Myanmar military steps up fight for rare earth area and border routes
Myanmar’s military has launched renewed offensives into several border regions, including a frontier area with critical rare earth deposits and other vital trade routes, a month after a new administration took formal control of the war-torn country. New military chief Ye Win Oo, who took office in March after his long-time predecessor stepped down to become president, is making an aggressive push to reclaim strategic border strongholds from ethnic armies that have gained strength in recent years, spokesmen for rebel groups and analysts told Reuters. The military’s recent offensives have focused on Kachin State, a region rich in heavy rare-earth elements that abuts China, as well as Chin State on the Indian border and a key trade corridor in Karen State, next to Thailand. At a meeting last week, Ye Win Oo told soldiers that the military had secured Falam town in Chin State and an arterial route between Mandalay and Myitkyina in Kachin State, the state-run Global New Light...
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