2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état

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Title: Military In Politics: Myanmar | Insight | Full Episode
Description: "In the early hours of February 1st, 2021, the Myanmar military known as the Tatmadaw seized power of the country. The coup led to the ousting of democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi and brought Myanmar's decade long experiment with democracy to a crashing halt. A mass uprising soon broke out across the country. The security forces responded by launching a brutal crackdown against the protesters, turning some areas of the capital, Yangon into battle zones. But why did the army stage a coup and shatter the hopes and dreams of many of its citizens? Will the violence and protests in the streets help restore democracy in Myanmar?..."
Source/publisher: "CNA Insider" (Singapore)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-29
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Title: Myanmar civil society organizations condemn UNODC’s decision to invite brutal military representative, Lt-Gen Than Hlaing, to its 64th session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs
Description: "410 Myanmar civil society organizations and four individuals condemn the UN Office of Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) decision to allow Lieutenant-General Than Hlaing, who is sanctioned by Canada, US, UK and the EU, to represent Myanmar via video, at its 64th session of the Commission on Narcotics Drugs in April this year. The CSOs call for UNODC to immediately end all ties with the illegitimate military junta and recognize the National Unity Government as the legitimate governing body representing the people of Myanmar. Allowing the military to represent Myanmar at the UN conference held in Vienna, betrays the will of the people of Myanmar who continue to oppose the illegitimate and brutal military junta and further damages the confidence the people have in the UN to carry out its mandate enshrined in the UN Charter to promote and encourage “respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms”. The 64th meeting of the Narcotics Drugs Commission was held in Vienna, Austria, from 12 to 16 April, and was organized by the UNODC. The annual conference to review and analyze the global drug situation, which hosted UN Member States from around the world, opened with a speech by the UN SecretaryGeneral, António Guterres. The UN has not only failed to act as the brutal military junta commits crimes against humanity, it is now acting to legitimize and offer a platform to those who are murdering innocent people by the hundreds, including children. It is disheartening to see such lack of respect for human rights displayed by the very institution that is mandated to protect and encourage respect for human rights. It is all the more shocking to see a UN institution with a mandate to prevent crime, corruption and terrorism feting an international criminal. Worse yet, Vienna, Austria - where the conference was held - is part of the EU which sanctioned Lieutenant-General Than Hlaing as part of its restrictive measures (asset freeze and travel ban) on 22 March, 2021. He would have been prevented from entering Vienna had he not been allowed to join by video conference. This is a grave circumvention of the EU sanctions, weakening their very purpose. On 2 February, the day after the coup, Lieutenant-General Than Hlaing was appointed Chief of the Myanmar Police Force and Deputy Home Affairs Minister by the illegitimate military junta. In his position as the Chief of the Myanmar Police Force, he commanded the commission of extreme brutality and acts of violence against peaceful protesters, members of the Civil Disobedience Movement, and other innocent individuals who have been killed, detained and tortured. 756 have been killed as of 28 April 2021 including at least 51 children. 3,449 people have been detained. 1,237 arrest warrants have been issued. Yet the people of Myanmar have opposed the military junta as it continues its brutal attempt at an already failing coup. As well as the EU, the US, UK and Canada have also imposed sanctions against Than Hlaing, who the UNODC shamefully decided to allow the illegal military junta a platform to speak to the world as the representative of Myanmar at its conference. This is not the first time that the UNODC has been criticized for legitimizing the Myanmar military’s narrative. UNODC has a long and troubled history of turning a blind eye to the complicity of the Myanmar military and other state backed groups in Myanmar’s profitable drug trade. In particular, UNODC’s annual opium survey which is published jointly with the Myanmar government, has come under heavy criticism for distorting the realities on the ground in favor of the Myanmar military and government. UNODC’s Myanmar Opium Survey 2013 indicated that opium production levels in Kachin State were down by 10%, however the survey failed to include Chipwe, which was controlled by the Border Guard Force, under the command of the Myanmar military. In its Myanmar Opium Survey 2018, UNODC once again provided contentious and incorrect information in its reporting, stating that highest density of poppy cultivation had taken placed under areas controlled by the ethnic armed organizations. Such statements, which were refuted by both civil society organizations and ethnic armed organizations, lent legitimacy to the Myanmar military and government’s facade that they were enforcers of drug eradication rather than address the rampant corruption and their culpability in one of the most profitable trades in Myanmar. UNODC has long failed to heed the calls from civil society organizations to accurately reflect the situation on the ground. Its invitation of a sanctioned military official who is responsible for the violence inflicted against the people of Myanmar to its annual conference is a part of a pattern indicating a systemic failure by the United Nations to ensure that all bodies of the UN reflect the human rights values enshrined in its Charter. Therefore, we call on: • The UNODC to immediately end all ties with the illegitimate military junta and recognize and work with the National Unity Government, the legitimate governing body representing the people of Myanmar; • The UN Secretary-General, the UN OHCHR and other bodies of the UN to ensure that UNODC act in compliance with the human rights principles enshrined in the UN Charter - the UN must ensure a coordinated approach that embodies the “do no harm” and conflict sensitivity principles; • The UN bodies to stop recognizing and hosting the Myanmar military junta at events and meetings and instead invite representatives of the legitimate government, the National Unity Government, as the official representative of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: 410 Myanmar civil society organizations and four individuals via Progressive Voice (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-29
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Title: Myanmar Parallel Government Rejects Talks With Junta Before Political Prisoners Are Freed
Description: "Myanmar’s parallel government on Wednesday rejected holding talks with the junta that seized power in early February until the military regime releases more than 3,000 political prisoners, rebuffing a plan by the country’s Southeast Asian neighbors. Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met last Saturday and signed a “five-point consensus” on resolving the crisis by halting army violence against civilian protesters and holding talks. Members of the pro-democracy National Unity Government (NUG), formed on Apr. 16, said they will not engage in dialogue until detained leaders from the previous civilian-led government, including deposed State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, are freed. They also want ASEAN members and other nations to recognize the NUG as the legitimate government of Myanmar. “In order to have a meaningful dialogue, it is very clear that it is only possible if our leaders who are being detained are freed,” Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar’s permanent representative to the United Nations, told RFA, speaking for the NUG. “We believe that only when they are freed will the talks be fair and meaningful,” he said. Many leaders, other officials, and lawmakers from the National League for Democracy (NLD) were arrested by the military during and after the Feb. 1 coup, while those who evaded arrest have formed the NUG. Political leaders and analysts in Myanmar said ASEAN’s stance on the crisis was unfair to pro-democratic forces and would prolong the current military dictatorship. They also said that the release of the more than 3,400 people who are being detained by junta forces is a key condition for resolving the crisis. Security forces, including police, have conducted violent crackdowns on anti-coup protesters in cities and towns nationwide, at times using deadly force. More than 750 people have been killed since the coup began, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a Thailand-based human rights group.....Proposal deserves support: Nandar Hla Myint, spokesman for the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), said ASEAN’s proposal deserves support. “I believe ASEAN is serious about the situation of individual countries in the region, and at the same time it adheres to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of another country, so it came up with something acceptable to both sides,” he said. The five-point agreement calls for an ASEAN envoy and delegation to visit Myanmar to meet with concerned parties, but junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has said that the visit would be considered only if there was internal stability. A political analyst who declined to be named said the regime leader’s comment could mean that the crackdowns will continue and that the visit will be put off. “None of the five demands in the agreement calls for the release of detained leaders,” he said. “Min Aung Hlaing has no intention of releasing them. Who are they going to negotiate with, then, if the unlawfully arrested leaders are not released? There is no need to hold discussions with anyone.” Myint Oo, an NLD lawmaker from Bago region who won a seat in the November 2020 elections, said the political crisis could not be solved by ASEAN’s recommendations and that the grouping’s suggestions were an insult to people protesting peacefully for democracy. “Look at the way ASEAN said that both sides should cease violence, as if it was the peaceful protesters who were using violence. This fact alone is offensive to the gentle and peaceful citizens who are staging this Spring Revolution,” he told RFA. Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the pro-military think tank the Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, said he believed the military council would comply with ASEAN’s points if the demands were in line with a law enacted in the national interest. “We believe we can do everything we can in the national interest within a legal framework.” he said. “We certainly see it will move forward step by step. It might not move as speedily as they would expect, but each of the five demands could be implemented at appropriate times.”.....Junta outlaws AAPP: Continuing its drive to cut off the flow of information about killings and arrests in the crackdown, the junta outlawed the AAPP after accusing the group of producing biased information and incorrect data that hurt the stability and rule of law in Myanmar. The Ministry for Home Affairs under the State Administration Council, as the junta government is known, announced on Monday that it would take action against the AAPP for releasing what it said was inaccurate data to intimidate and cause anxiety among civil servants and the public, which could be interpreted as inciting violence. The AAPP publishes daily updates on the numbers of people killed, arrested, and released by the military and police in connection with anti-junta. The statements have been cited frequently by foreign governments, media, and other international organizations. Pro-army pundit Thein Tun Oo agreed with the junta’s move, saying AAPP reports are “weak in background checks or references, and the numbers get inflated.” The AAPP, however, said it has compiled lists of detainees since the day of the military coup along with the names of the dead, places where the attacks occurred, dates of deaths, and causes of death. “Everything is recorded with photos and video recordings and the data published daily,” the organization said in response to an RFA query. The military regime is attacking the AAPP because it is recognized by the U.N., foreign governments, and rights groups as a credible source of information about political prisoners in Myanmar, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “They are trying to silence a very important organization that is doing a very difficult job. It is an attempt to keep the outside world from hearing what is happening in Burma,” he said.....More protests, arrests: Sporadic demonstration in support of the NUG and anti-junta protests continued to be held in townships in Yangon, Mandalay, Sagaing, Bago, and Tanintharyi regions as well as in Shan and Kachin states. The AAPP said the death toll as of Wednesday was 756 and that 3,449 people were arrested, while another 1,237 people were in hiding while facing charges. At least two people were killed and 15 were arrested amid protests and clashes between demonstrators and security forces on Wednesday, witnesses said. In Sagaing region, a military corporal was killed during a brief clash between the Tamu People’s Defense Force and Myanmar soldiers Tuesday evening near the Indian border, residents said. Soldiers took away the body of Corporal Aung Aung, a local soldier who had joined the Civil Disobedience Movement of striking workers in March, they said. In the Sagaing town of Monywa, where residents have been holding daily anti-junta protests, soldiers took away nine people from three neighborhoods Tuesday night, locals said. “Nine got arrested,” said a resident who declined to be named. “They were accused of communicating with underground forces. There had been a series of explosions in the area recently, so their arrests could be connected to that.” An explosion on a bridge in Kachin state Tuesday night caused the structure’s foundation to crack and some rafters on nearby railroad tracks connecting the towns of Myitkyina and Mandalay to catch fire, said a resident of Hopin where the blast occurred. It is not clear who was behind the bombings..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-29
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Title: Myanmar’s war displaces new generation on remote river frontier
Description: "Myanmar’s coup has brought war back to a remote Southeast Asian frontier after 25 years, sending a new generation of villagers in both Myanmar and Thailand running for their lives from bullets and bombs. Ethnic Karen insurgents and the Myanmar army have engaged in heavy clashes near the Thai border in the weeks since the Feb. 1 coup, when Myanmar’s generals ousted an elected government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi. The Karen and other autonomy-seeking ethnic minority forces based in frontier regions have supported the largely urban-based pro-democracy opponents of the junta, offering refuge to some, and tension with the military has boiled up into new fighting. Before dawn on Tuesday, Karen fighters attacked the Myanmar army's Thaw Leh Ta outpost on the west bank of the Salween River, which forms the border with Thailand as it cuts through steep, forested slopes on is way to the Bay of Bengal. "I've never heard gunfire like this, I've never seen people needing to flee like this," said Supart Nunongpan, 44, chief of the Thai village of Mae Sam Laep, a small river port of wooden houses and shops strung out along the Thai side of the Salween. The Myanmar army had held Thaw Leh Ta since 1995, the last time there was major fighting in the area when, after years of dry-season offensives, the Myanmar army captured the headquarters of the Karen National Union (KNU) guerrilla group, not far to the south. Divided and driven from most of its enclaves in eastern Myanmar, the KNU agreed to a ceasefire in 2012, ending an insurgency that began soon after Myanmar gained independence in 1948. Now war has resumed and the Myanmar military, equipped with more effective aircraft than it had 25 years ago, has launched repeated air strikes against KNU positions, sending some 15,000 villagers fleeing into the forest, with several thousand briefly seeking refuge on the Thai side of the border. Myanmar launched air strikes on Tuesday and again on Wednesday, with fighter jets and helicopters, Thai authorities on the border said. There was no word on casualties. About 100 villagers from Myanmar, most of them elderly, pregnant women or children, crossed to the Thai side on Wednesday to escape the air strikes, the Free Burma Rangers aid group said.....'STILL DANGEROUS': Hundreds of Thai villagers living too close to the border for comfort have also abandoned their homes and fled inland. One woman on the Thai side was wounded by a stray bullet on Tuesday, Thai authorities said. Thai villagers are sheltering in a school and a church in the settlement of Huay Kong Kad, a safe distance from the border. They think the fighting is far from over and it is only a matter of time before Myanmar's powerful military tries to take back the lost outposts. "I don't feel safe, it's still dangerous. I'm afraid of the air strikes," Amin, 40, another villager from Mae Sam Laep who goes by only one name, told Reuters. The Myanmar junta has not commented on the latest clashes but the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper blamed a rogue KNU brigade for the attacks, saying most of the KNU still backed the 2012 ceasefire. The head of foreign affairs for the KNU, Saw Taw Nee, rejected that as "nonsense", saying state media was trying to "divide and conquer". Thailand, which played host to more than 100,000 Karen refugees for decades, has said it wants to stay out of the latest surge of fighting but will provide humanitarian help if needed. For now, displaced Thai villagers wait. Several said they only dared slip back into Mae Sam Laep during the day to check on their homes, fearing more fighting at any time. “I’m afraid because we live on the border. The villagers are also afraid,” village head Supart said..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-29
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Title: Two Myanmar air bases come under attack - reports
Description: "Unidentified attackers launched assaults on two Myanmar air bases on Thursday, with blasts reported at one base and rocket fire seen at another, media and a witness said. The attacks come after three months of turmoil in Myanmar triggered by a Feb. 1 military coup. There was no claim of responsibility or any confirmation of any casualties in the attacks. A military spokesman did not answer calls seeking comment. In the first attack on Thursday, three blasts went off at an air base near the central town of Magway in the early hours, the Delta News Agency reported in a post on Facebook. Security checks were stepped up on roads outside the base after the blasts, the news portal said. Later, five rockets were fired at one of the country's main air bases, at Meiktila, to the northeast of Magway, reporter Than Win Hlaing, who was near the base at the time, said in a post. He also posted a video clip that included the sound of what appeared to be a rocket flying overhead followed by a blast. Reuters could not verify the clip. Since the ouster of an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, pro-democracy protests have rocked cities and towns, and the military has cracked down with lethal force, killing 756 people, according to an activist group. Reuters is unable to confirm the casualty toll. Fighting between the military and ethnic minority insurgents has also flared since the coup with the military launching numerous air strikes in border lands in the north and east. While the armed forces have been battling insurgents in frontier regions for decades, attacks on such high-profile military facilities in central areas have been rare. HOPE FADES: The growing insecurity comes as hope fades for a bid by Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbours to find a path out of the crisis. The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held a meeting on Saturday in the Indonesian capital with the junta leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and later said they had reached a "five-point consensus" on steps to end violence and promote dialogue between the generals and their civilian rivals. But the junta has declined to accept the proposals, saying it would consider them "when the situation returns to stability" and provided the recommendations facilitated the military's own roadmap. Myanmar's pro-democracy unity government, formed to oppose the junta, ruled out talks on the crisis until all political prisoners are released. In an indication of the military's determination to crush dissent, state television announced late on Wednesday that authorities were seeking to charge one of the main leaders of the pro-democracy protests with murder and treason. Wai Moe Naing, 25, was arrested on April 15 when security men rammed him with a car as he led a motorbike protest rally in the central town of Monywa. The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported that Wai Moe Naing's group was linked to several explosions of "homemade grenades" in Monywa. "In addition, they also tortured and brutally killed two police officers ... on March 26," the newspaper said. It is unclear if Wai Moe Naing has a lawyer...."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-29
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Title: Violence continues to erupt in Myanmar
Description: "Just under six months ago, the people of Myanmar delivered a landslide victory to Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy Party. It was the 75-year old's second election win, and it made the military so furious that it seized power in a coup on the first day the new parliament was due to sit. Since then hundreds of people opposing the military regime have been shot dead and thousands have been arrested. South-East Asia correspondent Mazoe Ford reports, and a warning, her story contains some distressing images..."
Source/publisher: ABC News (Australia)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-29
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Title: ‘We wanted to scare them’: the brothers who fought back against Myanmar’s army
Description: "Three months after the coup, four brothers tell how they joined protesters fighting the junta before fleeing for the border. The young men only had a moment to study the river before rushing into the waist-deep water. The brothers – ranging in age from 15 to 21 – were unfamiliar with the border area and afraid of being seen. On the run from Myanmar’s military, they pushed on into the Thaunggin River. After just a few minutes of wading, they stumbled into no man’s land. Moments after crossing the river, three smugglers dressed in military fatigues met them. After handing over 6,000 Thai baht (US$200) and exchanging a few words, the smugglers led them deeper into the woods and then to safety in Thailand. Three months after the military coup on 1 February, four Burmese brothers have told the Guardian of how they were inspired to join the fight against the military – and how their involvement in protests in Yangon that turned violent eventually forced them to flee at the end of March. Safely outside the country, the brothers have given an account of brutal military repression and their decision to take the fight to the military in a bid to prevent further violence. Their journey would take them from peaceful protest in Yangon to petrol bombing police stations and running for their lives. Lin*, 21,the eldest of the four brothers, said he had watched the coup unfold from his home in western Thailand, close to the border. Seeing the death toll mount amid growing military brutality he felt compelled to join the resistance movement, and soon his three younger brothers and two cousins from different parts of Myanmar followed him to Yangon. At 15, Za* is the youngest of the brothers. He said he took part in the resistance because he wanted to stop the violence on the streets. “Look at how many people they have killed in the past two months. If we don’t do anything and just let it happen so many more innocent people will die,” Za said. Joining the protests: The men met up in Yangon and for the first few days joined the peaceful protests. Soon, they became part of a nightwatch team protecting residential neighbourhoods from night-time raids by security forces. Armed with sticks and swords they say they helped women, children and the elderly move around safely. As they continued to demonstrate, some teams of frontline protesters began discussing the possibility of hitting back, Lin says. “People started saying we need to fight back. But they didn’t know how, and they were scared.” Lin says he was concerned it was just what Myanmar’s military, also known as the Tatmadaw, was hoping for. They told how they joined a small minority of protesters on the frontlines squaring off against security forces, using molotov cocktails and slingshots in what they said they believed was a legitimate form of self-defence against the military’s automatic weapons. But it was not without cost. During one attack on a police station, Lin says one of the team died after being hit in the head by a rubber bullet. He was in his 50s. “I don’t want my children to grow up in the situation that my generation and the older generations did,” says Moe*, 18, another of the brothers. The first attack: It was about 11pm when the group carried out its first attack on a police station. Lin describes how they moved towards the building, with more people joining the group as they got closer. Some were carrying molotov cocktails, others were armed with slingshots and swords, he says. But when the men edged near to the police station, the group hesitated. Lin says: “At that time I was aggressive, I was mad, no one was willing to throw the cocktail bomb. “I came back [to Yangon] thinking I was going to be a peaceful protester … but if I needed to be another thing, then I will be that, too,” Lin said. “So I took the molotov and went up to the [overpass] bridge.” The bottle landed right on top of a pile of rubbish leaning against the building. Flames started to shoot upwards towards the roof, Lin says. “We wanted to scare them,” he says of the Tatmadaw. “You make us feel unsafe, then we want you to feel unsafe too.” Lin says a truck full of Tatmadaw soldiers arrived, and the group started retreating. Footage seen by the Guardian shows teargas rounds whizzing past them as they fled. The group could hear the sound of people celebrating in their homes as they sprinted past. “It was like we were coming back from war.” Over the next few days, the brothers, along with a handful of other teams, targeted multiple police stations. Lin says he doesn’t believe they injured anyone in the attacks. They were unsuccessful in burning down the buildings. He says the attacks were psychological warfare and the men felt they had to show some degree of force to counter the military.....‘We had to run’:The campaign continued until the day Lin says they heard one of their friends had been abducted by security forces. “They contacted us and said he died. They tortured and killed him,” he recalls. “We all had to run at that point. They said, ‘One of our guys is gone. We are on the run now. You should too.’” They agreed it was time to leave. The brothers woke up early to begin their trip east to Hpa-An, the capital city in Karen state, close to the border with Thailand. The day after they left their apartment in Yangon, a neighbour told them police had searched it. After laying low in Hpa-An for a few days, they finally got the call to leave. They would have to make the cross near Myawaddy, a town known for its casinos and entertainment venues. After just a few minutes of wading through the river, they stumbled into no man’s land. Moments after crossing the river, three smugglers dressed in military fatigues met them. The smugglers demanded their payment upfront before they moved the brothers to a secret location. After paying the troops, the group hiked for another 20 minutes in the dark to a bunker where they were told to wait. “We were afraid of them because they were strangers with guns and we were in their place,” says Htet*, 18, another of the four brothers. “If they wanted to do something they could’ve and we didn’t have anything to stop that.” At around 3pm they were told it was finally time to go. They walked along a dirt path that would lead to a paved road, their guide told them. After more trekking on their own, they found their way out of the woods. They had made it. The group crossed the border at a time when Myanmar’s military had killed more than 550 people and detained nearly 3,000, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. “It was a hard decision to make to come here. Even though we are safe and comfortable, we want to be back there. But it was just too dangerous,” Lin says. “But the good thing was I had my brothers. I wouldn’t have been able to handle it alone.” *Names have been changed to protect identities..."
Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-29
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Title: Attacks by an Ethnic Militia Kill Some 15 Junta Troops in Myanmar’s Chin State
Description: "As many as 15 Myanmar soldiers were killed in western Chin state Monday by a newly formed ethnic militia, one of whose fighters vowed to “inflict damage” on the junta that ousted the country’s elected government, witnesses and a local rights group said. Monday’s ambush by the Chinland Defense Force in Chin state, a mountainous, impoverished area near the border with India and Bangladesh, came amid sporadic protests across Myanmar that were met by violent repression by security forces, and heavy-handed efforts to halt citizens’ donations to the anti-junta movement. “As many as 15 Burmese soldiers have reportedly been killed in a firefight with local civil militia in Mindat, southern Chin state,” the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) said on its Facebook page. A truck was also seen burning in the town, the group said. The CHRO said about 10 of the slain soldiers were in a convoy of three trucks sent as reinforcements from the army’s Tactical Operations Command headquarters in nearby Matupi town, while five other troops were reported killed in Mindat, a town of 10,000 people. “Sources further said the army is sending more reinforcements in another convoy of five army trucks from Pakokku,” the social media post said. Pakkoku is a city of 400,000 people in central Magwe region. A member of the Chinland Defense Force, formed on April 4 by anti-coup protesters, said that the group aims to end the military dictatorship, abolish a constitution imposed by the army to entrench its power, and establish a federal union. “We cannot say right now what the strategy will be, but we plan to inflict damage on them,” he told RFA. “If the threats and violence do not end, we, the CDF, will use all available weapons and other means. We have tumee rifles and other weapons to confront them,” said the Chin fighter, referring to homemade hunting rifles that people in western Myanmar have used to fight off junta troops. “Currently, we have no casualties on our side,” he told RFA Monday night. “Casualties are only on their side.”.....Three other soldiers dead: At least three soldiers died in a similar battle in Mindat on Sunday night, the CHRO said on Facebook. Another member of the CDF from Mindat said more people from Chin state will join the militia to fight Myanmar forces. “In the long run, other townships will join us to fight them, to protect the Civil Disobedience Movement [CDM], and to protect their own people,” he said. “There might be fear and concern among the people, but we need to end the military dictatorship.” RFA could not reach junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on the clashes in Chin state. Kyaw Saw Han, a national security researcher, said militias across the country, including the Chin forces, could form a collective national force and use guerrilla tactics to defend their areas. “I don’t think these groups are formed to directly confront the military,” he said. “Their strategy is not clear, but it can be assumed that they will strive to defend their region,” he said. “They could launch attacks on military bases and other state-owned structures like police stations.” Twelve weeks after troops overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi and her elected civilian government, sporadic anti-junta protests continued to erupt across the country of 54 million people, resulting in violent crackdowns and clashes between security forces and protesters. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Thailand-based rights group, said that as of Monday, 753 people had been killed in the violence since Feb. 1, while 4,484 others had been arrested. HOME | NEWS | MYANMAR Attacks by an Ethnic Militia Kill Some 15 Junta Troops in Myanmar’s Chin State 2021-04-26 Email storyComment on this storySharePrint story PrintShareCommentEmail Attacks by an Ethnic Militia Kill Some 15 Junta Troops in Myanmar’s Chin State Myanmar protesters flash a three-finger salute of defiance while holding a banner during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon, April 26, 2021. RFA As many as 15 Myanmar soldiers were killed in western Chin state Monday by a newly formed ethnic militia, one of whose fighters vowed to “inflict damage” on the junta that ousted the country’s elected government, witnesses and a local rights group said. Monday’s ambush by the Chinland Defense Force in Chin state, a mountainous, impoverished area near the border with India and Bangladesh, came amid sporadic protests across Myanmar that were met by violent repression by security forces, and heavy-handed efforts to halt citizens’ donations to the anti-junta movement. “As many as 15 Burmese soldiers have reportedly been killed in a firefight with local civil militia in Mindat, southern Chin state,” the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) said on its Facebook page. A truck was also seen burning in the town, the group said. The CHRO said about 10 of the slain soldiers were in a convoy of three trucks sent as reinforcements from the army’s Tactical Operations Command headquarters in nearby Matupi town, while five other troops were reported killed in Mindat, a town of 10,000 people. “Sources further said the army is sending more reinforcements in another convoy of five army trucks from Pakokku,” the social media post said. Pakkoku is a city of 400,000 people in central Magwe region. A member of the Chinland Defense Force, formed on April 4 by anti-coup protesters, said that the group aims to end the military dictatorship, abolish a constitution imposed by the army to entrench its power, and establish a federal union. “We cannot say right now what the strategy will be, but we plan to inflict damage on them,” he told RFA. “If the threats and violence do not end, we, the CDF, will use all available weapons and other means. We have tumee rifles and other weapons to confront them,” said the Chin fighter, referring to homemade hunting rifles that people in western Myanmar have used to fight off junta troops. “Currently, we have no casualties on our side,” he told RFA Monday night. “Casualties are only on their side.” myanmar-protesters-defiance-salute-yangon-apr26-2021.jpg Myanmar protesters flash a three-finger salute of defiance while holding a banner that reads "Yangon strike will defeat all enemies" during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon, April 26, 2021. Credit: RFA Three other soldiers dead At least three soldiers died in a similar battle in Mindat on Sunday night, the CHRO said on Facebook. Another member of the CDF from Mindat said more people from Chin state will join the militia to fight Myanmar forces. “In the long run, other townships will join us to fight them, to protect the Civil Disobedience Movement [CDM], and to protect their own people,” he said. “There might be fear and concern among the people, but we need to end the military dictatorship.” RFA could not reach junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on the clashes in Chin state. Kyaw Saw Han, a national security researcher, said militias across the country, including the Chin forces, could form a collective national force and use guerrilla tactics to defend their areas. “I don’t think these groups are formed to directly confront the military,” he said. “Their strategy is not clear, but it can be assumed that they will strive to defend their region,” he said. “They could launch attacks on military bases and other state-owned structures like police stations.” Twelve weeks after troops overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi and her elected civilian government, sporadic anti-junta protests continued to erupt across the country of 54 million people, resulting in violent crackdowns and clashes between security forces and protesters. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Thailand-based rights group, said that as of Monday, 753 people had been killed in the violence since Feb. 1, while 4,484 others had been arrested. Restrictions on cash flows: In a new tactic to derive the CDM of funds to oppose the junta and support a fledgling parallel government launched in mid-April, security forces are stopping and searching people in the streets and warning them against carrying large sums of money. “The junta has made restrictions on cash flows because they fear a normal cash flow will help support dissident groups and civil servants who had joined the CDM movement,” said a member of the parallel government in exile representing a group of lawmakers ousted in the coup. A woman from Sagaing region, told RFA that she was stopped by security forces on her way to town to go shopping carrying 1.8 million kyats (U.S. $1,270). “I used to go to town with a lot of cash like that because there were no inspections before, [but] the other day when I went to town, they stopped me on the way and asked what I had in my handbag,” she said, adding that security forces told her to carry no more than 50,000 kyats (U.S. $35) in public. With nearly all banks closed since shortly after the coup when their employees left their jobs and joined the anti-coup movement, and the internet shut down by the junta, the cash restrictions are hurting businesses that already have been struggling after a year of coronavirus closures and political turmoil. “Some of the companies we were dealing with use online mobile money transfers,” said a businessman in Monywa, Sagaing region. “They deposit money through the online payments, and then we send it to the merchants. Now, the companies in Yangon are not accepting mobile transfers—only cash — so we are stuck.” Hundreds of people continued protesting on Monday in the regions of Yangon, Mandalay, Bago, and Magwe region, as well as in Shan and Kachin states. A small bomb exploded near a Yadanabon Bank office in Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay, and a local resident said there was clash between the junta’s forces and local protest defenders who demanded the release of six detainees grabbed by military forces on Sunday.....Aung San Suu Kyi’s latest court hearing: Deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest in the capital Naypyidaw, attended a virtual court session Monday on a charge against her for allegedly violating the Official Secrets Act in Yangon, Khin Maung Zaw, the leader of her defense team told RFA, adding “the reason is still unknown.” The lawyers on Monday submitted an application for the transfer of power of attorney required for the defense for the most recently added charge against Aung San Suu Kyi, but the prosecutors said the police are waiting for further instructions from higher authorities, said defense attorney Min Min Soe. “Mother Suu said it has been so long already, and more and more charges have been added since the first case,” Min Min Soe said. “She said it is imperative that the client meet her defense lawyers.” The 75-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi faces other charges for alleged incitement and sedition, violating the telecommunication law, possession of unlicensed walkie-talkie radios, and violating the Natural Disaster Management Law for breaching COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign. Detained President Win Myint and Naypyidaw Council Chairman Myo Aung also attended video-conference hearings on Monday. The next hearing date for all three is May 10. Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Kyaw Min Htun and Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-28
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Title: Barack Obama letter to Myanmar
Description: "The world’s attention must remain on Myanmar, where I’ve been appalled by heartbreaking violence against civilians and inspired by the nationwide movement that represents the voice of the people. The military’s illegitimate and brutal effort to impose its will after a decade of greater freedoms will clearly never be accepted by the people and should not be accepted by the wider world. I support efforts by the Biden Administration and like-minded countries to impose costs on the military and support a return to a democratic path. Myanmar’s neighbors should recognize that a murderous regime rejected by the people will only bring greater instability, humanitarian crisis, and the risk of a failed state. Within Myanmar, those who seek a future rooted in democratic principles should continue to forge solidarity across ethnic and religious groups. These are dark times, but I have been moved by the unity, resilience, and commitment to democratic values demonstrated by so many Burmese, which offers hope for the kind of future Myanmar can have through leaders who respect the will of the people..."
Source/publisher: Barack Obama
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-28
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup
Description: "As of 28 April, (756) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (1) fallen heroes today. This (1) fallen hero from Tedim Township in Chin State was killed last night and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of April 28, a total of (3449) people are currently under detention; of them (79) are sentenced. 1237 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document. Since the ASEAN leaders meeting on 24 April at least 6 people have been killed by the junta. The junta’s pledge to “refrain from violence” should never have been believed by ASEAN. There is only “one party” exercising violence in Burma. Despite the junta’s ongoing violence on a daily basis, the Spring Revolution intensified across the country, including in Yangon and Mandalay. On April 28, the Yadanarbon and Mandalay University student strikes were attacked by military vehicle and people arrested in Mandalay City, Mandalay Region. Six civilians were arrested, and ordered to raise their hands under the hot sun. The numbers of injured have not been confirmed yet. Since the terrorists arrested Wai Moe Naing, the protest leader of the Monywa strike, by crashing his motorbike, junta forces have continued to crackdown on protests using vehicles and motorbikes. Arrests have continued both day and night using private cars. A 20-year-old young man was shot dead around 10pm last night in Tedim Township, Chin State and his body has not yet been returned to his family from the hospital. The terrorist group is using different forms of repression to put pressure on public servants involved in the CDM movement. If they can not arrest CDM staff, they take family members as hostage; force them to move from the government housing; firing; or charging and issuing warrants under various laws. Teachers from universities, colleges and management level have been forced to come back to work on 3 May at the latest. Families of Budalin Hospital CDM staff members were forced to move from staff housing in Sagaing Region. CDM participation by the civil servant is having a significant impact on the day-to-day running of the administration mechanism of junta. This is why CDM staff are being targeted. The junta coup lifted the FTTH fiber-optic 1 am to 9 am blackout enforced for 72 continuous nights, on 27 April. However, all other internet services are still cut off and the information flow remains restricted. Some social media and news are still banned, for 83 days now. The terrorist group is restricting the flow of information because of the fear civilians will get accurate information and opposition even stronger. The junta is also using Myawaddy TV (MWD) and Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) broadcasts to spread its propaganda. The violation to freedom of press is emblematic of the diminishing human rights in the country. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: “Our uprising must succeed” Email : [email protected] Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma In Solidarity, AAPP..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-28
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup
Description: "As of 27 April, (755) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. (1) from Demoso Township in Kayah State died on 27 April. (1) from Mandalay was killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of April 27, a total of (3448) people are currently under detention; of them (79) are sentenced. 1200 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document. On April 27, people across the country remained on the streets to protest the dictatorship despite atrocities of shooting and torturing by the terrorists. Today, anti-military protests and repression escalated in Yangon. Although the coup leader agreed to end violence at the ASEAN leaders meetings days ago. In reality, junta forces have been violating human rights abuses on a daily basis. Today a man was killed and at least four civilians injured in Demoso Township, Kayah State during a crackdown on the people-made barricades, the terrorist group used live ammunition on civilians like in a conflict. Also, a man was killed and two others injured in an unprovoked shooting in Mandalay last night. Recently, the terrorist group has been cracking down on media and trying hard to cover up the news. This morning, the Mandalay based editor-in-chief of Voice of Myanmar (VOM) and a journalist were arrested. On the night of April 25, a former journalist of the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) was arrested and taken to an interrogation center. According to UDHR Article 19, everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. The terrorist group has cut off information flow between the media and public in order to delay access to accurate information. At the same time, the junta are trying to cover up their violence and crimes to both international and domestic audiences. It is for those reasons that journalists are being persecuted. At present, the terrorist group is not only openly looting but also kidnapping civilians. Some arrested villagers from Win Kone village, Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region were released on April 24 only after locals paid junta forces an amount they demanded. Today, terrorists raided the house of a protest leader in Mogok, Mandalay Region and looted items in the house. Last night, a fisherman was beaten and interrogated by the junta forces in a village that is located in Kangyidaunt Township, Ayeyarwady Region. His old watch and 1000 kyats were confiscated. On the morning of April 25, the junta forces raided someone’s house who is working for the funeral service society in Myingyan Town, Mandalay Region. They destroyed his house and looted his antiquity collections, money and crafts. The terrorist regime commits various forms of violence leaving people insecure and fearful mentally and physically. The civilians are facing daily threats and their basic human rights are being violated. The only way to achieve democracy, human rights, and internal peace is not through negotiations but to eradicate dictatorship in Burma. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: “Our uprising must succeed” Email : [email protected] Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma In Solidarity, AAPP..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-28
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Title: Illegal Rare Earth Mines on China Border Multiply Since Myanmar’s Coup
Description: "Illegal rare earth mining has surged in northern Kachin State on the Chinese border following Myanmar’s Feb. 1 coup in areas controlled by a junta-sponsored militia. Environmental groups say mining has increased at least five times in Pangwa and Chipwi townships amid Myanmar’s political turmoil, with a rapid influx of Chinese workers. “Before the coup, we only saw one or two trucks per day. Now there is no proper inspection we are seeing 10 to 15,” an activist in Chipwi told The Irrawaddy. He said the trucks are loaded with ammonium sulphate fertilizer bags filled at illegal mines. “The Chinese authorities have tightened border security for imports from Myanmar due to COVID-19. But materials for the mining move across the border easily,” he added. Myanmar is China’s largest rare earth source, accounting for over half of its supplies. In 2016, Chinese mining companies entered Pangwa looking for rare earth as Beijing cracked down on illegal mining within China. According to Chinese customs data, China is heavily dependent on medium and heavy rare earth from Myanmar. Myanmar became China’s largest importer in 2018. In 2020, rare earth imports from Myanmar rose by 23 percent year on year to around 35,500 tons, accounting for 74 percent of imports, according to the Global Times government mouthpiece. Ja Hkaw Lu of the Transparency and Accountability Network Kachin (TANK) told The Irrawaddy: “Under the civilian government, if we complained about illegal rare earth mining, officials immediately visited and investigated. [Illegal miners] stayed away but now it is totally out of control.” She added: “Currently, vehicles carrying heavy rare earth leave day and night. The situation is getting worse. There has been an influx of Chinese miners.” Heavy rare earth from Kachin State is exported to China for refining and processing and then sold around the globe, according to environmental protection groups. According to TANK, around 10 rare earth mines have opened near the border in Zam Nau, which is controlled by the military-affiliated New Democratic Army Kachin (NDAK). Kachin environmental groups estimate that there are over 100 rare earth mines in Pangwa and Chipwe townships controlled by the militia and Chinese investors. The Chinese media has reported that some Chinese companies are facing rising logistical costs exporting rare earth from Myanmar since the military takeover. But Chinese buyers have not seen any significant decline in imports since the coup, the Chinese media reported. According to the Kachin State Mining Department, only the union administration can give permission for rare earth mining in Pangwa and Chipwi. The department said it found several illegal mines and Chinese workers in 2019 and 2020 after a series of inspections. The department has said the involvement of armed groups makes regulating the industry challenging. Brang Awng of the Kachin State Working Conservation Group told The Irrawaddy that the mines cause environmental destruction, polluting waterways and groundwater. “Illegal digging is on the rampage since there are no checks by government officials since the military coup. More digging will further damage the environment,” he said. The group said more than 20 villages were suffering from polluted soil and water from rare earth mining. In 2020 and 2019, the Chipwe river twice turned red due to mining waste, according to environmental groups..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-28
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Title: Japan: Suspend Aid Benefitting Myanmar Junta
Summary: "The Japanese government should immediately review its aid portfolio for Myanmar and suspend non-humanitarian projects that benefit the junta or military, Human Rights Watch said today. Japan should...
