen.
• Resistance teams and ethnic armies: The military is basically absent and has not performed operations on the bottom for greater than three months. Civilian companies could also be offered by resistance forces, ethnic armies, or a civilian authorities, most likely supported by an armed insurgent militia.

Components of the nation are designated as forests and should not mapped by village teams. They’ve totally different administrative constructions, primarily coping with useful resource extraction and conservation. The BBC has chosen to deal with areas of Myanmar which have a clearly outlined system of governance.

Extra reporting by Becky Dale, Muskeen Liddar, Phil Leake, Callum Thomson, Pilar Tomas, Charlotte Attwood and Kelvin Brown. Methodological help by Professor Lee Jones, Queen Mary College of London.