The Chinland Council and the Interim Chin National Consultative Council (ICNCC) announced on Wednesday that the two factions of the Chin resistance have agreed to merge and form a single governing body called the Chin National Council.
“Right now, we’ve only agreed on creating a new council and forming a constitution drafting committee,” Salai Bawi Oak, a member of the ICNCC secretariat, told DVB after meeting representatives of the Chinland Council in India’s Mizoram State capital Aizawl. Mizoram Chief Minister Pu Lalduhoma hosted the talks.
The armed forces of both factions, the Chinland Council’s Chin National Army (CNA) and the ICNCC’s Chin Brotherhood, are working out the details on building a unified Chin resistance force to defend Chinland (Chin State) from the military regime in Naypyidaw.
“Having two separate governing bodies for the Chin people was counterproductive so we agreed to merge,” read a statement signed by representatives from both the Chinland Council and the ICNCC on Feb. 26.
The ICNCC was established in April 2021 after the military coup by Chin resistance groups and elected members of parliament. It is supported by the civilian-led National Unity Government (NUG), the governing alternative to the regime in Naypyidaw, which seized power after the coup.
The Chinland Council was established in December 2023 after it withdrew from the ICNCC due to internal disputes. It is controlled by the CNA political wing, the Chin National Front (CNF), as well as elected members of parliament ousted in the coup from the National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
The CNF/CNA formed in 1988 to seek autonomy for the Chin ethnic nationality, and was a 2015 signatory to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with the military, but it scrapped the agreement and returned to the frontline after the military staged the coup on Feb. 1, 2021.
After the departure of the CNF/CNA from the ICNCC to form the Chinland Council, remaining Chin resistance groups still loyal to the ICNCC decided to form its own armed force called the Chin Brotherhood.
“This is extremely encouraging and wonderful news. If our revolutionary forces unite at this time, I would say our revolution is [almost] complete,” wrote Tayzar San, a prominent pro-democracy activist in Myanmar, on social media.
The two factions of the Chin resistance engaged in peace talks brokered by the India-based civil society group Zo Reunification Organisation (ZORO) and the Mizoram State government in Aizawl last September.
At a press conference in December, the Chin Brotherhood spokesperson Salai Yaw Mang claimed that resistance forces have seized over 80 percent of Chinland (Chin State) from regime control.
Thirteen townships across the state and the Myanmar-India border town of Rihkhawdar are controlled by the Chin resistance. But southern Chinland’s Paletwa Township, 199 miles (321 km) south of the state capital Hakha, came under Arakan Army (AA) control in January 2024.
The regime continues to hold Hakha and Thantlang, located 22 miles (35 km) west of Hakha, as well as Tedim and Falam, located 117-122 miles north (188-196 km) of Hakha.