Sub-title: Urgently Review All Non-Humanitarian Projects
Description: "The Japanese government should immediately review its aid portfolio for Myanmar and suspend non-humanitarian projects that benefit the junta or military, Human Rights Watch said today. Japan should immediately suspend Official Development Aid (ODA) infrastructure projects carried out by Myanmar government ministries and other assistance involving military-controlled entities. Following the February 1, 2021 military coup, the Japanese government stated it would refrain from carrying out new non-humanitarian ODA programs in Myanmar, but it has yet to adopt a clear, public position regarding ongoing projects. The latest figures show that in 2019, Japan provided about 169 billion yen (US$1.6 billion) in loan assistance, 15 billion yen ($140 million) in grant aid, and 6.7 billion yen ($62 million) in technical assistance to Myanmar. “As Myanmar’s security forces gun down protesters on the streets, Japan should not take a ‘wait and see’ approach but should promptly and responsibly review its aid portfolio to Myanmar,” said Teppei Kasai, Asia program officer. “Japan should suspend all non-humanitarian aid projects that benefit the junta or military as part of global efforts to pressure Myanmar’s generals to cease their violent crackdown, release all political prisoners, and restore the democratically elected government.” Ongoing nationwide protests have demonstrated widespread opposition to military rule. The response of the junta’s State Administration Council to the largely peaceful protests has been increasingly brutal. Since the coup, security forces have killed over 750 people, including at least 45 children, and detained an estimated 3,431 activists, journalists, civil servants, and politicians. Human Rights Watch and four other organizations sent a letter to Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi on February 25 saying that the Japanese government should halt non-humanitarian ODA programs to Myanmar. A Foreign Ministry official told Human Rights Watch on April 15 that Japan’s plans for a 100 million yen ($930,000) financial grant to the Myanmar police, originally announced on July 2, 2020, had been “undetermined” due to the coup. The official did not clarify whether the aid has been permanently terminated or suspended, and no public statement has been made regarding this project, or any other ongoing aid project. Another problematic project is the Bago River Bridge Construction Project in Yangon, approved by Japan and Myanmar in December 2016. The project involves a 31-billion-yen loan ($288 million) provided by Japan’s aid agency, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). On March 26, the local media outlet Myanmar Now reported that the project involves the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), a military-owned conglomerate recently sanctioned by the United States, United Kingdom, and the European Union. The report said that a MEC-owned steel mill in Hmawbi, Yangon, is supplying steel for two-thirds of the bridge’s construction and profiting enormously. In response to a March 27 inquiry by Human Rights Watch, JICA confirmed that Yokogawa Bridge Corp., a Japanese construction firm involved in the project, had finalized a contract with MEC and its affiliate in November 2019. A representative from Yokogawa Bridge also confirmed to Human Rights Watch that it has a “business dealing” with MEC, while saying that construction was on hold partly due to a “lack of material resources.” The representative said that the company would “pay close attention to ensuring the safety of those involved in Myanmar and continue discussions with relevant parties on what to do going forward.” The project is also being carried out in conjunction with Myanmar’s Construction Ministry and the Myanmar Port Authority under the Transport Ministry. According to Mohinga, the aid website operated by Myanmar’s Planning and Finance Ministry, Japan is currently funding several non-humanitarian infrastructure projects directly with the Planning and Finance, and Transport and Communication Ministries. Such projects should also be reviewed for possible suspension. Japan has been a leading donor to Myanmar. By 2017, the government had provided more than a total of 1 trillion yen ($9.3 billion) in loan assistance, more than 320 billion yen ($2.9 billion) in grant aid, and 98 billion yen ($912 million) in technical assistance. As of 2017, Official Development Aid from Japan to Myanmar ranked highest among member countries and institutions of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s development cooperation directorate. In November 2016, when Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, visited Japan, Japan announced that its public and private sectors would contribute 800 billion yen ($7.4 billion) to Myanmar over a five-year period. The Japanese government should trigger human-rights-based conditions enshrined in its ODA charter, which states that “Japan will pay adequate attention to the situation in the recipient countries regarding the process of democratization, the rule of law and the protection of basic human rights, with a view to promoting the consolidation of democratization, the rule of law and the respect for basic human rights.” With respect to humanitarian aid, Japan should maintain such projects but redirect the funds through nongovernmental groups to ensure it is used effectively and directly benefits populations in need. Development aid should be directed only toward basic human needs and where possible delivered through independent nongovernmental organizations. Since the coup, the junta has overhauled the Myanmar Investment Commission and all regional investment bodies, installing nine members, including Lt. Gen. Moe Myint Tun, who is also a junta member. The US, UK, and EU have sanctioned Moe Myint Tun for his direct involvement in and responsibility for what the EU said was “undermining democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar … repressive decisions and for serious human rights violations.” As a military commander who oversaw operations in Rakhine State until 2019, he was also “therefore responsible for those serious violations and abuses against the Rohingya population,” according to the EU. “The Japanese government’s indecisiveness and silence over suspending its non-humanitarian aid that benefits the junta is contributing to the military repression in Myanmar,” Kasai said. “Japan should swiftly and publicly show it is on the side of Myanmar’s people and not the commanders who are behind the arrests and killings of protesters every day across the country.”..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-28
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Title: Junta responds with airstrikes after KNU seizes military base on Thai-Myanmar border
Sub-title: The military’s Thaw Le Hta outpost is across the Salween River from Mae Sam Laep, a strategic port on the Thai border that has been used to send aid to IDPs
Description: "The Karen National Union (KNU) announced on Tuesday morning that they had taken over a base belonging to the Myanmar military on the Thai border; hours later, the regime’s forces launched airstrikes against Karen villages in the area. Early on Tuesday morning, Brigade 5 of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)– the armed wing of the KNU– seized and then destroyed the regime base in the Thaw Le Hta area of Karen State’s Mutraw District, known in Burmese as Hpapun. The base is located on the Salween River, opposite the Thai village of Mae Sam Laep in Mae Hong Son province. Around seven Myanmar soldiers were seen fleeing during the raid by Karen forces, the Karen Information Center reported. By around 1pm, the Myanmar army had launched airstrikes in near Dagwe village (Dagwin in Burmese), some 10 miles north of Thaw Le Hta, according to Padoh Mahn Mahn, the KNLA’s Brigade 5 spokesperson. “Bombing the area near villages is very concerning for the residents living there,” Padoh Mahn Mahn told Myanmar Now. There are also reports of Myanmar military airstrikes on the village of Bwa Der, also in Brigade 5. Further details about the air attacks, including those regarding casualties and the numeber of people displaced, were not available at the time of reporting. Mae Sam Laep is a strategic point along the Thai-Myanmar border regarding transportation and humanitarian aid delivery, with a river port from which supplies have been sent to internally displaced people (IDPs) in KNU-controlled areas. In response to the fighting at Thaw Le Hta on Tuesday, Thai authorities evacuated hundreds of Thai villagers from Mae Sam Laep and closed the port. Prior to the fighting on Tuesday, this stretch of the Thai-Myanmar border area along the Salween River had seen heightened military tension/ On April 23, Myanmar troops stationed across the river from another Thai village– Tha Hta Fung– fired “warning shots” above a civilian boat carrying Thai border patrol officers, the Bangkok Post reported. A Thai government official later described the incident as a “misunderstanding.” However, another KNLA Brigade 5 spokesperson, Saw Kler Doh, told the Karen Information Center that Tuesday’s attacks on Thaw Le Hta were carried out in response to regime troops shooting at boats along the Salween River. The offensive against the Thaw Le Hta military outpost marks the second time since the February 1 coup that the KNLA’s Brigade 5 has seized a junta base. On March 27, they took over the army’s stronghold at Thee Mu Hta, killing at least five soldiers and taking at last eight prisoners. The junta responded by launching airstrikes at the end of March at Karen villages in Mutraw District (Brigade 5) and in Brigade 3– in Hteepado, Nyaunglebin District, and Maetamat, Shwegyin Township, located in Bago Region. These air attacks killed an estimated 20 civilians, wounded more than 40, and displaced tens of thousands, according to the Free Burma Rangers (FBR), a local relief organisation. Fighting between the KNU’s Brigade 1 and the regime’s armed forces also broke out in Thaton on the morning of April 23. One junta officer was reportedly killed in the fighting, but the number of total casualties could not be confirmed at the time of reporting. FBR estimated that there were 24,000 IDPs in the territories controlled by the KNU’s Brigades 1, 3, and 5 in mid-April. In and near the KNU’s Brigade 6 area– Dooplaya District, in Karen State– locals have reported that the junta’s troops have increased interrogation of and extortion of money from civilians on the roads. Regime soldiers in Dooplaya also violently cracked down on a motorcycle protest on April 24 at Three Pagodas Pass, near the Thai border..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-28
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Title: Man killed in Myanmar two days after regional deal, local media say
Description: "Myanmar security forces shot dead a man in the second city of Mandalay on Monday, national media reported, two days after Southeast Asian leaders said they had reached consensus with the junta on ending violence. Activists opposed to military rule called on people to stop paying electricity bills and agricultural loans and to keep their children away from school, adding to doubts about a regional bloc's push to end Myanmar's post-coup crisis. The man was shot dead at a fried rice shop in Mandalay late on Monday and some other people were wounded, three Myanmar media reported. Mizzima news service also said a woman had been shot dead on a motorcycle in the southern town of Dawei. A junta spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. With most internet access cut and journalists' movements restricted, Reuters could not confirm the incidents independently. An activist monitoring group says more than 750 people have been killed by security forces as the generals unleashed lethal force in the face of sustained protests against their Feb. 1 coup. There were more protests on Monday, but there were no immediate reports of violence at them. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing reached an agreement at a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Indonesia at the weekend on steps to bring peace. But the junta chief did not submit to calls for the release of political prisoners, including the leader of the ousted civilian government Aung San Suu Kyi, and the ASEAN accord lacked any timeline for ending the crisis. Activists criticised the agreement that came out of the ASEAN meeting, a so-called five-point consensus that included an end to violence, starting dialogue among all parties, accepting aid, and appointing a special ASEAN envoy who would visit Myanmar. "We deplore the fact that the consensus was reached without any legitimate representation of the people of Myanmar," said a statement in the name of more than 400 Myanmar civil society groups, who said ASEAN should push the junta to hand over to a rival civilian unity government formed by its opponents. The military has not officially commented on the outcome of the meeting but the state broadcaster, citing the ruling military council in its main bulletin, said: "Some of the facts from ASEAN are a good contribution so we will consider that." MORE ACTION Pro-democracy activists have called for an intensification of efforts against the military from Monday by refusing to pay electricity bills and agricultural loans, and keeping children from going to school. "We don't participate in their systems, we don't cooperate with them," activist Khant Wai Phyo told a protest meeting on Monday. The ASEAN agreement did not mention political prisoners although the statement said the meeting heard calls for their release. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group says 3,431 people have been detained for opposing the coup. The most prominent is Suu Kyi, 75, who has been charged with various offences including violating a colonial-era official secrets act that could see her jailed for 14 years. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and has led Myanmar’s struggle against military rule for decades. Her party won a second term in November. The election commission said the vote was fair but the military said fraud at the polls had forced it to seize power. Suu Kyi appeared via video link for a hearing in her case on Monday and again asked the court for permission to meet her lawyers in person, a member of her legal team said. She has only been allowed to speak to them by video link in the presence of security officials so far. Police told the court they had referred her request to higher authorities and were "working on it step by step", lawyer Min Min Soe told Reuters. Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said Suu Kyi had not been allowed direct contact with the lawyers because it could be an avenue for illegal communication with protest leaders and because of the COVID-19 epidemic, according to an interview with Russia's RIA news agency last week. Her lawyers have said the charges against her were trumped up. The next hearing is on May 10..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-28
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Title: Myanmar junta builds 'walled garden' of internet services
Sub-title: Banking apps go back online but the regime maintains its authoritative grip
Description: "Myanmar's junta has relaxed internet restrictions on selected business apps, signaling the return of an old censorship board that this time will control who can access what on their digital devices. Some telcos have enabled internet access to banking and business mobile applications. Consumers using service providers such as state-run MPT can now access Office 365 email and messaging applications run by Microsoft as well as local banking applications. The junta has also recently lifted the nightly internet blackout for fiber-to-the-home providers. "What we are seeing is essentially the re-establishment of the old censorship board, but for the internet space this time," said Oliver Spencer, legal adviser to digital rights group Free Expression Myanmar, referring to a body that inspected and censored news publications before being disbanded by President Thein Sein in 2012 as part of his political reforms. "It empowers the junta to control the internet, offering businesses, media and social platforms access only if they abide by military diktat. "For the banks and businesses, it's short-term benefits and long-term costs." Spencer warned that the junta can "take down internet access of companies or banks at whim." Businesses have been feeling the heat from the regime, with tycoons, bank staffers and supermarket employees threatened or detained by the security forces in recent days. According to telecom industry representatives who asked for anonymity, the relaxation came upon instructions from the authorities, and reconnections began during the weekend. The decision indicates the junta might change its approach to regulating the internet. In recent years, the authorities could block individual websites; now they are set up to allow access only to platforms they approve. The "whitelist" method, which opens connections only to specific IP addresses, is mainly designed to facilitate services necessary for banking operations. The list of approved apps has not been made public. Since the coup on Feb. 1, the regime has, at various points, imposed total blackouts and a nightly internet ban, blocked mobile and wireless services, and censored social media platforms and websites. Going dark has severely hurt businesses and helped push the economy toward collapse, with service providers who rely on digital platforms paralyzed and local banks struggling to carry out digital transactions. Investors have repeatedly complained. On March 19, all foreign chambers of commerce representing Western businesses, except the British and Australian chambers, jointly condemned the military's atrocities and repeated their calls for unrestricted information access and a free flow of information. The Australian and British chambers joined the chorus on March 30. The move reflects that the junta is "at least listening to their own people," said a senior internet service industry source, referring to local banks and big businesses disrupted by the internet restrictions. Selectively allowing business apps to operate is intended to minimize the impact on commerce while allowing the junta to retain a firm grip on communications and information access. The move could ease pressure on the junta to resume internet services, the source added, calling it "the Chinese and North Korean way" of regulating cyberspace. "Are they trying to build a 'Walled Garden of the Internet?'" the source wondered. Said Vicky Bowman, Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business director: "Obviously telecom operators want users to have full internet access, and not just to a limited number of apps, otherwise the Myanmar people are denied their rights. I would expect the companies with a commitment to respect for human rights to continue to press the government for a lifting of all restrictions."..."
Source/publisher: "Nikkei Asian Review" (Japan)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-28
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Title: What We Fight for When We Stand Against the Coup
Description: "The coup is not the answer (Khine, from the field): On the 1st February 2021, my aunt woke me at 6am. She told me, “Min Aung Hlaing is conducting another military coup.” I woke up immediately, confused. “Is this a nightmare or is it really happening?”, I thought to myself, shocked by the news. I have been facing down Myanmar’s military junta since I was in my mother’s womb in 1988. Born in 1989, I am now 32 years old, the same age as my parents during the 1988 uprising. But our battle for democracy and human rights goes on. My first response to the emergency was to go out and buy essentials: rice, oil, a torch, a radio, candles, and batteries. From past experience, we knew exactly what we would face under military rule. When I finished, I felt blank. I struggled hard to focus on staying calm and coming to terms with the situation. I knew that if I could achieve this fundamental step, I would be equipped to focus on what to do next. The voice of the people is a fundamental element within a democratic political system. As an independent researcher in spatial design and participatory place-making, I believe in listening to people’s voices. I understand that compassionate listening is a priority in every project; it is the best way to find comprehensive solutions for a better living environment. Inspired by this approach, I decided to express my voice as an individual citizen through writing. On the 3rd day of the coup, I decided to write, to make my voice heard as a citizen. On the 28th day of the coup, I finished this draft and handed it over to my co-authors overseas. I felt relieved and satisfied with what I had accomplished. I saw it as the first strike in a long battle. However, later the same day, my optimism disintegrated. News reached me that my father had been detained due to his involvement in the uprising. I felt as though the sky had fallen on me. He has now been detained in prison for more than a month without charge, in violation of his human rights. At his first trial, on 8 April, they did nothing but postpone the trial for another date. My involvement in the uprising against the military coup began when I was just a fetus in 1988. Now, at 32, I am the same age as my parents during the 1988 uprising. Now, father and daughter fight side by side. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), as of 23rd April 2021, there are already 745 people killed (more than 40 are underage), 3371 people detained (like my father, thousands are still awaiting trial, and are being abused in the meantime) and more than 1118 arrest warrants (under 505-a) for speaking out against the coup. The figures are still increasing, and there are ongoing deadly attacks and arrests against unarmed civilians. Those events are obvious proof of how our battle for democracy and human rights remains unfinished. Like us, many other fathers and daughters, mothers and sons are now working to resist the military’s deadly crimes against humanity. As Ermonela Jaho, the Albanian-born soprano, said in her interview for Global Woman Diva Program, “live every day to the fullest and you have already made the future a reality.” We are struggling for our right to live every day to the fullest. Under a dictatorship, there is no room for people to create their own destiny. I owe it to myself to design my life and live fully. For that reason, I cannot accept living in a dictatorship. This time, I believe we will win because we must.....How We Have been Suffering: Perpetrating an unjust military coup in the middle of global pandemic clearly demonstrates that the power-starved military in Myanmar has no empathy for civilians. We have been suffering a combined health, economic and social crisis resulting from Covid-19 for over a year. We are awaiting the arrival of the vaccines and preparing for Myanmar’s recovery. Even so, with whatever strength we have left, the people are non-violently resisting the coup-makers in spite of our fear of Covid-19 and the deadly attacks against us. Myanmar society has suffered the trauma of living of under an oppressive regime for more than 50 years. We are all tired of being attacked by those who act against morality and humanity. The putschists will never stop on their own! Now, it is the civilians’ duty to stop them. Though we know we will win this battle, Myanmar still risks facing further political, economic, and social crises. With each subsequent crisis, recovery becomes harder than ever. The following are the major political and socio-cultural issues impacted by this selfish and egotistical act on the part of the military in Myanmar. (1) Changing the Constitution This coup poses a major threat to the reform of the 2008 Constitution. To accelerate the peace process and ensure federal democracy in Myanmar, the 2008 Constitution has to change. This constitution was drafted by the dictators and designed to safeguard the interests of the former authoritarian regime. To allow room for justice, fairness, inclusion and respect, the values of diverse civilians from all ethnic groups should be reflected in the constitution of Myanmar. But, in reality, the views of civilians were ignored and the 2008 Constitution does not represent the will of the civilians. Under the dictatorship governance, the citizens’ voices will be silenced even further. Recently, on 31 March, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) declared the abolition of the 2008 Constitution. This is the first step towards federal democratic state-building. Despite the challenges facing us, this is a ray of hope among the ruins.....(2) Freedom of Expression and Democratic Knowledge:Our experience clearly reminds us that there is no room for democracy in a land governed by a dictatorial regime. We grew up without being educated about how to claim our rights. We were not taught tactics to identify what we really want as a society, what we want to change and how to make changes as a collective. Military rule has failed to provide us with tools for (a) developing self-awareness, the ability to question and search for one’s true self; (b) knowing and valuing one’s own existence, and knowing how to respect others; (c) building self-confidence; (d) developing critical thinking skills that account for different perspectives; (e) building understanding and trust; (f) knowing how to conduct constructive arguments and knowing how to share, communicate, collaborate and commit to engaging with one another, in order to transform our thoughts into actions. Without these key tools for self-searching, expression, communication and collaboration, we could not fully develop our self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-management. We became weak and were easily manipulated and brainwashed. The dictators conditioned us to have a “fear of expression” rather than “freedom of expression”. We learned that the right way to live in Myanmar is to follow and obey our parents, our teachers, our elders, our religious leaders, and our government. Asking questions, arguing, or refusing to do as we are told is considered rude, even evil. The elders used to say, “We are older than you, we have lived longer than you and so we know you better than you know yourself. It is better that we manage your life than you manage your own.” The prevalence of this type of thinking shows how the junta has shaped our psychology, since our elder’s time. Military rule has transformed our independence so much that conservative behaviors became the norm. What started with the junta using fear to oppress, nowadays operates as a kind of conservatism that claims to protect ‘culture.’ In reality, this ‘culture’ controls even our slightest social freedoms. During the last five years, our dreams started to come true: we acquired much greater freedom of expression and the opportunity to put our thoughts and desires into action. However, rather than reconstructing the country, our time was wasted fixing problems caused by failures of understanding, communication and collaboration. Without the key tools mentioned above, we failed to see things from different perspectives, and we tended to express prejudices in a very subjective way. Ego also plays too much of a role in the way that our people act and overwhelms our ability to communicate and collaborate. We believe that this egocentrism, a lack of openness to understanding, and an unwillingness to build trust are the root of the conflicts happening in Myanmar. Expressions from egocentric points of views provoke unconstructive hate speech and inhibit the potential to develop just and balanced solutions, such as can be seen in the Rohingya crisis and any other conflicts amongst the different ethnic groups in Myanmar. Our ingrained “fear of expression” caused us to underestimate the value of diversity. We understand that five years is not enough to build a seamless democratic country, but ceasing conflict and instead making efforts to collaborate would greatly increase the speed at which we can see a difference. To acquire true democracy in Myanmar, we cannot rely solely on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; we should look to ourselves too. If we do not have the societal and interpersonal habits required for a constructive dialogue, we will never see the beneficial outcomes brought about by democracy. Participatory democratic practices must be performed with urgency in reconstructing a Myanmar adapted to our personal and societal needs of today’s world. To make this a reality, Myanmar needs to cultivate democratic knowledge and practices. Our battle for freedom and democracy is not yet won. We are only just beginning to realise the problems we have to tackle. But, again, today, the democratic transformation of Myanmar is being undermined by the unthoughtful, unjust, and disloyal act of the military coup.....(3) The Right to a Better Living Environment: Jane Jacobs writes that “cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”1 Indeed, it is only through people’s participation that we are able to develop better places for people, that respond to the problems and needs of each neighborhood. No outsider knows better than the local community. Are government officers, mayors, and general administrators ready to set up the democratic governance necessary to manage cities, districts and townships with a participatory approach, working with the inhabitants and place-makers as stakeholders? Myanmar is not yet in a position to give a satisfactory answer for this question. Even under the civilian democratic regime, Myanmar still needed to cultivate democratic knowledge and practices to ensure the participatory governance. However, the Myanmar Sustainable Development Goals include achieving the right to a safe and better living environment. Myanmar was figuring out the most comprehensive methods to bring more people into the process of creating people-led urban governance and development strategies. The right to the city can be fulfilled only by means of democratic city governance that gives more space to people to participate. The dictators do not believe in participatory democratic governance. Thus, under the dictatorship, our dream for safe and better living environments for the well-being of the people will remain out of reach.....How We Fight for our Freedom: “Sing loud. You shall hear other ears hearing. Look high. You shall see other eyes looking. Beat loud. You shall know that other blood is pulsing.” –Rafael Alberti (Spanish Poet)2 We are making our voices heard through our uprising. We hold hands firmly and are working together to end the dictatorship and fulfill our own destiny. We create a battle symphony with the sound of pots and pans! We raise our three-fingered salute! We march! We stage creative uprisings through various forms of collaborative performance! We help each other and show global solidarity! We support the Civil Disobedience Movement! Driven by our strong determination, we remain resilient against the deadly attacks. There is a hidden gem in this battlefield that we can take advantage of to turn everything around. It will help us not only to defeat the military, but also achieve the federal democracy we dream of. It will determine the end result – who will pay and who will gain. This key is the “synergy” born out of trust and cooperation between our diverse civilians across the country, pro-democratic political parties and activists, the CRPH (The Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw), the EAOs (The Ethnic Armed Organizations) and pro-democratic supporters across the world. The coup-makers underestimate the power, resilience, and intelligence of the people. In addition, the coup shows who our real friends, enemies and frenemies are. Because of this coup, we have begun to question the presence of China in Myanmar. Discussions about China’s purported support for the military makes us mistrust the country. In order to achieve our collective dream for a functioning federal democracy, we first need to defeat the current military coup, then end ongoing attempts to reestablish a dictatorship. In the place of the existing military, we demand a trustworthy, faithful and responsible federal defense force in Myanmar. Victory in this battle means a lot for civilians; not only the failure of the coup and the end of the dictatorship regime, but to end, once and for all, attempts to interrupt the process of building a federal democratic state. We have only one another – our solidarity is our only weapon. We will never give up our rights to live freely and fully. (Featured image courtesy of Phyo) Khine (pseudonym) is a designer living in Yangon. She is passionate about exploring artistic ways of expressions and communications. Her focus is to take part in projects developing intercultural understanding and communication through design and artistic creations. Nway Oo (pseudonym) is a researcher in Language Sciences based in Europe. Peter (pseudonym) is an architect and film maker. He has led research, academic and curation activities in Alger, Addis Ababa, Istanbul, Yangon and Paris..."
