NUG Forces Detain Student Revolutionary Force Chairman and Six Members in Minkin Township, Sagaing — Internal Resistance Dispute Over Chindwin River Gold Mining

NUG-affiliated Pa-Ka-Phah (People's Defence Force) and Pa-Ah-Phah (People's Administration Team) units in Minkin Township, Sagaing Region, on or around May 28, 2026 (Day 1,942 of Myanmar's civil war) shot and detained Ko San Tin Htun, Chairman of the Student Revolutionary Force (SRF) Central Executive Committee, along with six other SRF members. Ko San Tin Htun was intercepted while traveling to meet village administrators in Minkin Township. Local residents protested the arrests on May 27 before news of the May 28 detention was confirmed. The dispute stems from a long-running conflict between NUG-aligned PDF forces and the SRF over two issues: (1) taxation rights from gold dredging operations on the Chindwin River in the Minkin Township area, and (2) conflicts over recruitment authority — specifically, which organization has jurisdiction to recruit fighters and collect levies from civilian communities. The Student Revolutionary Force is a resistance group founded primarily by university and student activists who joined the armed movement after the February 2021 coup; the SRF operates in parallel to the PDF but maintains independent command, separate financing structures, and direct organizational ties to student activist networks rather than the NUG Ministry of Defense. The detention of a chairman-level figure represents an escalatory use of armed force within the resistance coalition. Internal resistance conflicts in Sagaing Region have been documented since 2022, primarily driven by the proliferation of dozens of PDF units, local defence teams, and affiliated organizations operating in overlapping geographic areas without clear demarcation of revenue collection or civilian administration authority. Sagaing Region is the most PDF-dense zone in Myanmar's civil war; its geography along the Chindwin River and its gold-bearing sediments creates particularly acute revenue disputes. MoeMaKa described the incident in its 'Conflicts Among Revolutionary Forces' reporting as part of a broader pattern of internal resistance tensions in May 2026. The NUG's use of armed force against an allied resistance leader risks fracturing the coalition's public unity at a critical juncture: the junta's multi-front May offensive is ongoing across Rakhine, Kachin, Sagaing, Chin, and Karen State simultaneously.