Resistance leader surrenders to military in Sagaing Region’s Pale

Bo Nagar, the founder and leader of the anti-military Burma National Revolutionary Army (BNRA), surrendered and handed over his weapons to regime forces in Pale Township of Sagaing Region on Wednesday to “join the legal fold,” regime media reported. 

Bo Nagar, whose real name is Naing Lin, surrendered with his family and six weapons, according to the report. Pale is located 39 miles (62 km) southwest of the Sagaing Region capital Monywa. 

Regime forces reportedly carried out attacks in Pale using motorized paragliders on Feb. 18. DVB is unable to verify this claim with the BNRA, which seized control of territory in northern Pale on Nov. 11, 2024. 

The National Unity Government (NUG) claimed that around 150 BNRA members either joined the People’s Defence Force (PDF) or surrendered their weapons to them. 

Nay Phone Latt, the NUG spokesperson, told DVB that PDF members were “attempting to arrest” Bo Nagar and other BNRA members on allegations of murder, assault, and the sexual abuse of minors.

Bo Nagar shared on social media Feb. 17 that at least 10 BNRA members were killed by the PDF under NUG command during fighting in Pale.

The PDF under the NUG controls the southern part of Pale, according to residents. They told DVB that “fighting” between the PDF and BNRA on Feb. 17 displaced at least 5,000 residents. “This infighting upsets us,” a resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity before the regime report of Bo Nagar’s surrender to the regime.

Naung Yoe, a Myanmar Army defector who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) after the 2021 military coup, told DVB that the regime in Naypyidaw may exploit this surrender to sow division among the PDF and its allied resistance forces in other parts of the country.

The BNRA was not under NUG command, but Bo Nagar was a founding member of the PDF in Pale following the 2021 military coup.

BNRA members detained a member of the NUG People’s Administration Team (PAT) following a “raid” in Pale’s Pann village on Jan. 17. This was reported as a “quarrel” between the two groups by Bo Nagar. 

The incident came nine days after PDF members cleared four BNRA checkpoints for allegedly “collecting taxes from vehicles” in areas under BNRA control on Jan. 9.

The BNRA was established on Sept. 9, 2023 after changing its name from Myanmar Royal Dragon Army, which was founded by Bo Nagar in January 2022 after he left the PDF.