Source/publisher: "Tea Circle" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-28
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Title: Why Russia is betting on Myanmar’s military junta
Description: "Authors: Artyom Lukin, Far Eastern Federal University and Andrey Gubin, Russian Institute for Strategic Studies On 1 February 2021, Myanmar’s military junta declared a state of emergency and seized power from the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. The coup immediately created a political crisis and resulted in mass bloodshed, but the international response has been divided. While the US-led West and its key Asian allies such as Japan and South Korea condemn the coup and imposed sanctions on the junta, other key powers are more ambivalent. In the UN Security Council, China, India and Russia have made efforts to shield the perpetrators from harsher censure and potential UN sanctions. From the very beginning Russia has refused to condemn the coup, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs merely expressing hope for ‘a peaceful settlement of the situation through the resumption of political dialogue’. In the same statement, Moscow noted as an encouraging sign that the military intended to hold a new parliamentary election. Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti justified the coup by arguing that the Myanmar army, the Tatmadaw, is the only viable guarantor of the multi-ethnic country’s unity and peace. The most visible manifestation of Russian support for the junta came in late March, when Deputy Minister of Defence Alexander Fomin became the highest-ranking foreign official to attend Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day parade in the capital Naypyidaw. While the military was violently cracking down on protestors, Fomin held talks with junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. He called Myanmar ‘Russia’s reliable ally and strategic partner in Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific’ and emphasised that Moscow ‘adheres to the strategic course of enhancing relations between the two countries’. There are several reasons why Russia is emerging as the most high-profile supporter of the Myanmar military government. Moscow’s close ties with Myanmar date back to the 1950s. Given that for most of its modern history the Southeast Asian country has been governed by the military, Russia has developed a working relationship with its uniformed rulers. Incumbent strongman general Min Aung Hlaing has visited Russia on numerous occasions, most recently in June 2020 to attend the Victory Day parade in Moscow, and is known as a champion of Myanmar–Russia ties. Under Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar–Russia military cooperation has received a boost. After China, Russia is the country’s second largest supplier of arms, being the source of at least 16 per cent of weaponry procured by Myanmar from 2014–2019. Myanmar’s military is now awaiting the delivery of six Su-30 fighter jets ordered in 2019, and in January 2021 the two sides signed contracts for a Russian air defence system and a suite of surveillance drones. Thousands of Myanmar’s military officers have also received training in Russia’s military academies. Tellingly, the Myanmar commander-in-chief maintains an official account on Russia’s VK social network while being banned from Facebook and Twitter. It is not coincidental that the Kremlin’s main interlocutor with Myanmar is defence minister Sergey Shoigu, who happened to visit the country just several days before the 1 February coup. Given this long-standing and profitable relationship with the Myanmar military, it stands to reason that Russia is not going to condemn the coup, let alone sanction the junta. Russian President Vladimir Putin has never been known for his sympathies for pro-democracy movements backed by the West, and the Kremlin hardly sees the English-educated Aung Sang Suu Kyi, whose two sons are British nationals, as a desirable alternative to uniformed rulers. Moscow’s support for a military dictatorship could damage its international reputation, but with what has already transpired between Putin and the West, the Kremlin could hardly care less about its reputational fallout from Myanmar. In defence of its stance on Myanmar, Russia could also point to Western hypocrisy — neighbouring Thailand is ruled by generals with dubious democratic credentials, but the country remains in the West’s good graces due to being a ‘treaty ally’ of the United States. It is unclear to what extent Moscow will coordinate its Myanmar policies with Beijing, Russia’s main strategic partner and a fellow autocracy. The Chinese government has refrained from condemning the military takeover, but compared to Russia it has been conspicuously less supportive — China’s relationship with the Tatmadaw has always been complicated, and Beijing is hardly happy about the coup. Whereas Moscow’s relationship to Myanmar is mostly limited to military-to-military ties, with scant social and economic interactions, China’s relations with its southern neighbour are more multi-dimensional. Beijing cannot afford to antagonise pro-democracy segments of Myanmar’s population, so it needs to adopt a more complex approach. Moscow and Beijing are likely discussing the situation in Myanmar, but their strategies differ. Russia is driven by the desire to keep lucrative military contracts and possibly gain a foothold in the Indian Ocean. By contrast, Beijing is guided by more long-term strategic interests dictated by Myanmar’s immediate proximity to China’s Yunnan province. Viewing itself as a global great power, Russia has a stake in maintaining a strategic presence in Myanmar, a geopolitically important country in the Indo-Pacific. To retain and expand Russia’s links with Myanmar, the Kremlin has banked on the generals. It remains to be seen if Moscow’s calculus will turn out to be the right one..."
Source/publisher: "East Asia Forum" (Australia)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-28
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup
Description: "As of 26 April, (753) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Kawthaung Town in Tanintharyi Region and Insein Township in Yangon Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of April 26, a total of (3441) people are currently under detention; of them (79) are sentenced. 1179 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document. Today marked 85 days since the attempted coup and over 700 civilians, including women and children, have been killed, and many injured. The number of detentions similarly escalates, it is equally worrying that the accurate condition of detainees is unknown. Protests in defence of democracy continued to erupt across the country. On April 25, six civilians were beaten and arrested in Mindat Town, Chin State. In response to this, there was a clash between junta forces and civilians, some were killed and injured. Terrorists have been brutally repressing women and now reportedly oppressing the LGBTIQ communities. On the night of April 24, Yangon Region, in Mingalar Taungnyunt Township, a transgender women was reportedly beaten during her arrest. They were forcing her to wear a Longyi (male dress) whilst mocking her at the same time, AAPP is awaiting confirmation on further details. One’s sexual orientation is their personal choice. Rights and everyone’s existence must be respected. We are worried that LGBTIQ will not only be discriminated but also treated worse compared to others during their arrests because of the barbarity committed by this terrorist group during the coup. We can expect further torture and repression. The terrorist group has been viciously cracking down on local villages defending themselves, then forcing residents to flee their homes. Thousands of people from around 20 villages in Kani and Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region have fled their homes due to the terrorist groups’ actions. Such as arbitrary arrests, detentions, and violent repression. Junta forces were also stationed at monasteries, schools, and villages. Villagers were forced to flee their homes and villages because the military entered the local villages and started arresting, beating, and killing. Some of the villagers who were already sick died while running away from the military. Burma will be in an even more critical situation if effective action is not taken to combat the crisis. The terrorist group has oppressed people across the country in order to maintain its power. Peace will remain elusive without democracy. There must be a focus on defeating dictatorship in Burma. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: “Our uprising must succeed” Email : [email protected] Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma In Solidarity, AAPP..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-27
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup
Description: "As of 25 April, (751) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. These (3) fallen heroes from Mandalay City in Mandalay Region, Yesagyo Town in Magwe Region and Myaung Township in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of April 25, a total of (3431) people are currently under detention; of them (79) are sentenced. 1159 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document. Today, people across Burma continue to protest against the dictatorship in different ways despite intense repression. The ASEAN leaders meeting vaguely asked for an “immediate end to the violence” – it was an unclear and general statement. During the meeting there were discussions and requests, some stern, but the statement does not include what the civilians are asking for – respect for their basic human rights, democracy and peace , neglected in the statement. People in Burma are not asking for humanitarian aid, but for the international community to stand for the truth. The statement does not deter terrorist atrocities against unarmed civilians on a daily basis with both combat zone weaponry. Yesterday after the ASEAN leaders meeting finished, even on that same day, the terrorist group violated the dignity of civilians including women. Human rights abuses committed openly in public. The statement did not stop the violence against innocents. Last night in Mayangone Township, Yangon, people ‘banging pots and pans were arrested. They were made to play drums on the streets and the women forced to dance whilst the junta forces openly mocked them. If they stopped playing or dancing they were beaten. The junta troops also threw stones at houses who protested by making noise with pots and metal boxes. After this, young men were detained and tortured on the road. Assaulting women with weapons who expressed outrage over the immodesty of the public ridicule – the junta treats people like enemies, committing crimes without any restraint. Yesterday in Karen State, at Three Pagoda town, a junta car crashed into motorcycle protesters and they were shot at 6 times. Five protesters were later arrested in a car crash and one woman was seriously injured. In Thapyay Aye village, Yinmarbin Township, Sagaing Region the junta came to crackdown the monastery and arrest the head monk. After this they destroyed one building and they seized 20 laptops from the monastery. The terrorist group troops openly loot, but it is being resisted. In order to stay in power, the junta is creating internal unrest. On the evening of April 24, Sagaing Region, in Myaung Township, a woman was arrested and died minutes later from illness, yet it is the detention of innocent civilians which is having these consequences. Civilians are already suffering on a daily basis through the atrocities of this junta. Compromise or negotiation with the terrorists will not be possible. Compromise will be used to prolong junta rule. Action which does not allow the terrorist to continue committing atrocities must be sought so that innocent civilians suffer no more. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: “Our uprising must succeed” Email : [email protected] Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma In Solidarity, AAPP..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-27
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Title: Grassroots Voices: A letter from a jail cell
Description: A letter from a jail cell: Dear Father, the River, whose stomach was cut open, has declared war on our tiny house on the bank, hasn’t she? Right in front of the house you must be looking out for someone who will help you with embankment poles to straighten the river, to fill her holes with sandbags. In the murky water, which rises like a bamboo lance, you must be gazing at the sesame plantation — laden with fruits ready for harvest. You must be thinking a fistful of rice in your mouth is about to be fingered out. Maybe you will find solace in religion, contemplating our five foes. Maybe you will think of the void a son’s labour can fill. One son, two daughters and one son; The eldest is a poet in prison, the first daughter, a school teacher, the second, a graduate in the kitchen, the youngest, a student. Your poet son, is he even employable as the dah you use to clear weed? Forgive nothing, Father. Nothing! “Son, Pho Chan, why do I hear noises behind you?”, you asked on the phone. “I am at the bus stop to post a manuscript to a journal,” I lied. From your liar son in the dock to thugs who sweeten you with the tips of their tongues, “To our benefactor peasants … ”, because they want to have you from behind, hate them all, Father. Hate them all. A thief is unarmed. A thug is armed to the teeth. If thieves are ungovernable, if thugs are ungovernable, what’s the point of government? Whatever happens to the jungles whatever happens to the mountains whatever happens to the rivers they don’t care. They love the country just the way they love to grate a coconut, from inside out, for coconut milk. Plinth by plinth, to make their throne taller, they will point their guns at the urna on the Lord Buddha’s forehead. Their class is that crass. To cuss at that class if your religion forbids you allow me to lose that religion. I will turn the air blue on your behalf. Maybe you don’t know yet. your son was set up for demanding the so-called police not to harm ordinary citizens. Someday your son, who is not a thief nor a thug will become employable, good as your dah that clears weed. For now, Father, keep gazing at the plantation you’d ploughed with your naked shoulders. Keep singing the anthem of The Peasant Union. Yours ever, K Za Win Cell 1, Section 10 Thayawaddy Prison..... "Poet name – K Za Win (1982–2021) Birth name – Chan Thar Sway K Za Win was born from a peasant family, in Letpadaung village, Sarlingyi township, Sagaing region. His father’s name is U Kyaw Swe and his mother’s name is Daw Win May. He is the eldest son with three other siblings. He started to write poems from the age of 16. In 2004, his poems were published in magazines such as Thaung Paung Htway Lar Comedy magazine with the poem titled ‘The End’, and in First Eleven Sports Journal. From 2009-2010, he continued to compose poems and political essays under different pseudonyms. He produced his own collection of poems with the title ‘Reply letter to Ramón’. In 2015, as he was about to leave for Japan as a migrant agricultural worker to build a new life with his fiancé, he was arrested in Letpadaung for supporting the democratic education movement led by the students, and was jailed in Tharyarwaddy prison. After he was released, he lived in Monywa and worked as a volunteer Myanmar language teacher. He was an active member of the West-North Plains Poet group as well as the All Burma Youth Poet Union. He never failed to meet his student union comrades who were being detained in prisons. He contributed to political mobilizations as much as he could. Since the Spring Revolution began, he has shown immense bravery by taking part in Monywa protests, and lost his life as the demonstrations faced a violent crackdown from the military on March 3rd 2021..."
Source/publisher: The Journal of Peasant Studies via Routledge (London)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-27
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Title: The politics of Myanmar’s agrarian transformation
Summary: "Myanmar is in a dangerous and uncertain moment following the military coup on 1 February 2021. The articles in this Special Forum provide timely contextual analysis. Written before the coup, the...
Description: "Myanmar is in a dangerous and uncertain moment following the military coup on 1 February 2021. The articles in this Special Forum provide timely contextual analysis. Written before the coup, the articles delve into the politics of agrarian transformation in the context of (what was then) an ongoing (but fragile) opening up of political space. This introduction outlines three themes that connect the articles and now also shed some light on what the future may hold: (1) the limited character of the 2010–2021 ‘democratic transition’; (2) the struggles around land and natural resources amidst a social reproduction crisis and (3) the responses of rural working peoples. This Special Forum on Myanmar’s agrarian transformation concludes at a moment of great danger and deep uncertainty resulting from the military coup that took place on 1 February 2021. All the articles were written before the coup, and all the authors were keen to engage explicitly on the politics of agrarian transformation in the context of (what was at that time) a still ongoing (fragile) opening up of political space and the social-political challenges of working in such a context, including examining the changing political agency of the implicated differentiated rural peoples (along lines of class, gender, generation and in Myanmar the all-important question of ethnicity). Reading their analyses now may thus help to dampen any temptation to romanticize about what life and politics was like for many people before the coup. And it will put under a critical spotlight the call by some segments of the resistance movement for a return to where everyone/everything was before the coup, that is, to restore the NLD government to power under the military-crafted 2008 Constitution. Most of the authors who contributed insights and analysis to the six articles constituting this special forum are long-time social activists who have been working for many years outside the spotlight and under the radar, alongside many other veteran activists, grassroots organizations, issue-based associations and ethnic communities. In the years before and since the national political cycle that began with the March 2011 handover of government by the military-run SPDC to the quasi-civilian Thein Sein administration, they have been in the trenches, so to speak, along with many others,accompanying ordinary people in doing the everyday politics of regime transition. Such efforts have involved the crucial but often intangible work of feeling for openings, testing limits, deploying razor-sharp political humour, calculating risks, calibrating interventions, reaching out and ratcheting up, building bridges, stepping up and stepping back, pushing with restraint, articulating hopes, managing fears, calling bluffs, etc. It’s worth mentioning here too that this has also necessarily involved working to ensure the material conditions needed to enable these dynamics of activism to survive and thrive, despite increasingly bureaucratized and periodically politicized relationships with both government donors and international non-governmental donor agencies. While for various reasons and at various times government donors and donor agencies could become quite allergic to activism – especially activism taking extra-parliamentary form – this was not always the case, and despite what may have been risks involved in supporting social change activism during the post-2011 opening, some of these actors supported this work anyway. Much of what the bulk of ordinary people actively trying to shape the transition underway have been doing has remained invisible and in the shadow of a still fairly draconian ‘rule of law’, while the international media spotlight has tended to focus on increasing space for elite politics and elite-driven economic reform, as if these were all that mattered in the regime transition underway. It was important that these ‘invisible’ politics remained so at times, in order to protect and shelter them, and at other times, it was critical that they surface, in order to try to propel more central political processes in a more radical direction. But while much of the social activism for meaningful agrarian change has resurrected and unfurled in the lingering shadows cast by past coups, past waves of resource grabbing, and past ‘high politics’ turning points, at the same time, a fairly clear set of major neoliberaloriented economic reforms have been initiated and steadily pushed since 2011 as part and parcel of a ‘rule of law’ reform agenda aimed at creating the ‘positive enabling environment’ for big Asian, US and EU-based business interests itching to enter or do more business in Myanmar. Hitherto, earlier rounds of market liberalization following the thenmilitary regime’s response to political and economic crises in the late 1980s had mainly benefitted regional (especially Chinese and Thai) and local capitalists (with the exception of two infamous gas projects – one led by Total, one led by UNOCAL – see ERI 1996). The consequences of these reforms have been hitting the ground hard, yet affecting different groups of people differently depending on class, ethnicity, gender, generation, and geographic region. And so here is one crux of the matter for many of the hardest hit people today: as huge masses of people from all walks of life spill currently into the streets to protest the military coup – how and to what extent will the broad anti-coup resistance movement be able to take on 1. the contradictions emerging from capitalist development and 2. the growing aspiration for a democratic federal union? Capitalism is not tied exclusively to any particular kind of political system: it can exist under outright militarized authoritarian conditions, and also under still-militarized, semi-authoritarian political conditions where participation in decision making is open to some segments of society to some degree, but many (if not most) remain excluded more or less completely (e.g. more akin to what the country had been experiencing in the decade prior to the coup). Since 2011, capitalist development has wrought a new configuration of winners and losers, where a wider range of people found opportunities and breathing room to accumulate and have seen their living conditions improve, while many others have seen their situation deteriorate significantly. The ranks of those engaged in ‘3D’ migrant labour work abroad (e.g. dirty, difficult, dangerous) and the importance of migrant worker remittances to the national economy, for example, have increased dramatically since 2011 as a result partly of the new laws and policies put in place by the quasi-military Thein Sein government but then continued and even deepened by the ‘democratically-elected’ NLDled government (Borras et al. 2020). The agrarian crisis that is pushing many people, from different walks of life (both ethnic Bamar and non-Bamar), further toward or deeper into landlessness and precarious labour conditions, has been deepening throughout the country. But its precise character has varied, shaped by complex social-historical and political-economic particularities, including politicized geographies of race/ethnicity, obtaining in different regions and subregions. To be sure, however, regions and subregions where various non-Bamar ‘ethnic nationalities’ (a term increasingly preferred nowadays by non-Bamar activists themselves, in a bid to put the term ‘ethnic minorities’ firmly into the past) are most concentrated, have been clearly targeted for ‘accumulation by dispossession’ via outright extra-economic coercion, in tandem with and alongside processes of commodification, as discussed below. The increasingly organized, multiethnic demand for abolition of the 2008 Constitution and building of a democratic federal union is therefore very much underpinned by the intensely racialized/ethnicised character of Myanmar political-economy historically..."
