General information
First Active Year: 2000
Current Name: God's Army
Current Name full English: God’s Army of the Holy Mountain
Current Name full native language: ဘုရားသခင်၏ တပ်မတော်
Original Name: God's Army
Original Name full English: God’s Army of the Holy Mountain
Original Name full native language: ဘုရားသခင်၏ တပ်မတော်
Actor Chronology
This section contains information about (if applicable) group splinters, name changes, and alliances according to the UCDP definitions of these concepts.
UCDP has not recorded any Chronology Activities involving this group.
Conflict issues
Government of Myanmar (Burma) - God's Army
Conflict Goal Issues: God’s Army split from Karen National Union (KNU) as the 4th Brigade headquarter fell to the Tatmadaw (Government of Myanmar’s (Burma)) offensive in 1997. The splinter group consisted mainly of Christian Karens, that according to the group’s own legend were rallied by the then two seven- or eight-year-old Htoo twins who had received a divine message to rid the fighters of their sinful ways and attack the Tatmadaw. In 1999, the group pronounced its first conflict goal of ousting the junta. The only other here identified issue was that of independence, stated directly by a God’s Army solider in an interview.
Conflict Dynamics Issues: In 1999, God’s Army accused the Government of Myanmar (Burma) of targeting Karens during the Tenasserim offensive. An accusation reiterated by Luther Htoo the year after: “I clearly remember how Burmese soldiers killed my men, and pregnant women. I will seek revenge.”
Conflict Resolution Issues: This project has been unable to find any statements regarding conflict resolution issues.
Type of conflict issues: The coded conflict issues for this group are:
*Conflict Goal Issues: *
Independence, Oust full executive
*Conflict Dynamics Issues: * Collective targeting: ethnic, Revenge/vengeance
*Conflict Resolution Issues: *
Annual information
This section contains annual information systematically collected by the UCDP.
2000
Actor Active in Dyad(s):
Government of Myanmar (Burma) - God's Army
Group Archive
This section contains annual information no longer systematically collected by the UCDP.
2000 Group Archive
Government of Myanmar (Burma) - God's Army
Comment on Name: Gods Army, led by the twins Luther and Johnny Htoo.
Comment on Active: In the camp of the Gods Army, members of the VBSW (Vigorous Burmese Students Warriors) had taken shelter after that group had attacked the Myanmarese embassy in Bangkok in 1999.
After suffering heavy shelling by Myanmarese and Thai troops in January, a joint operation of Gods Army and the VBSW took control of a hospital in Thailand and demanded treatment of their injured. After holding over 500 hostages for 24 hours before Thai forces stormed the hospital and killed all ten hostage-takers.
Troop Size: 200
Comment on Troop Size: Estimated troop size before the government offensive in January. Suggestions that the offensive halved the Gods Army.
Secondary Support: The Gods Army received training and protection by members of the KNU, including high-ranking officials.
