Communist rebels capture 138 Myanmar elephants amid fighting near Mandalay September 8, 2024

Fierce fighting has forced timber workers and their elephants to seek safety with communist rebels. (AFP via People's Liberation Army of the Communist Party of Burma)

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Communist rebels capture 138 Myanmar elephants amid fighting near Mandalay

Communist rebels fighting the ruling military junta in Myanmar have captured around 140 elephants amid fighting in the jungles and forests around the country's second-largest city, Mandalay.

The tusks have been arriving at the rebel camp in pairs and trios since July, many of them led by handlers fleeing the junta-controlled timber camps that employ them.

Others were taken as spoils in territories captured by the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) in its fight against the military and its 2021 coup that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's government.

The secretary-general of the CPB's People's Liberation Army (PLA), Ni Ni Kway, said that they wanted to protect the animals.

“We were worried that if no one took control of them, these elephants would fall into the hands of traffickers,” she told the AFP news agency.

“If these elephants reach the black market or are taken by traffickers, they will have a big problem.”

Elephants are used throughout Myanmar's logging industry, but the rebels have not ruled out using them in battle. (AFP via People's Liberation Army of the Communist Party of Burma)

State-owned logging companies in Myanmar are believed to employ around 3,000 elephants, most of them dragging freshly cut trees through the dense jungle to transport hubs and factories.

There are fewer than 50,000 Asian elephants left in the wild, and fewer than 2,000 of them are found in Myanmar, according to 2018 figures from the environmental group WWF.

Myanmar is home to the second largest population of Asian elephants in the world, behind India.

Elephants used in battle

At a PLA camp last week, around a dozen animals knelt in a line next to their handlers before setting off on a march.

A CPB soldier, dressed in camouflage and carrying a rifle, climbed onto the wooden platform on the back of an elephant and the small herd set off towards the forest.

The old Burmese chronicles tell of kings fighting their rivals on the backs of elephants and taking them into battle.

But Ni Ni Kyaw said he wasn't sure how the communists would use the animals in their battle against the military.

“We are worried that we will lose this treasure of our country, so we will take care of them as best we can,” she said.

The PLA was providing rice and cooking oil for the elephant handlers - known as mahouts - and their families, she added.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's government and seized power in 2021.

The resulting military crackdown has reignited clashes with armed ethnic minority groups as well as the newly formed pro-democracy “People's Defense Forces”.

The military has lost swathes of territory in northern Shan State and around Mandalay to an alliance between ethnic minority armed groups and the PDFs fighting to overturn the coup.

“Even our human beings have many difficulties due to the current fighting and there are many displaced people,” said Ni Ni Kyaw.

“Elephants have big bodies and eat a lot, so they need a lot of space in the jungle.”

“When the revolution is over one day, we will have a new government and it will hand over these elephants to the forestry department.”

bur-srg-rma/smw