The Kachin Defense Army (;

abbreviated An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing per ...

KDA), also known as the Kaungkha militia, was an armed insurgent group that operated in northern

Shan State Shan State (, ; , ) is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China (Yunnan) to the north, Laos (Louang Namtha Province, Louang Namtha and Bokeo Provinces) to the east, and Thailand (Chiang Rai Province, Chia ...

, Myanmar. It was converted into a pro-

Tatmadaw The Tatmadaw, also known as the Sit-Tat, is the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include ...

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

after it surrendered to the Burmese military in January 2010.

History

The KDA was formerly the 4th brigade of the

Kachin Independence Army The Kachin Independence Army (KIA; Kachin: ''Wunpawng Mungdan Shanglawt Hpyen Dap''; ) is a non-state armed group and the military wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), a political group of ethnic Kachins in Northern Myanmar ...

(KIA), until it split from its parent organisation, the

Kachin Independence Organisation The Kachin Independence Organisation (abbreviated KIO; ; Kachin: , "Sovereign Kachin nation state") is a Kachin political organisation in Myanmar (Burma). Founded in 1961, KIO seeks autonomy for Kachin State and operates a de facto parallel ...

(KIO), and moved their headquarters to Kawnghka, Kutkai Township,

. After the

Mong Tai Army The Mong Tai Army (; sometimes transcribed Muang Tai Army; abbreviated MTA), was an insurgent group consisting of soldiers from the Shan minority in Myanmar, founded in 1985 by Khun Sa. It had up to 20,000 armed troops at its peak, and was ...

disbanded, the KDA gained some of their abandoned territory. In 1991, the group signed a ceasefire with the Burmese government. In 2010, the KDA accepted a proposal by the

State Peace and Development Council The State Peace and Development Council ( ; abbreviated SPDC or , ) was the official name of the Military dictatorship, military government of Burma (Myanmar) which, in 1997, succeeded the State Law and Order Restoration Council (; abbrevi ...

, the then governing body of Myanmar, to transform into a militia for the Burmese military. Originally, the KDA requested to be converted into a

Border Guard Force Border Guard Forces (; abbreviated BGF) are subdivisions of the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces) consisting of former insurgent groups in Myanmar under the instruction of Regional Military Commands. The government announced its plan to create Bor ...

to accommodate a larger army size, but this was rejected. The KDA surrendered their heavy weapons and mortars to the Northeastern Regional Command, in accordance to the "conversion process". The group was also split into two smaller factions, with 100 members in each group. In March 2020, the groups headquarters in Kawnghka was raided by the

Myanmar Army The Myanmar Army (; ) is the largest branch of the Tatmadaw, the armed forces of Myanmar, and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. The Myanmar Army maintains the second largest active force in Southea ...

. Several leaders were detained, around 1,000 weapons were confiscated, and stashes of illegal drugs were seized. In December 2023, during

Operation 1027 Operation 1027 ( my-name-MLCTS, MLCTS=1027 Cachcangre:, MY=၁၀၂၇ စစ်ဆင်ရေး, ) is an ongoing military offensive conducted by the Three Brotherhood Alliance, a military coalition composed of three ethnic armed organisati ...

, the militia surrendered to KIA forces after one of its bases were captured by the TNLA.

References

Political history of Myanmar Ethnic armed organisations in Myanmar Kachin history {{Myanmar-org-stub

History

See also

References