Dimapur: W Honwang, 43, was startled by the sound of gunfire while working on his jhum field on June 5 in Chuiso village of the Naga self-administered zone in Myanmar. It was only after he reached home in the evening that he came to grips with what had unfolded that afternoon.
Two discordant groups of NSCN-K (Yung Aung) based in Myanmar came to blows twice this month—on June 5 and June 13–leaving one cadre dead. “I am no stranger to sounds of gunfire having lived all my life here. But the incident on June 5 came as a surprise,” Honwang told EastMojo.
This flare-up in violence also assumes importance because of all that has conspired in Myanmar in recent years. The country, which witnessed a military coup in 2021, has seen hundreds of People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) mushroom across the region. However, the Naga Self-Administered Zone in the western part of the country has remained in relative peace.
“At first, I thought gunfire was exchanged between the military and Naga Army, but that did not make sense because the Naga Army has been lying low for some years. We also do not have the active presence of PDF groups in the Naga areas,” Honwang added.
In a press statement, self-styled Major General Langnyei Konyak said the GHQ Brigade (II) in Tangshang Area and Brigade (III) in Konyak region, Wancho region and Leinong region of NSCN-K (YA) in Myanmar would not work under the leadership of Yung Aung.
The dispute can be traced back to a meeting called by the GHQ Brigade on April 5 to discuss people’s concerns and the outfit’s progress.
However, soon after the meeting, president Yung Aung declared war on all the national workers who had attended the meeting and sent his troops to attack the GHQ, terming it as rising against his rule, the statement read.
Civil Society Organisations such as Naga Students’ Organisation, Eastern Naga Students’ Association, Konyak Union, Myanmar, Naga Baptist Convention, and Naga Culture, Tradition and Literature Committee Centre intervened in the peaceful resolution of the conflict by marking the Tigak River as the boundary between the two dissonant groups.
However, Yung Aung and his troops continued to violate the boundary leading to an armed confrontation on June 5 and the subsequent breaking away of the outfit into two factions, Langnyei Konyak stated.
Another instance of firing had taken place in the wee hours of June 13 at the Chen Loiye village.
All is not well
NSCN-K was formed in 1988 by Shangwang Shangyung Khaplang, a Tangshang Naga from the Sagaing region in Myanmar after a fallout with the NSCN led by Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah. At its height, the outfit operated out of the Naga-inhabited areas of Arunachal Pradesh and eastern Nagaland districts of India and the Sagaing region of Myanmar. Territory integration forms one of its core demands.
The outfit suffered its first major jolt in 2011 when a group gravitated towards the Commander-in-Chief Khole Konyak and general secretary Kitovi Zhimomi impeached Chairman Khaplang over his rejection to join the reconciliation process initiated by the Forum for Naga Reconciliation which aimed to facilitate dialogue with the Indian government.
In 2015, NSCN-R (Reformation) was floated by Kilonser (Minister) Wangtin Naga and spokesperson T. Tikhak after defecting from the outfit citing Khaplang’s unilateral decision to abrogate the ceasefire agreement signed in 2001 with the Indian government, as one of the reasons for the split.
Dissonance simmered after the death of SS Khaplang in 2017 and the outfit split for the third time in 2018. Yung Aung, the nephew of Khaplang took over as the president of one faction, and Khango Konyak, who had been the chairman of the outfit after Khaplang’s demise, the other. The outfit also took a hit when Tatmadaw, as the Myanmar army is called, launched a massive operation on the rebel camps in Myanmar’s Sagaing region in 2019.
The militant organisation suffered another factional crisis when Lt. Gen. Niki Sumi walked away with his cadres in 2020, splitting it for the fourth time in a decade. While the splinter factions of the armed organisation are in talks with the Indian government, NSCN-K (YA) is not a signatory to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement.
The statement issued by self-styled Major General Langnyei on June 6 said the GHQ and a few other brigades will continue to uphold the principles and values of SS Khaplang and hit out at Yung Aung blaming him for changing the logo of NSCN/GPRN and adopting a new nomenclature without the approval of some of its constituent brigades.
Threats of excommunication
Civil Society Organisations in Naga self-administered zone are wary of this new development and believe it has the potential to cause more bloodshed.
In a joint statement released on the evening of June 13, Naga Students’ Organisation and Eastern Naga Students’ Association condemned the fresh violence and cautioned both factions against armed confrontations in areas near villages, farms and school compounds. The student bodies stated that eastern Naga people are saddened and disheartened after the recent reconciliation initiative undertaken by the CSOs failed to reconcile the warring factions. NSO and ENSA had constrained themselves to not release any statement regarding the turmoil as it considered the crisis to be a ‘family issue’, however, things soon fell out of hands, it stated.
At least three villages have been impacted by the present factional war within NSCN-K (YA) that disrupted normal life in the villages with school closures in the eastern Konyak region entering the second week. “While the literacy rate in the Naga inhabited areas is the lowest in the country, NSO and ENSA being the guardians of the student community in particular are deeply saddened to learn that educational institutions, especially in the Konyak area are yet to reopen due to the infighting,” it read.
Their press statement questioned the sincerity of the organisation, asking whether the people, who rallied behind their ideology deserve such suffering induced by ‘personal egos’ and ‘self-interest’. It also warned both factions that if the organisation fails to heed the cries of the Naga public for cessation of violence, people will be compelled to withdraw support from the organisation.
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The statement further highlighted the issues of governance ailing the NSCN/GPRN and said the Naga people go by ‘One government, one tax’, hinting that no new faction can expect taxes from the people.
A counter statement released by the Ministry of Information and Publicity of NSCN-K (YA) said while it appreciates the reconciliation efforts by the CSOs, it is futile to expect NSCN/GPRN to yield to the whims and threats of Maj. Gen Langnyei Konyak and his faction.
It stated that Maj. Konyak failed to reconcile even after President Yung Aung had signed a Public Declaration Paper in May, leading to a confrontation between the two groups.
It further cautioned NSO, ENSA and the intelligence community to stop conflating NSCN/GPRN with the expelled member and his faction, terming it as a grave insult to the Naga struggle for self-determination.
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