The Monland Restoration Army (MRA) is the armed wing of the Monland Restoration Party (MRP), which was known as the Hongsawatoi Restoration Party (HRP) until 2003. The MRP campaigns for the rights and equality of the Mon people in Myanmar (Burma).Mr Ashley South, Mon Nationalism and Civil War in Burma: The Golden Sheldrake., p. 339 Its name is sometimes translated as 'Monland Defence Army'.Human Rights Watch (2002), "My Gun was as Tall as Me": Child Soldiers in Burma, p. 149
History The Monland Restoration Army split from the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), the armed wing of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), incorporating the Mon National Defence Army (MNDA) on 29 November 2001. Its founder was Nai Pan Nyunt, a captain of the MNLA. Mon Nationalist Movements: insurgency, ceasefires and political struggle Ashley South Ph.D. Seminar on Discovery of Ramanndesa: Mon history, identity, culture, language and performing arts. Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand, Bangkok, 10–13 October 2007.
At the time of its foundation this armed group had about 300 troops which were active in the Three Pagodas Pass area of the Tenasserim Hills, collecting taxes, laying landmines and intimidating local villagers into co-operation. Later it engaged in sporadic fights against the Tatmadaw following the alleged killing of a Tatmadaw colonel. After 2002 the MRA was expelled from the MNLA controlled areas and Nai Pan Nyunt went to the mountains near Sangkhlaburi where he tried to negotiate with Thai authorities.The Irrawaddi – Precarious Peace in Monland In January 2011 the former Mon National Defence Army troops (MNDA) of the MRA reunited with the NMSP, whose armed wing they had left in 2001.Mon splinter group rejoins NMSP
References
External links Mon National Defence Army reunites with New Mon State Party