ULA/AA Chair Pays Homage At MNDAA Founder’s Funeral

By Network Media Group
Friday, April 1, 2022

At the recent funeral of Peng Jiasheng, the founder of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDDA), the chair of the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA /AA) said that he’ll never forget the Kokang leader’s support, which helped him turn his armed group from 26 men and a rifle into one of the most powerful groups in Burma with tens of thousands of soldiers.

“We have hundreds of battalions in AA with 300 strong men each. We’ve have launched joint operations with other alliances against the Burma Army (BA),” ULA/AA chairperson Maj-Gen Tun Mrat Naing told NMG. Peng Jiasheng gave ULA/AA 100 rifles when it formed, he explained, and with these weapons and 2 RPGs they were able to take their place in Arakan State. “This is a big part of our Arakan revolution.” Tun Mrat Naing told media outlets.

At the funeral of Peng Jiasheng, he said that the Kokang and the Arakanese have a brotherly alliance. Although it’s unclear how many men are under the Arakanese leader’s command, some political analysts suggest that ULA/AA has about 30,000 soldiers.

The ULA/AA formed in Laiza, the de facto headquarters of the Kachin Independence Organisation, in Kachin State, in 2008. AA began fighting with BA after sending troops to Arakan State in 2015.

Yōhei Sasakawa, special envoy for Japan’s National Reconciliation in Myanmar, and with the Nippon Foundation supported negotiations between AA and BA to reach an informal ceasefire after the 2020 race, just before the military overthrew the National League for Democracy government of Aung San Suu Kyi.