BBCThe once fierce Myanmar government is cracking from within, the BBC has discovered, and its spies are allegedly working for the pro-democracy insurgents.
The defense only has full power of less than a third of Myanmar’s place, a BBC World Service analysis reveals.
According to the UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, the junta also controls the big cities and is still “extremely hazardous.” However, over the past twelve months, it has lost a lot of place.
The man spies are known as” Watermelons”- clean on the outside, rebel dark within. Apparently devoted to the military, but quietly working for pro-democracy insurgents whose dark is the symbol of their ideology.
A key with roots in central Myanmar claims that it was the cruelty of the military that caused him to choose his side.
” I saw the body of tortured residents. I shed weeping”, says Kyaw]not his true name]. How could they be so cruel to our own folks? We are meant to guard citizens, but then we’re killing people. It’s no longer an troops, it’s a power that terrorises”.
More than 20, 000 people have been detained and thousands killed, the UN says, since the defense seized power in a coup in February 2021- triggering an revolt.
Kyaw initially considered leaving the army, but he and his wife decided that working as a detective was” the best way to provide the rebellion.”
When he judges it healthy to do so, he leaks domestic military knowledge to the People’s Defense Forces]PDF]- a system of human militia groups. The rebels use the knowledge to elude attacks or to build ambushes against the military. Kyaw furthermore sends them some of his pay, so they can obtain weapons.
Scouts like him are assisting the opposition in accomplishing what was once impossible.
The BBC assessed the energy balance in more than 14, 000 community groups as of mid-November this time, and found the military simply has full power of 21 % of Myanmar’s province, nearly four years on from the start of the conflict.
According to the investigation, ethnic soldiers and a number of opposition parties currently control 42 % of the nation’s land mass. Much of the remaining place is contested.
Ko BC / BBCThe leak of information from the army is assisting in changing the situation. The weight established a specialized unit two years ago to manage the expanding network of spies and to attract more.
Officials like Win Aung]not his real name ] collect the Watermelon leaks, check them where possible, and then move them on to the insurgent frontrunners in the appropriate location.
He is a former intelligence official who left the opposition following the coup. He claims that social media is a crucial selection tool because they are now getting new Fruits every year.
Their scouts, he says, variety from low-ranking men to high-ranking officials. Additionally, they assert that there are Watermelons in the military authorities, “from the ministries over to the community heads.”
They go through a rigorous screening process to make sure they aren’t using double agents.
Different reasons exist for becoming a hacker. While in Kyaw’s event it was rage, for a military sergeant known as” Moe,” it was just a desire to survive for his young family.
His family, pregnant at the time, pushed him to do so, convinced the government was losing and he would die in battle.
He started leaking information about troop movements and arms to the Watermelon system.
This kind of knowledge is critical, says pro-democracy insurgent leader Daeva.
His weight unit’s ultimate goal is to recapture Yangon, the country’s largest city and his former residence. However, they are far away.
The majority of the country’s major metropolitan areas are still dominated by the defense, which provides essential equipment and income.
” It’s easier said than done to harm and occupy]Yangon], Daeva says”. The enemy did not offer up on]it ] quickly.”
Daeva, who is unable to actually enter the city, directs targeted attacks by underwater cells in Yangon using Watermelon brains.
In August, we witnessed him making one for call. Although we were given no information, it was stated that it would lead an assassination attempt on a commander.
” We will do it inside the army’s safety guidelines, “he told them”. Be cautious, the army is losing in every way, “he added, telling them that this meant they were more likely to be on call for spies and spies.
Daeva claims that tip-offs have led to a number of significant problems by his organization.
” We started with nothing and then look at our accomplishment,” says Daeva.
Ko BC / BBCBut it comes at a cost. Watermelons have to live in dread of both sides, as military corporal-turned detective Moe discovered.
He had to deal with the fear that his knowledge could lead to an attack on himself when he was deployed from Yangon to Rakhine, a frontier area where the defense is fighting an ethnic group sympathizing with the opposition.
