SUMMARY
MNDAA (Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army, initially known as the Kokang Democratic Party, KDP) was a rebel group involved an intrastate armed conflict over territory against the Government of Myanmar (Burma). MNDAA’s official goal was the re-establishment of local self-administration in Kokang; however, MNDAA also claimed that Kokang would not demand secession from the union. The group claimed to represent the ethnic Chinese Kokang group. Furthermore, MNDAA also claimed to pursue equal rights and self-determination to all Myanma nationalities, and the establishment of trade centers in Mongko and Kokang. However, despite claiming to support a political agenda, the group was also interested in maintaining control over the lucrative drug trade in northern Myanmar.
MNDAA was created on 12 March 1989 following a large-scale mutiny within CPB. The mutiny was caused by discontent among local CPB commanders over the inability of the CPB Central Committee to score any significant military victories against the junta-led Government of Myanmar (Burma), and the inability to capitalize on the 1988 popular uprising in the country. MNDAA was the first faction to openly defy the CPB leadership. After MNDAA left CPB, it immediately began ceasefire talks with the Government of Myanmar (Burma). Soon, the Kokang faction agreed to lay down arms in return for the de facto administrative control of the Kokang district, including its lucrative drug industry. Peng Jia-sheng was officially made the leader of the Kokang “militia force” (now officially renamed MNDAA instead of KDP), and thus assumed control of Kokang district as a private fiefdom.
For almost 20 years, MNDAA was able to maintain a working relationship with the Myanma authorities; MNDAA profited from lucrative tax collection, drug trade, and other illicit activities, while the Myanma army was allowed to establish bases in strategic parts of Kokang district. Nominally, and despite being deeply involved in it, the MNDAA was for example charged with combating the opium trade in Kokang. However, this relationship broke down in 2009, after the Government of Myanmar (Burma) demanded that the groups (including MNDAA) that had agreed to sign the ceasefire in 1989 should be transformed into paramilitary Border Guard Forces (BGF) under the direct command of the Myanma military. MNDAA rejected this demand, and an armed conflict with the government erupted.
The long-standing leader of the MNDAA was Peng Jia-sheng (sometimes spelled Pheung Kya-shin), an ethnic Chinese Kokang; his brother, Peng Jiafu, also occupied an important position within the group. In 1992, fighting for the control of MNDAA erupted between a faction led by Peng and faction led by Yang Mao-ling, another prominent figure within the group. However, Peng eventually prevailed and retained leadership of the group. The group’s rank-and-file members mainly came from the Kokang ethnic group, and numbered approximately 2000 before 2009; high estimates put this number at 3000-4000. Prior to 2009, the groups was also known to forcefully recruit members of the local Kokang communities. After the group’s re-emergence in 2014 - Peng Jia-sheng had initiated efforts to rebuild the group in 2012 after Kokang had been overrun by government forces in 2009 - its number of fighters was estimated to be 1000-3000.
It appears probable that after the temporary defeat of the MNDAA in 2009, the group received considerable assistance from KIO in rebuilding its military capacity; this support allegedly began in 2012. In 2015, it was reported that MNDAA was fighting together with forces from the other Myanma rebel groups KIO, Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and Arakanese Army (AA).