Source/publisher: Routledge (London)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-27
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Title: Statement by H.E. Mahn Win Khaing Than, Prime Minister, National Unity Government of Myanmar on the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting held in Jakarta, Indonesia on 24 April 2021 - ၂၀၂၁ ဧပြီလ ၂၄ ရက်၊ အင်ဒိုနီးရှားနိုင်ငံ၊ ဂျာကာတာမြို့တွင်ကျင်းပပြုလုပ်ခဲ့သည့် အာဆီယံခေါင်းဆောင်များအစည်းအဝေးနှင့်ပတ်သက်၍ ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ ပြည်ထောင်စုဝန်ကြီးချုပ် မန်းဝင်းခိုင်သန်း၏ ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာချက်
Description: "1. The National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG) has read with interest the Chairman’s Statement of the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting held at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, on 24 April 2021, chaired by His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam.....2. As Prime Minister of an ASEAN member state, I have followed the various steps of ASEAN’s statements and actions regarding the situation in Myanmar since the unconstitutional coup of 1 February 2021. I note that the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting took the opportunity to discuss - in addition to the situation in Myanmar - other matters of regional relevance and importance, including ASEAN Community-building priorities, and recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. These priorities are also important for the plight of the people in Myanmar today. Yet ASEAN’s actions regarding Myanmar has remained in the abstract amidst the fear and terror inflicted by the military on its own people. Close to 800 have lost their lives since February 2021, and more than 3000 are under detention, including President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.....3. In this context, I thank Their Excellencies Mr Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia, Tan Sri Dato' Haji Mahiaddin bin Md. Yasin, Prime Minister of Malaysia, and Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore, who have consistently called for release of political prisoners, reiterating this call at the recent ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting.....4. It is unfortunate that the NUG did not have the opportunity to brief our ASEAN counterparts at the recent meeting, of the daily realities that the people of Myanmar face under military rule. Instead, the State Administration Council (SAC) representative took that opportunity to seek to justify the military’s actions regarding law and order and stability in the country, when in actual fact, documented visual and reported evidence points to the contrary.....5. While the NUG deeply appreciates the support and commitment of ASEAN Member States to assist Myanmar and her people, we nevertheless remain greatly concerned that any misrepresentation of facts by the military may affect the way in which ASEAN formulates and implements the necessary follow-up actions to the Five-Point Consensus adopted by the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting on 24 April 2021.....6. Familiar with the ASEAN Way of reaching consensus, we in the NUG understand that the Five-Point Consensus is the product of intense discussion and negotiation. We also understand that because of how Myanmar was/is represented at ASEAN meetings in the current situation, those discussions could not include the true situation and interests of the Myanmar people - which the NUG represents. As such, I wish to highlight the following clarifications, which the NUG and the Myanmar people view as important to understand the situation in Myanmar...a. The first point in the Five-Point Consensus underscores that “there shall be immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar and all parties shall exercise utmost restraint”. I wish to highlight that the violence is one-sided and committed by only one party. Since 1 February 2021, violations by using excessive or lethal force against unarmed civilians have been committed exclusively by the military. Within hours after announcement of the Five-Point Consensus, the military and police were harassing people who were banging pots and pans in protest. This is a clear contravention of the Consensus to which the purported representative of Myanmar committed...b. The second point of the Five-Point Consensus calls for “constructive dialogue among all parties concerned”. There are several stakeholders whose input is important for this constructive dialogue. I wish to urge the ASEAN delegation to engage the National Unity Government as the true representative of the people of Myanmar. I also wish to stress the importance of including representatives of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAOs), to ensure that all voices against military rule in Myanmar are heard by our ASEAN interlocutors......7. The NUG, in the spirit of the ASEAN Way enshrined in the ASEAN Charter, stands ready to engage with the ASEAN envoy, the ASEAN Secretary-General, and other representatives of ASEAN collectively and individually, in the constructive and inclusive manner that ASEAN envisages for helping Myanmar and her people emerge from the current crisis.....8. To this end, I wish to emphasise my government’s position and recommendations on how we will engage with ASEAN on this process...a. We are encouraged by the emphasis placed on the strength of the ASEAN Community in the Chairman’s Statement of the recent ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting. The NUG echoes ASEAN’s commitment to “place people at the centre of the ASEAN Community, to fulfil their desire to live in a region of lasting peace, sustained economic growth and social progress”. We wish to remind our ASEAN counterparts that the NUG is in the most appropriate position to pursue these aims for the people of Myanmar, as the NUG is the representative government of the peoples and democratic forces in Myanmar... b. We are also heartened by ASEAN’s reaffirmation of its commitment to the principles enshrined in the ASEAN Charter. As highlighted in paragraph 2 of this statement, the coup mounted by the SAC on 1 February 2021 is unconstitutional. The NUG is concerned that ASEAN’s engagement with SAC may undermine the principle of constitutional government enshrined in the ASEAN Charter... c. We wish to work with ASEAN to ensure that the ASEAN Envoy achieves a constructive outcome in Myanmar. As one of the key stakeholders in this process, the NUG strongly recommends that ASEAN consult the NUG’s views and input on the ASEAN Envoy’s mission and mandate... d. We appreciate that ASEAN wishes to facilitate constructive dialogue among key stakeholders as part of the process. Before any constructive dialogue can take place, however, there must be an unconditional release of political prisoners including President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi... e. While the NUG welcomes ASEAN’s humanitarian assistance mission, we also wish to highlight that humanitarian assistance alone does not provide a solution to the root causes regarding the current situation in Myanmar. Therefore, we also wish to recommend that ASEAN consult with the NUG on its plans for humanitarian assistance to the Myanmar people...f. The NUG also wishes to highlight to ASEAN the important need to establish accountability mechanisms for monitoring the SAC’s compliance with the Five- Point Consensus..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-27
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Title: At Least 109 Reported Attacks and Threats to Health Care in Myanmar Over Just Two Months of Military’s Crackdown
Description: "At least 109 attacks and threats against health workers, facilities, and transports have reportedly been perpetrated in Myanmar from February 11 to April 12, 2021, according to an analysis based on open-source reports conducted by Insecurity Insight, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), and Johns Hopkins University Center for Public Health and Human Rights (CPHHR). The attacks are uniformly reported to have been committed by the country’s armed forces and police amid ongoing protests against the military coup. In addition to the military’s attacks on civilians and demonstrators, health workers have been targeted for providing medical care to injured civilians and other health workers have been attacked for their participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), which is protesting the military takeover. Within the 109 total incidents that took place across Myanmar between February 11 and April 12, Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR highlight reports of: 97 health workers arrested 32 health workers injured 10 health workers killed Hospitals raided at least 49 times Hospitals occupied at least 36 times The incidents referred to are based on the dataset 11 February – 12 April 2021 Violence Against Health Care in Myanmar Data, which is available on the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX). For the purposes of this research brief, one incident can comprise multiple types of violence or threats such as those above. For example, in one reported incident in Kyauk Kone township in Yangon city on February 27, 20 health workers were arrested and four were injured. In another reported incident on April 5 in Saunchaung township in Yangon, four medical staff were arrested when a charity clinic was raided by soldiers and police. In one reported incident on March 9 in Heho town, Shan state, soldiers occupied the Heho General Hospital. Local residents protested the occupation, resulting in the arrest of 36 people. The detained individuals were sent to Taunggyi Prison. “The Myanmar military’s persecution of health workers is taking many horrifying forms: ambulances shot at, clinics taken over by armed forces, medics killed,” said Jennifer Leigh, an epidemiologist serving as PHR’s Myanmar researcher. “By attacking the health system, the junta is terrorizing the population and cutting off access to life-saving care in the middle of a pandemic.These are gross violations of human rights, and threats against long-standing international principles of protection of health care, including the obligations of health professionals to care for the sick and wounded without interference.” “Attacks on health care are a global phenomenon, experienced in many conflict settings but also fueled by the pandemic,” said Christina Wille, managing director of Insecurity Insight. “Tragically, Myanmar has emerged as a major hotspot for violence against health care, as the military brazenly assaults health workers and attempts to control the country’s health infrastructure.” The research brief highlights reported incidents of violence against health workers, facilities, and transport in Myanmar between February 11 and April 12, 2021. It does not include information on violence against patients. Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR used an open-source methodology to compile incidents noted in local, national, and international news outlets, online databases, and social media reports. The incidents reported are neither a complete nor a representative list of all incidents. Most incidents have not undergone verification by Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR. Data collection is ongoing and data may change as more information is made available. However, the data offers a snapshot of how Myanmar’s military is persecuting health workers and targeting facilities amid its broader crackdown on dissent. The research brief makes several recommendations to United Nations (UN) Member States, urging the international community to ensure the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2286, adopted May 2016, which strongly condemns attacks on medical personnel in conflict situations. Earlier this month, PHR and 20 other organizations sent an open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging the Biden administration to take immediate additional actions to address the public health and human rights crisis in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: Physicians for Human Rights (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-26
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Title: Atrocity Alert No. 249: Myanmar (Burma), DR Congo and Nigeria
Description: "ASEAN MUST UPHOLD ITS RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT THE PEOPLE OF MYANMAR As anti-coup protests continue, during a 19 April interview the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said that, “according to the responsibility to protect [R2P], the international community… has a responsibility to do what it can to protect the lives of innocent people in countries that are unable or unwilling to do so, or are in fact attacking them.” He stressed that it was “definitely appropriate” for the international community to act in accordance with the R2P principle and that Myanmar was “exactly the situation” where we “have a responsibility to protect.” According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 739 people have been killed by the security forces since 1 February and at least 3,331 people are currently detained for resisting the military coup. Two protesters were killed in the city of Mogok on 17 April, when the security forces opened fire on people gathered to show support for the National Unity Government (NUG), which was formed a day earlier by a coalition of democratic opponents to military rule. Clashes also continue between Myanmar’s military and the ethnic armed group, the Kachin Independence Army. The military is reportedly using civilians as human shields in northern Kachin State, forcing them to walk ahead of soldiers. Such acts violate international law and are a war crime. Meanwhile, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will discuss the ongoing crisis in Myanmar during a summit to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 24 April. Controversially, Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, the coup leader, was invited to the summit, while NUG representatives were not. It is unclear whether General Min Aung Hlaing – who an earlier UN Fact-Finding Mission found was responsible for the 2017 genocide against the country’s Rohingya minority – will attend the summit virtually or in person. In an address to the UN Security Council (UNSC) on 19 April, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed, “the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign States should not be used as a pretext for inaction in the face of serious human rights abuses. ASEAN must make it clear to the Myanmar military that the current situation is so grave that it cannot be regarded only as an internal matter.” He further called on the current UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, “to engage directly with the Myanmar military” and urged the UNSC to “seriously consider” the principle of R2P, “using a range of tools at the Council’s disposal.” The UNSC and ASEAN must implement practical measures to help mediate an end to the crisis in Myanmar. Nadira Kourt, Program Manager at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, said, “the country is currently ungovernable under the military junta. The UNSC and ASEAN should immediately impose a global arms embargo, as well as internationally binding sanctions on senior military officials and affiliated businesses. Accountability is essential. The time for so-called quiet diplomacy has passed. Now is the time for bold diplomatic action.".....ETHNIC VIOLENCE, DISPLACEMENT AND HUNGER THREATEN DR CONGO: Last Friday, 16 April, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned of a resurgence of violence in the Grand Kasaï region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). According to UNHCR, clashes between fighters from the Luba and Kuba ethnic groups in the Bakwakenge locality erupted in late March. Local authorities have reported that at least 21,000 people have been displaced, 13 people killed and 190 homes burned down. Tensions between the two communities have been increasing since August 2020 when a deadly cycle of reprisal attacks resulted in 40,000 people being displaced. The risk of widespread ethnic violence is particularly acute in the Kasaïs, as the region continues to recover from atrocities perpetrated between 2016-2018 that forced more than 1.4 million people to flee. During that time the UN identified at least 80 mass graves, and more than 3,000 people were estimated to have been killed, including two members of the UN Panel of Experts who were investigating the violence. Most fighting took place between Kamuina Nsapu (a mainly Luba militia), Bana Mura (a mainly Chokwe militia), and the armed forces of the DRC. A UN Team of International Experts found evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the militias, including extrajudicial killings, rape, torture, and recruitment of children, as well as abuses that “could amount to persecution based on ethnicity.” UNHCR spokesperson, Babar Baloch, called for “a renewed focus on restoring peace and defusing tensions in Kasaï to prevent another wave of mass displacement in the country.” There are currently an estimated 5.2 million people displaced in the DRC where recurring conflict in the eastern provinces has contributed to a massive humanitarian crisis. On 6 April the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme announced that an estimated 27.3 million people – one in three Congolese – are critically hungry, which is “the highest number of people in urgent need of food security assistance in the world.” The DRC government needs to urgently deescalate tensions in the Kasaï region, protect vulnerable civilians and ensure that the violence does not derail the ongoing truth, justice and accountability process for past atrocities. ARMED EXTREMIST GROUPS TARGET HUMANITARIAN WORKERS IN NIGERIA A series of attacks by armed extremist groups on the town of Damasak, in northeast Nigeria, have forced 65,000 people – 80 percent of the town’s population – to flee. Since the attacks began on 11 April at least eight people have been killed and dozens wounded. The armed groups looted and burned down houses, as well as offices and warehouses of international humanitarian organizations, including a health clinic and UN Refugee Agency facility. Armed fighters also conducted house-to-house searches looking for aid workers. Humanitarian operations in Damasak have largely been suspended as result of the violence, adversely affecting 8,800 internally displaced people and 76,000 people in host communities in the area. Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that these “humanitarian aid operations and facilities are the lifeline of people in northeast Nigeria who depend on our assistance to survive.” Over the past year, humanitarian organizations have become the focus of recurring attacks by armed extremist groups operating in Nigeria. On 2 March alleged fighters from the so-called Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) attacked a UN base and overran a humanitarian hub in the north-east, trapping 25 aid workers. In response to this attack, the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, stressed that, “civilians and aid workers, their facilities and assets should never be a target. They must be protected and respected at all times.” While no group has claimed responsibility for the assault on Damasak, both Boko Haram and ISWA continue to conduct attacks in the north-east and have killed at least 3,000 people since January 2018. Intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, materials or vehicles involved in a humanitarian assistance operation is a war crime. Recurring attacks on humanitarian workers demonstrates the need for the Nigerian authorities to radically improve security in the north-east. The Nigerian government also needs to expand programs that directly address grievances that armed extremist groups exploit for recruitment, such as poverty, endemic corruption, youth unemployment and environmental degradation..."
Source/publisher: Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-26
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Title: Chairman’s Statement on the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting
Description: "Five-Point Consensus: On the situation in Myanmar, the Leaders reached consensus on the following: • First, there shall be immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar and all parties shall exercise utmost restraint. • Second, constructive dialogue among all parties concerned shall commence to seek a peaceful solution in the interests of the people. • Third, a special envoy of the ASEAN Chair shall facilitate mediation of the dialogue process, with the assistance of the SecretaryGeneral of ASEAN. • Fourth, ASEAN shall provide humanitarian assistance through the AHA Centre. • Fifth, the special envoy and delegation shall visit Myanmar to meet with all parties concerned..."
Source/publisher: Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Jakarta)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-26
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Title: EU allocates an additional €9 million to support the most vulnerable in Myanmar following the coup d'état
Summary: "Today, the EU has stepped up its response to assist those in need in Myanmar in the context of the recent military coup, with the allocation of an additional €9 million in emergency humanitarian aid...
Description: "Today, the EU has stepped up its response to assist those in need in Myanmar in the context of the recent military coup, with the allocation of an additional €9 million in emergency humanitarian aid to support the most vulnerable. The critical reinforcement of the EU's response comes on top of a funding package of €11.5 million provided at the start of 2021, to support key humanitarian and disaster preparedness needs in the country, bringing EU humanitarian assistance in Myanmar to a total of €20.5 million in 2021 so far. Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, said: "The violent military junta that has overthrown the legitimate government in Myanmar has been merciless in killing innocent civilians, in egregious violations of International Humanitarian Law that exacerbates the already dire humanitarian crisis faced by displaced and conflict-affected populations. The EU condemns the despicable acts of violence by the coup d'état and meanwhile reaffirms its will to continue providing strong humanitarian support through its humanitarian partners directly to the most vulnerable population, who also face recurrent natural hazards that further increase their needs. At this crucial and pressing time, the EU is showing up for the people of Myanmar by significantly stepping up its support in humanitarian assistance.” The funding will be used to respond to urgent humanitarian needs in the sectors of emergency health support, protection, food security, and multi-sector emergency assistance. Through this additional allocation, the EU is stepping up its response capacities in the conflict areas in which it is active, and also in urban settings, where indiscriminate violence has been used by the Myanmar security forces. The additional funding will also provide humanitarian assistance to those fleeing fighting between Ethnic Armed Groups and the Myanmar Armed Forces, with funds allocated to address the growing regional implications of the crisis, including in Thailand. All EU humanitarian funding is provided in line with the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence, and is channelled directly through NGOs, UN Agencies, and the Red Cross. The EU does not provide any humanitarian aid funding to the illegitimate military authorities. Background Conflict in Myanmar is marred by widespread violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, resulting in substantial humanitarian needs. More than 336,000 people in Myanmar have been internally displaced, a large majority of whom are in situations of protracted displacement in Rakhine, Kachin, Kayin and Shan states, with limited access to basic services. An estimated 600,000 Rohingya people remain in Rakhine State, of whom around 126,000 are effectively confined to camps or camp-like settings that were established in 2012, and so still cannot move freely. Restricted humanitarian access to several areas hampers the ability of international aid organisations to provide crucial assistance to people in need. Recurrent natural hazards also increase the vulnerability of people living in disaster-prone areas. Since 1994, the EU has provided €287 million in humanitarian aid to Myanmar, with €19 million allocated in 2020. The EU works with trusted and independent humanitarian partners to address the protection, food, nutrition and health needs of the most vulnerable people, particularly in Rakhine, Chin, Kachin and Shan states. Following the violence in August 2017, the EU has stepped up its humanitarian assistance in the form of food, nutritional care, healthcare, water and sanitation, coordination, and protection, including mine education. Humanitarian needs are increasing as a result of the 1 February 2021 coup d'état, as security forces use indiscriminate violence against civilians and fighting increases between Ethnic Armed Groups and the Myanmar Armed Forces. The EU will closely monitor the humanitarian situation in Myanmar, in light of the recent developments, to step up the humanitarian response further, if needed..."
Source/publisher: Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (Brussels) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-26
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Title: 'I will not return to work': Myanmar coup cripples healthcare system
Description: "Myanmar's front-line medical workers are finding themselves in a precarious position, torn between their patients and working for a military government enforcing a brutal crackdown on the country. Moe* is 53 years old and has stage three breast cancer. She used to go for radiotherapy treatment every three weeks at the state-run Mandalay General Hospital in northern Myanmar. But the day after the military deposed Myanmar's elected government in a coup on 1 February, the hospital closed its doors. Doctors, nurses and other medical workers all walked out in protest and have not returned. Now Moe cannot afford the roughly $700 (£502) she would need to complete her remaining cycles of treatment at a private hospital. Without it, she believes she has around a year to live. Nevertheless, she does not blame the doctors: "It's the fault of the military," she told the BBC. "Even if I die with cancer, I can accept it. The rest of the people in Myanmar deserve democracy.".....'Near collapse': Myanmar's healthcare system has been one of the worst-affected sectors in the aftermath of a coup on 1 February which saw the military seize control of the country, sparking widespread protests. Thousands of doctors have joined the country's civil disobedience movement which has seen public employees and other state officials refusing to work under the new military regime. Myanmar coup: What is happening and why? The TikTok loving teen and others killed in Myanmar Myanmar's public healthcare system accounts for around 80% of all hospitals and clinics and provides heavily subsidised care to the country's 54 million people. This virtually vanished overnight - and in the midst of a global pandemic. "It's a grim situation," says Dr Mitchell Sangma, who is on the ground for humanitarian organisation Medicins San Frontiers (MSF) in Myanmar's main city Yangon. "The public health system is near collapse." But doctors feel they have little choice. "For as long as the military junta stays in power I will not return to work," says Kyi Kyi* a doctor in Mandalay who has been on strike for nearly three months. "I do not want to recognise their authority in any way." For the first few weeks after the coup, Kyi Kyi offered free consultations at private sector hospitals. But she quickly realised this was too dangerous: "We started seeing soldiers stationed around the hospitals, waiting for us to arrive."..."
Source/publisher: BBC News (London)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-26
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Title: Intensifying widespread, systematic slaughter by Myanmar military must be halted – Bachelet
Summary: "UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday urged States to take immediate, decisive and impactful measures to push Myanmar's military leadership into halting its campaign of...
Description: "UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday urged States to take immediate, decisive and impactful measures to push Myanmar's military leadership into halting its campaign of repression and slaughter of its people. "We have witnessed yet another weekend of coordinated bloodshed in many parts of the country, including the reported mass killing of at least 82 people in Bago between Friday and Saturday. The military seems intent on intensifying its pitiless policy of violence against the people of Myanmar, using military-grade and indiscriminate weaponry," Bachelet said. "There are clear echoes of Syria in 2011. There too, we saw peaceful protests met with unnecessary and clearly disproportionate force. The State's brutal, persistent repression of its own people led to some individuals taking up arms, followed by a downward and rapidly expanding spiral of violence all across the country. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the time warned in 2011 that the failure of the international community to respond with united resolve could be disastrous for Syria and beyond. The past ten years have shown just how horrific the consequences have been for millions of civilians." "I fear the situation in Myanmar is heading towards a full-blown conflict. States must not allow the deadly mistakes of the past in Syria and elsewhere to be repeated." Over the weekend, credible reports indicate that Tatmadaw forces opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades, fragmentation grenades and mortar fire in Bago in the south of the country. Security forces also reportedly prevented medical personnel from helping the wounded, as well as charging relatives a "fine" of roughly USD 90 to claim the bodies of those who were killed. Some individuals are also now resorting to the use of makeshift or primitive weapons in self-defence. Clashes between the military and ethnic armed groups have also intensified in several locations in Kachin, Shan and Kayin states, where the military have been employingairstrikes that have killed and displaced civilians. As arrests continue, with at least 3,080 people currently detained, there are reports that 23 people have been sentenced to death following secret trials -- including four protesters and 19 others who were accused of political and criminal offences. The mass arrests have forced hundreds of people to go into hiding, and reports suggest that many journalists, civil society activists, celebrities and other public figures are being sought, many simply because of the dissent they have been expressing on-line. Wireless broadband and mobile data services were cut indefinitely on 2 April, leaving the vast majority of people without access to vital sources of information and communication. Meanwhile, the country's economy, education and health infrastructure have been brought to the brink of collapse, leaving millions of Myanmar people without livelihood, basic services and, increasingly, food security. Thousands of internal migrants have left urban centres for their home communities -- which once relied on their income. COVID-19 measures have effectively been brought to a standstill. The High Commissioner called on the Myanmar military and neighbouring States to facilitate humanitarian access to populations in need. She urged neighbouring States to give temporary protection to people fleeing the violence, and to refrain from returning people fleeing Myanmar at this time, in accordance with the principle of non-refoulement. "Statements of condemnation, and limited targeted sanctions, are clearly not enough. States with influence need to urgently apply concerted pressure on the military in Myanmar to halt the commission of grave human rights violations and possible crimes against humanity against the people," Bachelet said. The High Commissioner made particular reference to the report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, which contains clear recommendations for impactful action in relation to the military.* Bachelet stressed the need to cut off the supply of arms and finances to the military leadership that aid its commission of serious human rights violations..."
Source/publisher: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-26
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Title: Letter of thanks from NUG Government Foreign Minister Daw Zin Mar Aung to NUG Supporters
Description: "Thank you all so much for showing unwavering support to people of Myanmar and the National Unity Government! As you all know, Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) has perpetrated the worst possible crime in entire history of our country by waging the total war against the whole population of Myanmar. People from all walks of life in Myanmar are facing the atrocities of the military every day. These atrocities comprise killing innocent civilians, including children, using live ammunitions, heavy weaponry; arbitrarily arresting people, kidnapping people at night and sending the dead bodies to families next morning, beating people at the military camps and raiding private spaces of the people and confiscating the properties. These atrocities are unimaginable for all humanity. Not only does the military target the NLD party members, but the military also detains religious leaders, journalists, activists, doctors, nurses, teachers, workers, students, actors, and actresses and even underaged teenagers. The military is destroying the backbone of our society. The internet communications have been cut off and the people of Myanmar are now in the darkness without any information from outside world. Amidst the enormous challenges imposed by the COVID-19, the people of Myanmar are suffering from the atrocities of the military which promotes its own vested interests, not the interests of the people and the country. In order to safeguard democracy and protect the country from falling under total authoritarian rule, the National Unity Government (NUG) was formed on April 16, 2021, by the mandate of the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) in accordance with guiding principles of Federal Democracy Charter (FDC) enacted on March 31, 2021. All these arrangements are historic as well as momentous because they represent the united voices of the people from all sectors of society. The strength of unity we have now must be preserved and further enhanced via meaningful cooperation. The sole duty of the National Unity Government is to end structural violence committed by the military over decades and establish federal democratic union. At the same time, the NUG aims to conduct security sector reform, as the current security apparatus of Myanmar are the fundamental part of the decade-long structural violence, ensuring that federal security system is established in accordance with federal democratic principles. The supports of Myanmar communities all over the world are precious for our efforts. Both NUG and CRPH would like to invite Myanmar communities all over the world to advocate the respective host governments and relevant stakeholders to achieve our goals. This is a rare opportunity to end military dictatorship once and for all not only for us but also for our future generations. Of course, our struggle will not be an easy journey. We will have to face challenges on all fronts. But what we have is legitimacy derived from the democratic will of the people. More importantly, millions of people across Myanmar are chanting “We want democracy" , singing the songs of struggle with hopes and aspirations to establish genuine federal democratic union which preserves and protects freedom, justice, and equality for all. This is the cause worth fighting for. The supports of each and everyone of you are critical for our struggle. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi once said " use your freedom to promote ours" . In this way, you can all join our struggle, our fight, and our cause. We are by no means atone in this world; we all are together in this. In solidarity, Zin Mar Aung Minister of Foreign Affairs National Unity Government Republic of the Union of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: CRPH_International Relations Office
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-26
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Title: Myanmar Crisis: Stand with the people and protect them, urges UN rights expert
Summary: "Over 700 people are reported to have been killed in the crackdown on peaceful protesters by security forces since the military takeover on 1 February. There are also reports that several hundred...