In March this year, his tethered fleet was hit with a bullet weapon, followed by empty fire”. There was nowhere to work. We looked like rats locked up in a box. In the insurgent strike, seven of his own soldiers were killed.
” Our ability to protect]the moles ] is very limited, “admits Win Aung”. We can’t officially declare that they are Watermelons. And we are unable to prevent our troops from attacking any special military fleet.
He says that when this is explained to the Watermelons, yet, they do not fall. Some have even responded:” When it comes to that time, don’t wait, take.”
However, there are times when the scouts are unable to accept the risk.
When Moe was scheduled to be sent to a different, risky front line, he requested that the Watermelon system smuggle him into a resistance-controlled place. They do this by using safe houses and underwater temples.
He left in the dead of night. The next day, when he did not show up for work, men came round to the home. They interrogated his family Cho, but she remained tight-lipped.
After time on the run Moe arrived at one of Daeva’s outposts. Before enticing him to perform what function he wanted to play, Daeva thanked him over a video phone. Moe replied that, given his youthful home, he would prefer a non-combat position and would instead share his knowledge of military training.
A few weeks after he crossed into Thailand. Cho and the children have fled their homes, but they also hope to finally relocate there and start a new existence there.
The army is forcefully trying to reclaim lost territory, carrying out a flood of dangerous bombings. With Taiwanese- and Russian-made fighter planes, it is in the heat that it has the upper hand. It is aware that the opposition is far from being a uniform team and that it is attempting to break up differences between them.
” As the coup loses power, their cruelty increases. It’s getting worse. The loss of life … the brutality, the abuse as they lose ground, literally and figuratively,” says UN special rapporteur Tom Andrews.
The government is also conducting blasts for Watermelons.
” When I heard about the blasts, I stopped for a while,” says Kyaw. He claims to never allow unwelcome attention because he always acts like a steadfast follower of the military.
But he is scared and doesn’t know how long he may be hidden. He may continue acting as a defense spy, hoping to see a day when the trend is over because fleeing is not an option because he worries about abandoning his aging parents.
If and when that day comes, Watermelons like Kyaw and Moe will not be forgotten, Win Aung vows.
We will give them the respect of honor and let them decide what they want to do with their lives after that.
The defense did not respond to the BBC’s request for an interview.
About the information:
For each of the more than 14, 000 community groups, researchers commissioned by the BBC questioned numerous sources between February 12 and November 2024 to determine the extent of military dominance in their area.
The names and boundaries of village groups were sourced from the Myanmar Information Management Unit, or MIMU, which is hosted by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
In all cases, the research team spoke with at least one person who had no formal affiliation with the defense or the opposition, including researchers, charity workers, reporters, and local citizens.
Affiliated sources were prioritized and more cross-referenced with media reporting when sources provided conflicting details for a town team.
Three different types of power were used to categorize actions:
- Military: The military is present and active in the region. It operates a local administration or provides certain public services, which are all functioning normally.
- Contested: The military is present in the region, but there are limits to its effective control. This could include areas where general administration and public services are not fully operational, or where the military divides administration with regional ethnic armed forces. It also covers areas where opposition forces can enter and exit, and where skirmishes between opposing forces occur.
- Resistance groups and ethnic armies: The military is largely absent and has not performed on-the-ground operations for more than three months. Civil services may be provided by resistance forces, ethnic armies or a civilian government, likely supported by a rebel armed militia.
Some areas of the nation are designated as forests, but they are not assigned to village groups. They have different administration structures, mainly dealing with resource extraction and conservation. The BBC has chosen to concentrate on the regions of Myanmar with a clearly defined system of government.
Additional reporting by Becky Dale, Muskeen Liddar, Phil Leake, Callum Thomson, Pilar Tomas, Charlotte Attwood and Kelvin Brown. Prof. Lee Jones, Queen Mary University of London, provides support for metabolology.