Monland Restoration Army
LeadersNai Pan Nyunt[1]
Dates of operation2001 (2001)–2012
HeadquartersSangkhlaburi, Thailand
Active regionsMon State
Tanintharyi Region
IdeologyMon nationalism
Separatism
Size100–300[1][2]
OpponentsMyanmar Government of Myanmar Union of Myanmar (until 2011)
Battles and warsInternal conflict in Myanmar

The Monland Restoration Army (MRA) is the armed wing of the Monland Restoration Party (MRP), which was known as the Hongsawatoi Restoration Party (HRP) until 2003.[1] The MRP campaigns for the rights and equality of the Mon people in Myanmar (Burma).[3] Its name is sometimes translated as 'Monland Defence Army'.[4]

History

The Monland Restoration Army split from the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), the armed wing of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), incorporating the Mon National Defence Army (MNDA) on 29 November 2001. Its founder was Nai Pan Nyunt, a captain of the MNLA.

At the time of its foundation this armed group had about 300 troops which were active in the Three Pagodas Pass area of the Tenasserim Hills, collecting taxes, laying landmines and intimidating local villagers into co-operation. Later it engaged in sporadic fights against the Tatmadaw following the alleged killing of a Tatmadaw colonel. After 2002 the MRA was expelled from the MNLA controlled areas and Nai Pan Nyunt went to the mountains near Sangkhlaburi where he tried to negotiate with Thai authorities.[2] In January 2011 the former Mon National Defence Army troops (MNDA) of the MRA reunited with the NMSP, whose armed wing they had left in 2001.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Ceasefire celebration noticeably absent". Independent Mon News Agency. Independent Mon news Agency. 29 June 2010. Retrieved 2 January 2016.
  2. 1 2 The Irrawaddi – Precarious Peace in Monland
  3. ↑ Mr Ashley South, Mon Nationalism and Civil War in Burma: The Golden Sheldrake., p. 339
  4. ↑ Human Rights Watch (2002), "My Gun was as Tall as Me": Child Soldiers in Burma, p. 149
  5. ↑ Mon splinter group rejoins NMSP
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