Sub-title: The international community has a responsibility to protect the people of Myanmar, under attack from their own military, the UN independent human rights expert on the country argues, in the second part of our in-depth interview, calling also for refuge to be given to those who have fled for their lives to neighbouring countries.
Description: "Over 700 people are reported to have been killed in the crackdown on peaceful protesters by security forces since the military takeover on 1 February. There are also reports that several hundred people have fled areas hit hard by violence, including many who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries. Tom Andrews, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, highlights the need for neighbouring countries to protect and care for those who arrive on their borders. “The responsibility to protect means preparing for the refugee crisis, that if things continue the way they are, will be inevitable…we need to be sure that the bordering countries respect people’s fundamental right to enter their country those who are literally running for their lives from this brutality.” “And I think the international community needs to support those countries in their care of the refugees. This is all part of the responsibility to protect approach”, he added. In part two of this extensive UN News interview, the Special Rapporteur addresses the responsibility to protect the people of Myanmar from violence, and his hopes for the country’s future. You can read part one, here. The interviews have been edited for clarity and brevity. **UN News: There have been a lot of calls by the people of Myanmar for the responsibility to protect, what is your opinion regarding these calls … is R2P a possibility that should be explored under the current circumstances? Or is it too drastic or unrealistic? ** **Special Rapporteur: **No, I think It is very reasonable. First of all, responsibility to protect is very clear that governments, nations themselves have the responsibility to protect their people. But then it goes on and recognizes that sometimes those nations cannot always act to protect their people. Then there are instances in which countries will not act to protect their people. And in this instance, here is a country that is actually attacking its people. So, according to the responsibility to protect, the international community, therefore, has a responsibility to do what it can to protect the lives of innocent people in countries that are unable or unwilling to do so, or are in fact attacking them. I think that is definitely appropriate, this is exactly the situation in which we do have a responsibility to protect. And Chapter VII [of the UN Charter, by which the Council can use force]; using this is one of the reasons that the Security Council exists, to engage in just this kind of emergency. So, the question becomes, what to do, how to act, what is the best way to act? Some have the belief – it is an erroneous belief – that responsibility to protect or R2P means military engagement. It is not what it means. Military engagement is an option, but it is not what R2P is. R2P means going in to protect, in the best way possible. We need to look at options within certain parameters. Options that have the most potent impact on the junta, but also, that will have the minimum negative impact on the people. Protect the people of Myanmar. And I am afraid that any kind of military intervention would lead to a massive loss of life. Already the military has been making up stories about what it is facing. From the very outset, it said that it is using utmost restraint – its language – to contend with violent protests, but we saw nothing of the kind. We saw increasing violence and increasing brutality by the military. And we saw very peaceful, unarmed protesters. And that is also the reason why information has been cut off, the reason the junta is doing everything possible to cut off the flow of information is because it was finding that its appeals to the world to not believe our own but believe its propaganda – was not working. The junta, I think, are trained to deal with an enemy wielding weapons of war. That is their training. They have a significant arsenal of weapons, and a very large military force. But they are showing themselves unable to deal with an opposition wielding weapons of peace. With this incredible civil disobedience movement that we are seeing across the country, this powerful, creative, tenacious movement in which people are using a range of ingenious tactics, including civil disobedience, boycotts of businesses owned by the military. That is extremely powerful and it has generated great admiration and respect for the people [of Myanmar] from the world. So, it would be a mistake if, in fact, this became a full military confrontation. I think that the brutality unleashed would be even more horrific than what we are seeing now. It would be a significant increase in the loss of innocent lives, and that needs to be avoided. I understand, listen, if my wife, my child, my brother or sister were killed, murdered by this regime, I too, would want revenge. That would be my instinct. I totally understand where people are coming from, but it would be, in my view, a mistake, a very grave mistake, and I am hopeful that it will not come to that. UN News: So R2P yes, but military intervention no? Special Rapporteur: Yes, that is correct. UN News: What other forms of R2P, then? Special Rapporteur: What we are seeing right now, but in a much more focused, much more significant way. I would like to see there be a summit of countries who are willing to take action, in which they could work together to link up their actions, so that they are coherent, clear, and linked together. That would be extremely important. And the diplomatic initiatives, increasing the isolation of the junta, working more closely with the CRPH [the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, in effect, representatives and lawmakers exiled by the military], civil disobedience movement, others who are trying to truly protect and defend the country, rather than attacking it. There needs to be a significant increase in humanitarian aid, and it should not go through the junta certainly they will just steal it, but channelled through International NGOs and CSOs (Civil Society Organisations) on the ground. And R2P means preparing for the refugee crisis, which will be inevitable if things continue the way they are. We have already seen people heading to the border. I think we need to be sure that the neighbouring countries respect people’s fundamental right to enter their country, as they are literally running for their lives from this brutality. They need to protect them, care for them. And the international community needs to support those countries in caring for the refugees. That is all part of the responsibility to protect or R2P approach. UN News: What do you think will happen next for Myanmar, will the military regime take hold, will the people win the battle on the street, or will there be something in between? Special Rapporteur: It is a very, very good question. It is a very good question. I must admit I am not good at predictions. My prediction was, when people ask me, would there be a coup, before the coup, I said, no, I said the generals wrote the constitution, they are not going to overthrow their own constitution, they have enormous control and power and wealth and so forth. So put what I am saying into that context. But the coup has failed. The junta has failed to wrestle control of the country. The thousands and thousands of civil servants are on strike. The economy has been devastated by the civil disobedience movement and strikes across the country. Opposition to the junta is deep and widespread. I have never seen anything like it, it is unified the country to a degree that I have never seen, people of all ages, all ethnicities, all social and economic groups, united in opposition. Then the leadership – the young people that are in the front lines of this movement have shown incredible, courage, tenacity and creativity, with their various approaches, in their efforts to save the country. So I think that the opposition will prevail. I predict it is going to be extremely challenging. I am afraid that there are going to be many dark days before there is light. But the military junta has no respect or credibility within the country. All the junta have, are the guns, that is all they have. And I think people recognize them as a criminal gang, a criminal enterprise that is robbing, murdering and terrorizing the people, hoping that this escalation of terror and murder will somehow subjugate the people eventually. But it is having just the opposite effect. It is making people even more resolved to not let this stand. So the important thing, I think, in terms of looking forward, is to do everything we can, working, supporting the people inside the country, the true patriots of Myanmar who are trying to defend the country, with the international community to support them in every way that we can and to stand with them. For, number one, stopping the violence and the killing. And number two, release the prisoners, including the hostages that were taken, elected leaders of the country, that they be released, and then, to stand down from this illegal act. And let me just say this, I am in awe at the people of Myanmar, the courage that they have displayed, and the resolve they have displayed, so I believe that they will prevail, it is going to be many dark days between now and when this is resolved. UN News: So you still have faith. Special Rapporteur: I do. I do. I do..."
Source/publisher: UN News via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-26
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Title: Myanmar: Vigil InSight Situation Report
Summary: "Protests continue despite a death toll of over 700. Resumption of widespread ethnic separatist violence sees thousands held at Thai border. Increased tensions with China and India. This document...
Description: "Protests continue despite a death toll of over 700. Resumption of widespread ethnic separatist violence sees thousands held at Thai border. Increased tensions with China and India. This document provides an analysis of the current situation in Myanmar and the implications for aid agencies working in the area. Watch the Vigil InSight video. SUMMARY International focus remains on the continued protests against the military coup, which are becoming increasingly violent. A significant increase in violence has been seen, linked to the country’s various ethnic separatist insurgencies, particularly along the Thai and Chinese borders. This has led to rising numbers of displaced persons and pushbacks of them by Thai authorities though India is now letting them through. Chinese troops have been deployed to the border, likely to secure gas supplies..."
Source/publisher: Insecurity Insight via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-26
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Title: Statement ahead of the ASEAN summit on Myanmar from Deepmala Mahla, CARE’s Vice President of Humanitarian Affairs
Description: "“CARE urges all ASEAN member states to use the summit in Jakarta on 24 April to push Myanmar’s military authorities to end all violations against people in Myanmar and ensure unfettered access for aid agencies. The humanitarian situation in Myanmar has deteriorated starkly since the 1 February coup, with food insecurity and conflict-related displacement on the rise. The impact on the public health system is of grave concern, particularly given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “The fallout of the coup threatens to spark a wider regional crisis with thousands of people already fleeing across international borders in search of safety. CARE implores neighbouring countries to grant refuge to those escaping violence and refrain from pushing back people in need of protection. “The pre-monsoon cyclone season, which has just started in Myanmar, threatens to exacerbate the already desperate humanitarian situation. We know that women, girls and other vulnerable groups are often disproportionately affected during emergencies. CARE and other aid agencies must be granted access to any affected communities to avert a complete humanitarian catastrophe. “ASEAN member states must work together, with other countries in the region and the international community, to find a durable and peaceful solution to this crisis. The girls, boys, women and men of Myanmar depend on it.” Founded in 1945, CARE is one of the largest and oldest humanitarian aid organisations fighting global poverty. CARE has a special focus on empowering and meeting the needs of women and girls and promoting gender equality and works in 100 countries around the world. For media enquiries contact: Suzy Sainovski (based in Melbourne, Australia) Asia Pacific Regional Communications & Media Advisor, CARE International Email: [email protected] Skype: suzy.sainovski Mobile: + 61 3 429 418 353..."
Source/publisher: Care International (Geneva) "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-26
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Title: UN chief highlights key role of Asian regional bloc in ending Myanmar crisis
Summary: Speaking during a Security Council meeting on cooperation between the UN and regional and sub-regional organizations, he highlighted the relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (...
Sub-title: UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on Monday for leaders in Asia to bolster efforts towards finding a peaceful solution to the bloody crisis in Myanmar, sparked by the military coup in February.
Description: Speaking during a Security Council meeting on cooperation between the UN and regional and sub-regional organizations, he highlighted the relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), underlining the bloc's important role in diplomacy, conflict prevention and peacebuilding.....Crucial role in urgent crisis: "Today, ASEAN's role is more crucial than ever as the region faces an urgent crisis in Myanmar", Mr. Guterres said. "I have repeatedly called on the international community to work, collectively and through bilateral channels, to help bring an end to the violence and the repression by the military." In this regard, UN cooperation with ASEAN is vital, the Secretary-General said, as the situation requires a robust international response grounded in a unified regional effort. "I urge regional actors to leverage their influence to prevent further deterioration and, ultimately, find a peaceful way out of this catastrophe.".....UN envoy stands ready: Mr. Guterres told ambassadors that his Special Envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, is in the region and stands ready to resume dialogue with the military and others, "and to contribute to a return of Myanmar to the democratic path, and to peace and stability." Ms. Schraner Burgener arrived in Bangkok on 9 April, according to her Twitter account. In a post last Tuesday marking the Burmese New Year, Thingyan, she wrote "Thingyan should be a celebration of joy, but unfortunately there is nothing to celebrate in Myanmar. I hope it is true that sprinkling water washes away sins. So many sins have been committed since 1st February. I hope to celebrate Thingyan with all released again in the future.".....Cooperation continues to grow: The Security Council debate, held online, focused on an issue which the Secretary-General said has been a key priority since he took office four years ago. Cooperation between the UN and regional and sub-regional organizations has "grown exponentially" since its founding in 1945, he said, encompassing areas that include preventive diplomacy, mediation, counterterrorism, peacekeeping and promoting human rights, but also combating climate change and now the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Guterres provided examples of this partnership across several continents, showcasing how working together can support countries to manage complex political transitions and find sustainable solutions to political challenges. In Sudan, for example, the UN supported the African Union (AU) and Ethiopia in facilitating negotiations which led to the establishment of the transitional government.....Multilateralism the only way:"As we continue to support Sudan in its efforts towards democratic governance and an inclusive society, our collaboration remains essential", he said. The Secretary-General said strengthening UN partnerships with regional and sub-regional organizations is integral to his vision for "a networked multilateralism". Despite the pandemic, he convened heads of regional organizations for a virtual dialogue last November, to shore up collaboration during crises.  "I am committed to pursuing an even closer engagement to promote confidence-building and dialogue, in conflict prevention, management and resolution", he said. "We can only address our world's current and future challenges, including those exposed and heightened by COVID-19, through ambitious and coordinated multilateral action."
Source/publisher: UN News via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-26
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Title: ASEAN leaders demand access to coup-hit Myanmar
Sub-title: ASEAN leaders called on the Myanmar junta to end violence against citizens. At the Jakarta summit, the regional group agreed to appoint an envoy to tackle the deadly crisis.
Description: "Myanmar's neighbors will appoint a special envoy to try to resolve the political crisis sparked by the military coup in the country, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Saturday. The ASEAN regional grouping agreed on the move during crisis talks in Jakarta, attended by leaders from the 10 Southeast Asian member states. ASEAN to send a delegation to Myanmar Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing made his first trip abroad since the coup on February 1 to take part in the talks. He did not make a formal statement. However, the organization said it had reached a consensus on sending a delegation and the envoy to Myanmar. "The first requested commitment is for the Myanmar military to stop the use of violence and that all parties there at the same time must refrain so that tensions will be reduced," Widodo said. "The violence must be stopped and democracy, stability and peace in Myanmar must be restored." "An inclusive dialogue process must be started. Political prisoners must be released immediately," he said, adding that a special envoy from ASEAN needed to be appointed to push for such dialogue. Widodo also said Myanmar's military must open access to humanitarian aid. Malaysia leader hails progress 'beyond our expectation' Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said Myanmar accepted the proposal to stop violence against civilians, according to state news agency Bernama. He called the meeting a success: "We have succeeded. It's beyond our expectation in getting the outcome from today's meeting." Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called on Myanmar to allow an ASEAN delegation and the United Nations special envoy to visit the country, in comments carried by Channel NewsAsia. The junta has launched a bloody crackdown on protests which has left more than 700 people dead. The United Nations estimates that about 250,000 people have been displaced..."
Source/publisher: "DW News" (Germany)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-25
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup
Description: "The terrorist leader attended the ASEAN leaders meeting today, claiming legitimacy to the international community whilst killing and injuring peaceful protestors and innocent civilians. The release of political prisoners was not included on ASEAN ‘five points of consensus’ released late evening. All of the arbitrarily detained must be released. At least 1 activist was killed on the day of this meeting, and violations have been systematically perpetrated this past week. If the illegal military does not stop terrorizing its people, then what will ASEAN do. As of 24 April, (748) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. (1) from Pyinmana in Naypyitaw died on 24 April. (2) from Loikaw Town in Kayah State and Pyay Town in Bago Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of April 24, a total of (3389) people are currently under detention; of them (79) are sentenced. 1138 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document. In Naypyidaw today, a young man was killed during a motorcycle demonstration in Pyinmana Township. This morning in Mandalay, plainclothes terrorists were seen using motorbikes looted from civilians to chase after and shoot protestors, a young man was shot in the abdomen. Also in Mandalay, a young man who set fire to tires was shot in the head and dragged into a car when he could not move. In Dala, Yangon Region, some police and military vehicles chased away youths participating in a motorcycle demonstration. On 23 April night, in Thaton Town, Mon State. Two men were shot dead for no reason. Yesterday afternoon, in Thapye Aye village close to Myingyan Town, Mandalay Region, the junta went looking to arrest and shoot people, five villagers were injured and one is in critical condition. In Htigyaing Town, Sagaing Region, yesterday afternoon an anti-military activist was arrested and there was a clash between civilians and the junta, two women were injured in the clash. Persecution is a pattern of this terrorist group, civilians are persecuted daily, in various ways. On 22 April, in Pyay Town, Bago Region, three youths were arrested, the terrorist group returned the dead body of one with wounds across the body consistent with torture. Civilians are being made into an enemy in detention, increasing numbers killed day after day. The right to security and liberty have disappeared under this junta. The terrorists care only about their interests and power. So-called police and soldiers take property from civilians like bandits. On the night of April 22, in Mogok, Mandalay Region, junta forces looted 7 million kyat and threatened the neighborhood that whoever posted the case on social media would get shot. On the evening of April 23, they entered a household goods store (which sold fire extinguishers and equipment), in Mandalay and looted. The post-coup period is getting long, the terrorist group is robbing, destroying property, killings are only intensifying. All sectors of the economy have begun to collapse in response to the political deterioration. People continue to call for meaningful action against the terrorist group, but are still being ignored. The situation for ordinary people is worse than ever. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: “Our uprising must succeed” Email : [email protected] Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma In Solidarity, AAPP..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-25
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Title: Global Norms Are Under Attack in Post-Coup Myanmar
Sub-title: The world’s action – or inaction – will have an impact far beyond Myanmar’s own borders.
Description: "With Myanmar’s post-coup crisis dragging into its third month, security forces commanded by the coup leader Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing show no sign of abating in their brutal suppression of the anti-coup protests that have erupted across the country since early February. Despite their massive numbers, protestors have been highly disciplined and peaceful. It was only after the security forces began using excessive and lethal force that a small pocket of them resorted to handmade weapons such as Molotov cocktails and outdated hunting guns to defend themselves, with many more realizing that armed resistance was their only remaining option. If the security forces have shown troublingly little respect for international norms in their treatment of civilians and activists, no less troubling has been the response from the international community in the face of what is fast becoming a “bloodbath,” in the words of Christine Schraner Burgener, the United Nations special envoy to Myanmar. In other words, although the people of Myanmar are the ones at the receiving end of all these atrocity crimes, the fact that they are ongoing and the perpetrators remain undeterred points to a collective failure on the part of the international community to uphold the norms to which it has committed itself, and sends a very dangerous message to current and would-be strongmen. As many have now warned, with the ever-more-real possibility of the country being plunged into a full-fledged civil war, the kind worse than what we have seen in the past 70 years, time is fast running out for the international community to act. The international community must wake up to the depth and extent of the reign of terror Min Aung Hlaing has unleashed in his ruthless attempt to crush opposition and assert his illegal and unconstitutional rule. His security forces have been given a free pass to kill unarmed civilians, to arrest and torture people at will, and to loot and destroy private property. According to the monitoring organization the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), as of April 21, the junta’s security forces had killed at least 739 civilians, some murdered in the most horrific manner. Among those killed are 50 children; the latest victim was a 7-year-old girl, who was shot dead at her home in Mandalay. As reported by the investigative journal Myanmar Now, there have been several documented cases in which an activist arrested overnight has turned up dead the next morning. In yet another but definitely not isolated incident, an armed police officer made a passer-by crawl on his hands and knees in a disturbingly dehumanizing manner. So far, at least 3,331 people, including State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint and other elected MPs, politicians, student leaders and human rights activists, remain under detention, some in undisclosed locations. On March 27 alone, at least 114 civilians in 44 towns across the country were killed by the junta. Junta forces have gone so far as exhuming and dragging away bodies. On March 28, they burned a man alive. Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month. Before the coup, U.N. investigators had found a genocidal intent in the crimes committed against the Rohingya people by the security forces commanded by the same general Min Aung Hlaing. During their so-called “clearance operations” in August 2017, at least 6,700 were killed, mass rapes and arson were committed, and more than 700,000 people were forced to flee to Bangladesh. Furthermore, the U.N. Fact Finding Mission reported in September 2018 that the military has likely committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kachin, Shan, and Rakhine states, and in April 2020, the U.N. Special Rapporteur reported that “possible war crimes and crimes against humanity were ongoing in Rakhine and Chin States.” Myanmar is today facing charges of genocide for the violence at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. Due to ongoing aerial bombing and offensives targeting civilians and their facilities across the country, thousands of Karen people are fleeing to neighboring Thailand, where there has arisen an urgent humanitarian situation. All this is to say that Min Aung Hlaing and his State Administration Council (SAC) are fast turning Myanmar into a “human rights ground zero.” From mass murder to torture to arbitrary arrests to killing children to shooting at medics providing emergency care to the wounded, almost every article in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is being violated or is under threat. In the borderland areas where ethnic armies have been fighting for their right to self-determination for the past 70 years, aerial bombings by his forces are deliberately targeting civilian populations and facilities, adding to the war crimes and crimes against humanity against minority peoples, and the genocide or ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya people that the military has already committed. For those foreign states claiming that they have a policy of working with only “states” as opposed to “governments” – if they mean by any chance that the SAC is the state in question – they must get their facts right. The SAC cannot even fulfil its basic duty as a state, namely, to provide security to its people. Nor can it provide basic services like healthcare with many civil servants having joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) to protest the military’s illegal, illegitimate, and increasingly bloody coup. So far as Ming Aung Hlaing’s coup regime is recognized as Myanmar’s de facto or de jure government, it must also be recognized that it is actively committing mass atrocities against its own population. Therefore, for foreign nations to recognize the SAC as the “state” would make a mockery of their commitment to uphold human rights and international law, as the latter is showing absolutely no respect for these. On the other hand, the newly formed National Unity Government, which it is imperative for the international community to recognize as the legitimate government for no other reason than that it receives overwhelming support from the people, cannot yet protect the people. Thus, the onus is now on the international community to protect the civilian population in Myanmar before the forces of SAC commit further atrocities against them, and sink the country deeper into chaos. What is lacking for urgent international intervention, whether in the form of R2P or otherwise, is not evidence on the ground but political will at the U.N. and in the capitals of the most powerful nations on earth. As part of their “statement diplomacy,” foreign missions based in Myanmar have joined a chorus of other diplomatic voices in calling for restoration of democracy among other things in the country. With so much emphasis being put on restoration of what existed before the coup, it should be clear that what the pro-democratic forces inside Myanmar want is not a status quo ante in which the military enjoys a privileged role in politics without being accountable to the people or any elected body. Differently put, what we had pre-coup was a military dictatorship with some democratic characteristics. In the meantime, as another massacre in Bago in which junta’s forces have killed more than 80 protesters shows, Min Aung Hlaing is in no way backing down. Furthermore, letting the generals off the hook for the most atrocious crimes would make a farce of global justice, and more importantly, would utterly fail the people of Myanmar in their search for justice. Meanwhile, the pro-democracy protesters remain as determined as ever to see the end of Min Aung Hlaing’s illegal and brutal reign. Many of those we have spoken to have told us that they are prepared to fight until the end using every means at their disposal. Sanctions, with their ineffectual record from the past, imposed by the U.S., U.K., and EU on the junta’s top generals and its economic complex are failing to deter them. As Min Aung Hlaing’s forces continue to commit mass murders and carry out summary arrests at the sites of urban protest and his bombs rain down on villages in the borderlands, friends of the Myanmar people might have to prepare themselves to contemplate more coercive measures, such as arming the resistance movement, including the ethnic armed organizations that are already in the fight. As the former U.S. ambassador to Myanmar Scot Marciel wrote recently on his Twitter account, “the Tatmadaw is beyond reason. I see no value in dialogue with them until and unless they recognize they cannot win and make clear they are looking for a way out.” The people of Myanmar have shown their bravery, but will the rest of the world rise to the occasion? The clock is ticking..."
