The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), also known as the Kokang Army, is facing allegations of forcibly recruiting villagers across Lashio Township, despite a recent agreement to cease such practices in northern Shan State. Local sources and community leaders report escalating tensions as MNDAA officials pressure villages to provide recruits under threat of retaliation.

Since early June, MNDAA representatives have reportedly demanded one recruit from each household in Mong Pai, Narnang, Man Sei, and Nam Pawng village tracts, with a June 25 deadline for compliance. Villagers unable to meet the quota claim they have been threatened with the forced conscription of their village headmen instead.

“The Kokang township chief from Nam Pawng ordered us to find a recruit, if we fail, the headman will be taken,” a Lashio resident told SHAN. “In Man Sei, some villages are reportedly offering up to 60 million kyats (approx. USD 1,335) to hire substitutes.”

Additional reports indicate that villages in Mong Pai, Kyutee, and Taw Nay tracts are also being targeted. Community members allege that senior MNDAA officials, including Deputy Chief U Soe Myint and Sai Kyaw Han, have personally enforced the recruitment orders during local meetings.

The alleged forced recruitment contradicts a mutual understanding reached earlier this month between the MNDAA and the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP/SSA), in which the Kokang army pledged to refrain from conscription, taxation, or administrative interference in SSPP-controlled areas, including Mong Yai, Nam Pawng, and Hsin Kyawt.

“The MNDAA leadership agreed with the SSPP to stop recruitment here,” a Nam Pawng local said. “But the reality on the ground is different, it seems field commanders are acting independently.”

The situation has worsened following multiple detentions of village leaders. On June 5, Kokang forces abducted U San Kyar, chairman of Han Nar village, holding him overnight in Nar Lan village before releasing him, but only after ten villagers submitted household registration lists.

Similarly, in early June, the chairman and two elders of Man Mai village in Hsipaw Township were detained and later released on June 6, reportedly under pressure to provide household records.

Despite a second round of talks between the SSPP and MNDAA on June 17 in Than Lwin village, near Nam Pawng, locals remain doubtful of the Kokang army’s adherence to the agreement. Many fear that forced recruitment will persist covertly, undermining trust in the peace process.

As tensions rise, affected communities await concrete action to halt the alleged abuses and hold violators accountable.