Source/publisher: "The Diplomat" (Japan)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-25
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Title: Myanmar coup: Week from March 30 to April 17, Opponents of junta unveil Suu Kyi-led unity cabinet
Sub-title: Group seeks recognition as 'legitimate government'; ASEAN summit rumblings intensify
Description: "Myanmar's military on Feb. 1 detained State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint in the country's first coup since 1988, bringing an end to a decade of civilian rule.....The Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy had won a landslide in a general election in November. But the military has claimed the election was marred by fraud. For all our coverage, visit our Myanmar Coup page. Read our in-depth coverage: -- Myanmar junta taps Russian air power to bomb ethnic rebels -- Failed state: Myanmar collapses into chaos -- Myanmar junta efforts to restore calm 'unworkable': ex-Japan envoy -- Myanmar junta reaps millions in gem sales as economy crumbles -- Myanmar coup presses Japan to retreat from Abe-era business push -- Taiwan takes tougher line against Myanmar regime -- How Myanmar's post-coup violence is transforming a generation -- Who is Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing? 5 things to know -- Myanmar: Inside the coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi's government..."
Source/publisher: "Nikkei Asian Review" (Japan)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-25
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Title: SE Asian nations say consensus reached on ending Myanmar crisis
Description: "Southeast Asian leaders said they had agreed on a plan with Myanmar's junta chief on Saturday to end the crisis in the violence-hit nation, but he did not explicitly respond to demands to halt the killing of civilian protesters. "It's beyond our expectation," Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told reporters after the leaders' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that was also attended by Myanmar's Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. "We tried not to accuse his side too much because we don't care who's causing it," Muhyiddin added. "We just stressed that the violence must stop. For him, it's the other side that's causing the problems. But he agreed that violence must stop." ASEAN leaders wanted a commitment from Min Aung Hlaing to restrain his security forces, which an activist monitoring group says have killed 745 people since a mass civil disobedience movement erupted to challenge his Feb. 1 coup. They also wanted the release of political prisoners. "He did not reject what was put forward by me and many other colleagues," Muhyiddin said. According to a statement from group chair Brunei, a consensus was reached on five points - ending violence, a constructive dialogue among all parties, a special ASEAN envoy to facilitate the dialogue, acceptance of aid and a visit by the envoy to Myanmar. The five-point consensus did not mention political prisoners, although the chairman's statement said the meeting "heard calls" for their release. "He (Min Aung Hlaing) said he heard us, he would take the point in, which he considered helpful," Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told reporters. "He was not opposed to ASEAN playing a constructive role, or an ASEAN delegation visit, or humanitarian assistance." But Lee added the process had a long way to go, "because it is one thing to say you will cease violence and release political prisoners, it is another thing to get it done". It was not clear why Lee referred to the release of political prisoners when this was not in the five consensus points. There was no immediate comment from Min Aung Hlaing. A regular nighttime news bulletin on the military-run Myawaddy TV reported his attendance of the meeting and said Myanmar would closely cooperate with ASEAN on various issues, including "the political transition in Myanmar, and the process that will be implemented in the future". Charles Santiago, head of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights group, called for the release of Myanmar's political prisoners and a timeline for an end to violence. "ASEAN must now act swiftly and set a clear timeline for Min Aung Hlaing to deliver on ending the violence, or stand ready to hold him accountable," he said. 'RESTORE DEMOCRACY' The ASEAN gathering was the first coordinated international effort to ease the crisis in Myanmar, an impoverished country that neighbours China, India and Thailand, since the coup that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government. Myanmar is part of the 10-nation ASEAN, which has a policy of consensus decision-making and non-interference in the affairs of its members. Myanmar's parallel National Unity Government (NUG), comprised of pro-democracy figures, remnants of Suu Kyi's ousted administration and representatives of armed ethnic groups, said it welcomed the consensus reached but said the junta had to be held to its promises. "We look forward to firm action by ASEAN to follow up its decisions and to restore our democracy," said Dr. Sasa, spokesman for the NUG. It was unusual for the leader of a military government in Myanmar to attend an ASEAN summit - usually the country has been represented by a lower-ranked officer or a civilian. The leaders of Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Brunei were at the meeting, along with the foreign ministers of Laos, Thailand and the Philippines. While ASEAN's non-interference policy makes it difficult to tackle contentious issues, the body is seen by the United Nations, China and the United States as best placed to deal with the junta directly. "We in the [@UN] Security Council eagerly await the outcome of the @ASEAN meeting on Burma, which deserves serious and immediate attention," U.S Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield tweeted..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-25
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Title: Southeast Asian Leaders Call For Immediate End To Violence In Myanmar
Description: "Leaders of nine Southeast Asian countries on Saturday called for an immediate end to the violence in Myanmar, where the military government has cracked down violently on the enormous protests over its February coup. At an emergency summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations held in Jakarta, Indonesia's president called the situation in Myanmar "unacceptable." "The violence must be stopped and democracy, stability and peace in Myanmar must be restored," President Joko Widodo said. Hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy protesters have demonstrated in the months since Myanmar's military seized full control of the country from the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi. In response, the military has imposed Internet blackouts, arrested thousands and fired on protesters. At least 748 people have been killed and 3,389 are being detained, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Burmese human rights group based in Thailand. The official statement released Saturday by ASEAN leaders makes five demands of the military junta, including an "immediate cessation" of the violence and a peaceful solution to the situation via "constructive dialogue," mediated by a special envoy appointed by ASEAN. The leaders also demanded that Myanmar's military government allow the arrival of humanitarian assistance. The military's leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who was in attendance, did not make a public statement. The summit was his first trip outside Myanmar since the coup. The invitation of the general was criticized by opponents of the coup, including the new National Unity Government in Myanmar, formed earlier this month by pro-democracy politicians who have named the deposed democratic leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, as their leaders. The National Unity Government argued the general's invitation risked legitimizing the military coup and had called on Interpol to arrest General Min Aung Hlaing upon his arrival in Jakarta. In a statement released after the summit, the group's spokesperson, Dr. Sasa, praised ASEAN's actions. "We welcome the encouraging news that ASEAN leaders have reached consensus that the military violence in Myanmar must stop and political prisoners released," Sasa said. "... We look forward to firm action by ASEAN to follow up its decisions and restore our democracy and freedom for our people and our region." ASEAN has traditionally defaulted to a more hands-off approach to the internal affairs of its 10 member nations. In the days after the coup in February, the bloc issued a statement urging a "return to normalcy" but stopped short of explicit condemnation. But ahead of Saturday's summit, pro-democracy advocates and organizations urged ASEAN to take a stronger stand. "This is not an internal matter for Myanmar but a major human rights and humanitarian crisis which is impacting the entire region and beyond," said Emerlynne Gil of Amnesty International ahead of Saturday's summit. Myanmar's deposed ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, who drew international praise for denouncing the coup in a remarkable speech before the U.N. General Assembly in February, pleaded with ASEAN to prioritize civilians. "Whatever the decision made by the leaders of the ASEAN, they should take into account the saving lives of innocent civilians in Myanmar and providing humanitarian assistance to the people in need," Kyaw Moe Tun said in an interview with Al-Jazeera ahead of Saturday's summit. In Myanmar, protests have mostly quieted in recent weeks due to the crackdowns. According to The Associated Press, some 150 protesters gathered Friday in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, but dispersed quickly when police arrived..."
Source/publisher: National Public Radio (Washington, D.C.)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-25
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Title: The women of Myanmar: ‘Our place is in the revolution’
Sub-title: Some 60 percent of protesters against the military coup are women who fear their hard-won rights hang in the balance.
Description: "Every day at sunrise, Daisy* and her sisters set out to spend several hours in the heat cleaning debris from the previous day’s protests off the streets of Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. Protests have erupted around the country since the military seized control of the government after arresting democratic leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on February 1, and declared a year-long state of emergency. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a non-profit rights organisation formed by former political prisoners from Myanmar and based in Thailand, 715 civilian protesters have been killed and more than 3,000 people have been charged, arrested or sentenced to prison for taking part in protests. March 27 marked the deadliest day of the anti-coup protests so far, with more than 100 deaths in a single day. Daisy, a 29-year-old elementary school teacher, has been out of work since the first week of February, because schools have been closed as a result of the protests, but is the sole earner and carer for her two younger sisters, aged 15 and 13. Despite this, she spends a portion of whatever money she has left to help feed hungry protesters. The military makes use of dalans – local people who are forced to spy on their neighbours and, in particular, to target women living alone whose homes are easy targets for looting and harassment. As a result, Daisy and her sisters have been forced to move home three times and are now in hiding with relatives. “The military are preying on vulnerable women, breaking in and raiding where we live to seize our belongings and lock us up for no reason,” Daisy says. But despite having little financial security, Daisy continues to help with the protests. “As women, we are the most at risk under the military but however large or small, our place is in the revolution.”.....Outrageous displays of ‘profanity’: Across Myanmar, women protesters have lined the streets with vibrant traditional women’s clothing and undergarments in the hope of challenging a long-held taboo around women’s clothing. “Htaimein – Burmese for sarongs and intimate women’s wear – are perceived as ‘unclean’ in traditional Buddhist belief and thus considered inferior in Burmese society,” explains 25-year-old Su, an activist and university student who does not wish to give her full name for fear of reprisals. Su is originally from Dadaye, a town in the Ayeyarwady region of southwest Myanmar. “Coming into contact or walking under these is believed to bring bad luck, reducing one’s hpone – masculine superiority – in Buddhist belief.” She says hanging up sarongs has been an effective deterrent to keep the military from attacking the protesters as their staunch beliefs will not allow them go anywhere near the orchestrated clothing lines. Women are also using their sarongs to create flags and hats for men to parade alongside banners that read “our victory, our htaimein” to celebrate wielding a degrading superstition about women as a successful defence strategy. In a similar vein, women have been hanging sanitary towels drenched in red paint to emulate blood over photos of the military general, Min Aung Llaing. “For a society where men, including Min Llaing, detest the idea of menstruation, smearing his face with what he finds the dirtiest is unimaginably humiliating,” Su explains. “Sarongs and sanitary napkins are symbolic of the women in Myanmar and how they are regarded as inferior to men in society.” By weaponising these displays of “profanity”, women say they are reclaiming their status against the same patriarchal attitudes that perceive them as lesser in society.....Civil disobedience as a means of resistance: The Women’s League of Burma, an organisation which seeks to increase women’s participation in public life in Myanmar (which was formerly called Burma), estimates that 60 percent of those protesting are women, while the AAPP says women make up almost 40 percent of those arrested. The Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) has brought the country’s public services, including healthcare, schools and banks, to a halt. It is also behind efforts to deprive the military of its income by boycotting military-owned services and products such as tobacco, alcohol, coffee and oil, and refusing to pay government taxes. Chit*, a 26-year-old doctor-in-training from Yangon, has been part of a group of female medical volunteers tending to the wounded during the protests. She believes providing medical care to protesters is a duty for all doctors. She says she has heard of one female doctor who was shot by the military while trying to aid a patient. “As women, we are expected to stay in ‘safe’ areas of the protests but we know our place is wherever help is needed.” Female lawyers and bankers have formed an informal group to offer legal and financial advice to civilians, especially those trying to flee the country. “We want to offer our services to those in general need of legal routes or financial advice. We know the public have been put in a compromising position given a pandemic then a coup so free verbal consultations, advice, and going through documents with them is an extension of our efforts against the military,” explains Min Thwaw, a private lawyer practising in the capital, Naypyidaw. “Many white-collar workers have lost their jobs and those females workers continue to be threatened by authority figures but the military need us [the workers] more than we need them. Without us, the banking system will collapse soon and economic crisis will remain irreversible – a price we are willing to pay to cripple the military,” she adds. Economic uncertainty caused by the military takeover is likely to have a negative effect on the country’s $6bn garment and footwear industry. As a result, thousands of garment workers, predominantly young women, have taken part in demonstrations, urging the multinational companies they work for to denounce the coup and protect workers from being fired or even killed for protesting. While some Western brands have remained silent over the military takeover in Myanmar, The Benetton Group, H&M, Primark and Bestseller all suspended new orders from factories there until further notice, following pressure from within and outside Myanmar. Despite this, trade unions in Myanmar stress companies are not doing enough and are demanding more “concrete action” like documenting and addressing human rights abuses with their respective governments and committing to partial payments of orders. Many garment workers have left their family homes for the safety of other family members in order to participate in the strikes. They include 27-year-old Jasmine (who did not wish to give her full name) and five of her colleagues. They live together in a 250-square-foot flat in Yangon, surviving on food donations from the wider community as well as community money handouts – funds raised by local and international supporters of the CDM to finance the movement from afar – a portion of which they need to send back to their home villages to support their families as well. These young women march defiantly together in large human chains with arms interlocked. Jasmine says this is an effective tactic adopted by garment workers who are protesting to ensure the police do not separate them from each other. “They yank protesters away to break the chain then abuse those they capture in jail or publicly.” On February 18, about 1,000 garment workers producing clothes for Primark were reportedly locked in GY Sen Apparel Company’s factory for taking part in the protests by supervisors who sympathised with the military. Upon breaking free after several hours, many of them were fired. Jasmine also says that she and her colleagues have been intimidated with verbal abuse by factory owners, who confront the women physically, they say, and who have been trying to fire them for protesting. For now, Jasmine still has her job, although many of her colleagues have been laid off. “These are the challenges we are faced with on top of a coup; borderline starvation and no pay. We need the companies we work for to denounce these heinous acts, recognise what we are going through and protect us,” she says. Since the women live together, they have been easy targets for the military and factory owners. During the day, the workers liaise with activists to gather information about locals collaborating with the military by providing details about people’s whereabouts and public gatherings. This way, they can find out about potential morning break-ins into workers’ homes and abductions by the military and police carrying out military orders. As the evening sets in, workers quietly gather in one house to make plans for the next day’s protests. The military blacks out the internet every night from 1am to 9am and has banned all social media to stop protesters from informing each other about arrests or possible military targets. It is meticulously tracking telecommunications. It also imposes a strict overnight curfew and deploys soldiers with orders to shoot on sight anyone who breaks it. Jasmine and her friends have heard frightening rumours about people being shot or abducted if they are found to be breaking curfew. The women, therefore, move carefully on foot from one house to another in the dead of night to relay crucial information regarding potential break-ins, abductions and to make plans for protests. “We cannot afford to risk brushing off anything heard through the grapevine as hearsay. Nobody is here to protect us but ourselves,” says Jasmine.....The LGBTQ community: The LGBTQ community has also participated in the protests, marching with rainbow flags. “We know they despise our identity so we offer them the highest form of indignation, standing united and proud in the skin we feel most comfortable [in],” says 30-year-old trans woman Diamond. Diamond believes that the LGBTQ protests have encouraged more people to come out as gay or trans. “People come up to join marches then disclose this is their first time being publicly trans or gay because it is an opportune time to be true to who they always have been.” However, the LBGTQ protest efforts were cut short at the start of March when the military began a crackdown on the community by raiding homes and detaining members. Out of fear of surveillance and arrests, Diamond and several of her friends from the transgender community have either fled the country or gone into hiding. “As a trans woman, I want the future generation of Myanmar to know the LGBTQ community risked everything and stood valiant against the military,” she says.....Sexual violence as a military tactic: Protests against a male-dominated military that has no women at all in its senior ranks and very few (0.2 percent) in the rank and file, have come at a great cost to women. Activists say that military and police have manhandled, groped and sexually harassed female protesters. “If you’re leading a large crowd, they will try to grope your breasts from behind to physically remove you or, at the very least, will try to unbutton your blouse with their baton,” says Daisy. “Women who have gone into custody have been subjected to unnecessarily prolonged strip and search, as well as groping.” Sexual violence is nothing new in military operations in Myanmar. It has been used to crack down on the Rohingya Muslim population since 2017. Instances of gang rapes by soldiers, forced public nudity and humiliation, and sexual slavery in military captivity have been reported by the Rohingya population, according to investigations by the UN. With violence against protesters escalating – and no sign of the protests stopping – Daisy says she fears the military will use mass rape tactics “as a last resort tool any moment now”.Nandar, a 26-year-old feminist activist from Shan State, claims Myanmar is culturally a deeply patriarchal society where the military sees itself as the “father” of the nation, assuming the “dominant and masculine role”. “By nature of a patriarchal system, social hierarchies are formed through hyper-masculinity and deeply conservative views that consider women subservient,” she says. The lack of women in the senior military ranks, she says, indicates the absence of women’s voices in the political sphere and further marginalises them, reinforcing stereotypes and transferring a woman’s importance in the political space to passive social roles instead. Nandar, who does not wish to give her full name for fear of reprisals, says: “The progress feminism made [under democracy] allowed women to see the value of their participation in every sector, moving the country forward. But under a misogynistic military which renders women entirely invisible, we will enter a dark future. Democracy took us one step forward but returning to dictatorship is taking us five steps back.” Despite all the odds, women have used their momentum to vocalise their opposition to patriarchal control and the lack of democratic freedom in the country. They have been the backbone of the protests and are promising not to back down..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-25
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Title: ‘We want democracy back’: Despite hardships, Yangon’s urban poor vow to fight on
Sub-title: Working class communities may have been among the hardest hit by the coup, but despite their struggles many remain determined to see the military overthrown.
Description: "Among the wood, bamboo and tin homes that sprawl over several acres in one of Shwepyithar Township’s largest slums, Ko Kyaw Thu Htet begins to weep silently as he contemplates life under a military dictatorship. “Many lives have been sacrificed, including innocent children,” he says. “The democracy that we want is very expensive – we have to sacrifice a lot to get it.” Kyaw Thu Htet has seen this sacrifice first-hand. The 24-year-old bricklayer has been a regular member of frontline protest teams in the northern Yangon township since shortly after the coup, and on March 3 security forces shot and killed a man in his 30s standing near him. The death occurred during a confrontation with police and soldiers outside Sein Gay Har shopping centre in Hlaing Township; Kyaw Thu Htet was one of 128 people arrested that day. Despite initially facing a charge of incitement under section 505(a) of the Penal Code, he was released on March 24, together with 97 others arrested three weeks earlier. The arrest didn’t deter him. Shortly after returning home, Kyaw Thu Htet and his wife, a 24-year-old garment worker, immediately re-joined the protests, stopping only when it became impossible to evade the growing number of police and soldiers on the streets. Kyaw Thu Htet has vowed not to return to work until the revolution succeeds. For now, he’s relying on his wife and his father, who is also a bricklayer, in order to eat. Life is much more difficult, but Kyaw Thu Htet said he would dedicate every waking hour of his remaining life to the protest movement. “We just want to get democracy back. We hate the military dictator,” he told Frontier, referring to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. From Shwepyithar to Hlaing Tharyar, North Okkalapa to South Dagon, Yangon’s working-class neighbourhoods have been among the most resistant to military rule. Scores have been killed, with security forces deploying battlefield weapons to subdue street-level opposition. Since mid-March, these industrial townships have been under martial law, with a stricter curfew than elsewhere in the city and many criminal cases heard at military tribunals. These townships have also been among the most affected by the economic fallout from the February 1 coup, which prompted the World Bank to last month downgrade its forecast for Myanmar’s economy in 2020-21 to a 10 percent contraction. Others are warning of a contraction as large as 20pc, and possible economic collapse. Many households in these areas were already struggling due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, after the National League for Democracy government ordered two stringent lockdowns last year. “With savings already drained, many poor households have been forced to reduce consumption to cope,” the World Bank warned. Combined with “existing welfare challenges”, the impact of the coup would “likely result in a sharp increase in poverty, heightened food security risks, and deeper destitution for those already poor”. Since mid-March, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers have left Yangon due to lack of work and security concerns, returning to rural areas where there are very few jobs and they are reliant on the support of relatives. Much of this economic fallout has been self-imposed, in an effort to deny legitimacy and revenue to the junta. The Civil Disobedience Movement has shuttered banks and disrupted trade, while street protests have prompted many businesses to lock their doors. The closure of government facilities, particularly healthcare, has also disproportionately affected the poor. Frontier spoke to a number of people living on the outskirts of Yangon, who before the coup typically worked in insecure, low-paid jobs. Despite the hardship they faced, they said their support for the revolution remained undiminished, and they lay the blame for the economic crisis squarely on the military for illegally toppling the NLD government. Ma Hla Witt Yee, 25, lives with her husband and their four-year-old son in Nya ward of Shwepyithar. They run a small business making pillows using leftovers from the township’s many factories. Hla Witt Yee said that even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales were not as slow as they have been post-coup. Previously, they could bring in about K50,000 a day – about a third of which was profit – but that figure has dropped to K10,000 since February, the couple said. Like other interviewees, Hla Witt Yee said her financial problems could only be resolved through a political solution to the country’s crisis – for her, that means the release of detained NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the end of military rule. “We’re not just hoping for our business to recover,” she said. “No matter what happens, if the country remains under the military, our desire for democracy will not change.” Hla Witt Yee’s cousin, Ma Thiri Mon, 24, also works in the pillow-making business in Shwepyithar. A single mother, she lives there with her brothers and now her parents, who moved in after the coup because of their own financial difficulties. Like her cousin, Thiri Mon is also facing economic disaster and had been unable to pay the interest on a debt owed to a moneylender since before the coup. But Thiri Mon said she was more concerned about the impact military rule would have on her daughter and future generations. “Our children’s education has already been delayed because of COVID-19,” she said, referring to the year-long closure of schools due to the pandemic. “I’m very concerned for my child’s future.” She said children could only thrive in a democracy, where they have access to information and freedom of expression. “If not, they won’t be able to express what they believe,” she said. Many have made sacrifices to contribute to the resistance. They include a 42-year-old woman, also from Shwepyithar, who requested anonymity due to fears for her safety. A single mother and a businesswoman, before the coup she lived in a large, comfortable two-storey home. Shortly after the military takeover she got involved in the anti-coup movement, not only joining protests but also providing cash and in-kind support to demonstrators and striking workers. She was arrested in Tarmwe Township on March 3 during a large-scale crackdown on protesters and sent to Insein Prison in northern Yangon. Since her release three weeks later, she has moved to a slum in Shwepyithar, where she has resolved to live and support grassroots communities until the revolution prevails. “Do you know why I’m so determined? Only when we win will those arrested be able to go back home. Most of them are from the working class,” she said. “Wealthier people are more afraid than grassroots workers … most of those who are really willing to make sacrifices for democracy are from the grassroots.” Across the Hlaing River from Shwepyithar, the industrial suburb of Hlaing Tharyar has seen many of its factories close temporarily or permanently since the coup, due to lack of orders, raw materials or workers. Several Chinese-run and other foreign-owned factories were also set alight shortly after security forces massacred more than 50 people in the township in March. About two-thirds of its residents, many of whom are first-generation migrants to Yangon, have since left for other parts of the country, according to labour rights groups and residents. Those who remain face a struggle to survive. Ma Thin Thin Aye, 35, a resident of Hlaing Tharyar’s 20 ward, gave birth to her third child a few days after the coup. A former leader of a local labour movement, she was unable to join the resistance because she was looking after her young daughter. In November she left her job at a garment factory in Mingaladon Township to open a tailor shop at her home because she wanted to run her own business. Until February, she earned a healthy income of about K300,000 per month sewing dresses, but now brings in just K50,000. Her husband, a construction worker earning a daily wage, has also struggled to find work since the coup. The couple spend K60,000 per month on rent, leaving them little to get by on each month. But unlike many of her neighbours, Thin Thin Aye has stayed in Yangon because, she said, life would be even more difficult in her Ayeyarwady delta hometown of Mawlamyinegyun. “If we go back there, our lives will be worse than they are now because we won’t have any income. We just wish to get back Mother Suu. We’ll only be able to live peacefully when we get her back,” she said. Although some tentative signs of an economic recovery are evident, Ko San Yu Maung, the general secretary of Action Labour Rights, said the factories that had reopened were operating well below their full capacity. “Since the military coup, people have found it really hard to earn a living. They are all in a state of fear. They go to work today despite feeling under threat from security forces because if they don’t work, they won’t have any money for food tomorrow,” he said. Business owners, too, have been badly affected. One small business owner from South Dagon Township, who is also a member of local resistance group the South Dagon People’s Guards, said that prior to the coup he had been hoping to expand his business, but the military takeover had crushed these plans. Instead, he’s been forced to lay off his workers temporarily. “I sent all my employees back to their villages,” said the man, who didn’t want to reveal the type of business. He said his business – and the economy more broadly – would only recover when the political situation improves. “Politics is the foundation of a country. Without a good and stable foundation, everything will suffer – not just the economy, but also thinks like education and healthcare,” he said. “So we just have to survive as best we can for now – we can’t expect a good economy until we are successful [in gaining democracy].” Ma Zin Mar Win, 22, is another migrant worker who has remained in Yangon. She’s managed to keep hold of her job in a factory in South Dagon that processes preserved fruit. She works there with her two sisters, aged 24 and 28, to support a young brother and their mother. The family is originally from Pyapon in Ayeyarwady Region, about 125 kilometres southwest of Yangon, and moved to the commercial capital six years ago in search of work. Until the coup, they had been slowly but gradually building a better future for themselves, putting away some of the K600,000 they earn each month so they could one day buy their own home. But the periodic closures of the factory since February 1, either due to a lack of raw materials at the factory or difficulties reaching their workplace, mean the sisters now only take home about K400,000 a month. Although this is enough to survive on, Zin Mar Win said the coup had robbed them of a better future. “We were trying to improve our lives, but how we can do that in this situation?” Safety is a major concern in these outlying townships. Residents are scared of the security forces, and some days there’s either no transport available to take them to the factory or they are too afraid to make the journey. Zin Mar Win said she fears every day for herself and her family. “We’re not safe during the day or at night because they [security forces] are shooting recklessly. We’re terrified of being hit, whether at home, on the street or at work,” she said. “We want to get back the peace we once had.”..."
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-25
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Title: ‘Will the killings stop?’ Demands for Asean to ensure Myanmar honours pledge to end violence
Sub-title: Asean says consensus with junta was ‘beyond expectations’, but there is no timeline or explicit commitment to stop violence
Description: "Human Rights Watch has told south-east Asian leaders not to “pat themselves on the back” for getting Myanmar’s military rulers to agree to end deadly violence, saying a consensus reached by Asean lacks specifics and makes no mention of freeing political prisoners. Nearly 750 protesters have been killed since the military seized power in a 1 February coup. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations announced after a summit on Saturday that the head of Myanmar’s junta had agreed to stop the violence. The Malaysian prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, who attended the meeting, said the outcome was “beyond our expectation”. But Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch said: “Asean cannot paper over the fact that there is no agreement for the Myanmar junta to release the more than 3,330 political prisoners currently in detention in the country, including senior political figures who presumably would be involved in any negotiated solution to the crisis,” he said. “Not only were the representatives of the Myanmar people not invited to the Jakarta meeting but they also got left out of the consensus that Asean is now patting itself on the back for reaching.” Robertson said Asean had to ensure the agreement was honoured, and called for further sanctions against the junta leaders. “The lack of a clear timeline for action, and Asean’s well known weakness in implementing the decisions and plans that it issues, are real concerns that no one should overlook,” he said. A statement released by Asean – whose meeting marked the first concerted international effort to find a resolution to the crisis – said it was agreed there should be constructive dialogue and an immediate end to violence. The group would also provide humanitarian assistance, and a special envoy would be appointed to meet with all concerned parties. On Saturday, as Myanmar’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing attended the meeting in Jakarta, soldiers and police fired on protesters near Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, according to reports by Agence France-Presse. One 50-year-old protester was held by the police and shot dead by a soldier, an eyewitness told the news agency. Tom Andrews, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said he was anxious to work with Asean’s special envoy and monitor the results of the summit. “The result of the Asean summit will be found in Myanmar, not a document,” he said. “Will the killing stop? Will the terrorising of neighbourhoods end? Will the thousands abducted be released? Will impunity persist?” Charles Santiago, head of the Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights group, also stressed the need to ensure the commitments were implemented urgently. “How willing Asean is in responding seriously to the Myanmar crisis is dependent on them holding Min Aung Hlaing to account, ensuring he does not take them for a ride, and delivers on the agreed points. We must not see a scenario where Min Aung Hlaing endlessly delays action, or controls who they talk to and deliver aid to,” said Santiago. Asean’s decision to invite Min Aung Hlaing to its meeting in Jakarta attracted criticism from Burmese activists and rights experts, who said it risked legitimising the coup. Since seizing power on 1 February the junta has killed 748 civilians, according to an advocacy group, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma. This includes dozens of children. At least 3,389 people are currently in detention or have been sentenced, including Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won the November election in a landslide victory. “We tried not to accuse his side too much because we don’t care who’s causing it,” Muhyiddin said of the junta chief, according to reports by Reuters. “We just stressed that the violence must stop. For him, it’s the other side that’s causing the problems. But he agreed that violence must stop.” Dr Sasa, spokesman for Myanmar’s national unity government, which was set up by pro-democracy politicians and includes elected officials who have been detained, said he welcomed the agreement, adding: “We look forward to firm action by Asean to follow up its decisions and to restore our democracy and freedom for our people and for the region.” Military-controlled Myawaddy TV reported Min Aung Hlaing had attended the meeting, and said Myanmar would closely cooperate with Asean on various issues, including “the political transition in Myanmar, and the process that will be implemented in the future”. The leaders of Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Brunei were present at the meeting, along with the foreign ministers of Laos, Thailand and the Philippines..."
Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-25
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Title: Asean leaders make headway on Myanmar
Sub-title: Five-point consensus includes end to violence and a special envoy after talks attended by junta chief
Description: "Asean leaders have agreed to a five-point consensus on the crisis in Myanmar, including an immediate end to violence, according to a statement released at the end of talks held on Saturday in the Indonesian capital. The consensus also included allowing humanitarian help in the country, releasing political prisoners and appointing a special Asean envoy for the Myanmar crisis. The agreement came even as the military cracked down on anti-coup protesters on Saturday, killing at least one person in the capital Nay Pyi Taw, according to a witness. Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government (NUG), said it welcomed the “encouraging” news of the consensus among leaders of the 10-country bloc. The NUG “looked forward to firm action by Asean to follow up on its decisions and to restore our democracy and freedom for our people,” Dr Sasa, its spokesman and minister of international cooperation, said in a statement. Formed last month, the NUG includes pro-democracy figures, remnants of Aung San Suu Kyi’s ousted administration and representatives of armed ethnic groups. It says it is the legitimate authority in Myanmar but it was not invited to Saturday’s meeting. Min Aung Hlaing, the army chief who led the Feb 1 coup, attended the talks, which were closed to the news media. Leaders who spoke afterward expressed cautious optimism that a way forward might be found, following nearly three months of turmoil in which 740 people have been killed by security forces and at least 3,000 imprisoned. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Min Aung Hlaing was not opposed to a visit by a delegation from Asean. “He said he heard us, he would take the points in which he considered helpful, that he was not opposed to Asean playing a constructive role, or an Asean delegation visit, or humanitarian assistance, and that they would move forward and engage with Asean in a constructive way,” Lee said in comments reported by Channel NewsAsia on its website. Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin declared the meeting a success, noting the junta chief’s agreement to end violence. “We have succeeded. It’s beyond our expectation in getting the outcome from today’s meeting,” the Bernama news agency quoted him as saying. The text of a speech delivered by Mr Muhyiddin indicated that Min Aung Hlaing heard some pointed criticism during the closed-door session. “There is an echo of distress among Asean member states to learn, on a daily basis, what is unfolding in Myanmar,” the Malaysian premier was reported to have said. “Many around the world want an explanation and we are finding it increasingly tough to explain.” “The deplorable situation in Myanmar must stop immediately.” Indonesian president Joko Widodo reiterated his position that the junta must release all political prisoners if any progress toward peace is to be made. Diplomats and government officials who asked not to be named said many Asean leaders came into the talks wanting a commitment from Min Aung Hlaing to restrain his security forces. “This is what Myanmar must avoid: geographical, political, social and national disintegration into warring ethnic parts,” said Philippines Foreign Secretary Teddy Locsin on Twitter. “Myanmar on its own must find peace again.” Saturday’s talks were attended by most heads of government, but Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha sent Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai to represent him. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte also sent his foreign minister. Small protests outside the Asean Secretariat headquarters in Jakarta were dispersed by security personnel. (story continues below).....‘Murderer-in-chief’:Min Aung Hlaing’s presence in Jakarta angered activists, human rights groups and the National Unity Government. “Meetings that contribute to a solution to the deepening crisis in Myanmar are welcome,” the latter said in a statement released earlier on Saturday. “(But) meetings that exclude the people of Myanmar but include murderer-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing … are unlikely to be helpful.” The lawmakers called on the junta to “stop murdering civilians”, release more than 3,000 political prisoners and return power to the country’s democratically elected government. “The crisis initiated by a murderous and unrepentant Myanmar military has engulfed the country, and will cause severe aftershocks — humanitarian and more — for the entire region,” the rights group Amnesty International said ahead of the meeting. “The Indonesian authorities are duty-bound to investigate Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other Myanmar military officials who may join his delegation to Jakarta.”.....‘Be realistic’: But Asean generally takes a hands-off approach to members’ internal affairs. Few analysts were expecting major breakthroughs from the meeting, saying instead it represented a chance to bring Myanmar’s military to the table and pave the way for a possible resolution. “We have to be realistic here. I don’t think the summit is going to bear out a full-blown plan on how to get Myanmar out of the conflict,” said Mustafa Izzuddin, senior international affairs analyst at Solaris Strategies Singapore. “But rather I think it will start the conversation and perhaps lay the parameters as to how a resolution could be found.”..."
Source/publisher: "Bangkok Post" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-24
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Title: ASEAN leaders meet with head of Myanmar's military junta
Description: "Myanmar's military commander has traveled to Indonesia for an emergency summit of regional leaders. It's the first time General Min Aung Hlaing has left Myanmar since the army seized power from the civilian government at the beginning of February. Other leaders are set to press for an end to the violent crackdown on pro-democracy activists.According to rights groups, hundreds of people have been killed during protests. But demonstrators say they refuse to back down until their elected leaders are freed.More than 700 people have been killed since the military seized power in a coup on February first. In spite of the danger, demonstrators take to the streets almost daily to protest against the military regime - and demand a return to democracy. The country's deposed civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, remains in detention, as do thousands of political prisoners rounded up by police.Last week, opposition groups and ethnic minorities joined forces to form a new 'National Unity Government.'In addition to deaths and arrests, the crackdown has also displaced an estimated quarter of a million people. The UN says the situation in Myanmar poses a regional security risk, and is urging ASEAN countries to take action.Pro-democracy activists have been calling for a tougher international response to the coup. The ASEAN summit will be a test of what Myanmar's neighbors are willing to do.Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/user/deutsche..."
Source/publisher: "DW News" (Germany)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-24
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Title: Myanmar: Analysis of the Economic Fallout and Food Insecurity in Wake of the Takeover - 2021
Description: "Prior to 1 February 2021, 2.8 million people were considered food insecure in Myanmar. WFP estimates that 1.5 to 3.4 million additional people could be at risk of food insecurity and in need of assistance due to the economic slowdown provoked by the political crisis in the coming three to six months. This is largely because poor people have lost jobs and income, making it harder to afford food. • Vulnerable people in urban areas affected by the economic standstill are at greatest risk, while longer term impact on food systems will also add pressure on rural populations’ food security. • In addition to job and income loss, increasing food and fuel prices, disruptions in trade, slumping economic growth, and internal displacement of ethnic minority groups bode ill for Myanmar’s poor. The latest forecast from the World Bank indicates a GDP contraction of 10% in 2021. • Market prices of rice and cooking oil have increased across all monitored markets since the start of February 2021 by 5% and 18%, respectively; however even higher increases were registered in border states including Rakhine, Kachin and Chin. Given the importance of rice and cooking oil in diets and the expenditure of poorest households on rice, continued price increases will likely further impact household food security. • Myanmar’s economy was already severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in2020; a quarter of the country’s population were poor and a further third were vulnerable to poverty. • The current situation is extremely precarious and there may be additional short- and longterm impacts on Myanmar’s food security and poverty levels..."
Source/publisher: World Food Programme (Rome)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-24
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Title: Southeast Asian leaders to discuss Myanmar with coup leader
Description: "Southeast Asian leaders will try to forge a path to end violence and instability in Myanmar at a summit on Saturday expected to include Min Aung Hlaing, the general in charge of the military takeover in February that sparked bloodshed and economic chaos. The gathering of leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta is the first coordinated international effort to ease the crisis in Myanmar, an impoverished country that neighbours China, India and Thailand, and was ruled by the military from 1962-2011. With participants attending in person despite the pandemic, Indonesia's foreign minister Retno Marsudi said on Friday that the summit reflected the "deep concern about the situation in Myanmar and ASEAN's determination to help Myanmar get out of this delicate situation". "We hope that tomorrow's (summit) will reach an agreement regarding steps that are good for the people of Myanmar," she said. Marsudi's Singaporen counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan, who is also in Jakarta, said ASEAN's leaders "will discuss the pressing need to address the grave and deeply concerning situation in Myanmar". Diplomats and government officials who asked not to be named said many ASEAN leaders want a commitment from Min Aung Hlaing to restrain his security forces, who monitors say have killed 745 people since a mass civil disobedience movement emerged to challenge his Feb. 1 coup against Aung San Suu Kyi's government. Min Aung Hlaing, on his first foreign trip since the coup, will address the summit along with each of the participants before more informal discussions begin, said three sources familiar with procedures. Only a few officials will be present at the "intimate" meeting, one source said. PUSH FOR DIALOGUE ASEAN officials and diplomats have also worked on an initiative to send a humanitarian aid mission to Myanmar and appoint an envoy to encourage dialogue between the junta and the ousted lawmakers and ethnic groups who have formed an opposition National Unity Government (NUG). The leaders of Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Brunei, the chair, have confirmed their attendance, along with the foreign ministers of Thailand and the Philippines. Myanmar's nightly news bulletin on state television on Friday made no mention of the ASEAN meeting. ASEAN has a policy of consensus decision-making and non-interference in the affairs of its members, which include Myanmar. While that makes it difficult to tackle contentious issues, the body is seen by the United Nations, China and the United States as best placed to deal with the junta directly. The summit, called for by Indonesia's president Joko Widodo last month, is a departure from the tightly choreographed leaders' meetings that are typical of ASEAN, said Evan Laksmana, a Jakarta-based security analyst. "There is no precedent, especially given the expressed intent to discuss the problems of one member state." A spokesman for the NUG, which is not attending the summit, told Reuters the group had "been in contact with ASEAN leaders". Dr. Sasa, an international envoy for the NUG, who goes by one name, said ASEAN should insist the military stops killing civilians, halts the bombing of villages in ethnic minority areas, releases political prisoners and hands power to the NUG..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-24
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Title: WFP Myanmar External Situation Report #1 - March 2021
Description: "Situation Update: Seven weeks following the military takeover on 1 February 2021, the situation in Myanmar is evolving rapidly, with a high risk of increasing food insecurity and malnutrition, particularly for the urban poor. • Food and fuel prices in Myanmar are rising, according to WFP price monitoring in February. The biggest increase was observed in northern Rakhine, while a 20 percent increase in the price of vegetable oil was recorded in Yangon. Fuel prices increased at least 20 percent across the country, which has an important knock-on effect on food prices. • Demonstrations and the general strike throughout Myanmar are likely to exacerbate the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19 lockdown measures, which saw 80 percent of households lose income.....WFP Response: In February, WFP assisted over half a million people in Myanmar with cash-based transfers and in-kind food assistance, through four activities: Emergency Relief Assistance; Nutrition (stunting prevention and support to persons living with HIV and tuberculosis (TB) patients); School Feeding; and Livelihood Support.....Emergency Relief Assistance: • WFP’s highest priority is to maintain its monthly life-saving assistance to internally displaced people and other vulnerable populations who fully rely on it. • In February, WFP provided life-saving food and cash assistance to 349,200 people in conflictaffected states of southern Chin, Kachin, Rakhine and northern Shan. • In view of current banking challenges or potential constrained market supply, WFP is building a contingency food stock, which would allow it to provide in-kind food assistance if needed.....Nutrition: • WFP provided a comprehensive package of nutrition support for 80,300 children aged 6-59 months and pregnant and lactating women and girls; as well as some 1,350 people living with HIV and TB patients. • Continuing WFP nutrition interventions is critical to avoid short- and long-term public health crises, on top of the pandemic..."
Source/publisher: World Food Programme
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-24
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Title: Dr. Tayzar San: ”ALL I OWN IS BOOKS" - ဒေါက်တာတေဇာဆန်း: “ကျွန်တော်ပိုင်ဆိုင် သမျှက စာအုပ်တွေပါ”
Description: "This evening I got information that the apartment in Mandalay in which I used to live has been raided twice by a group of soldiers, policemen, and plainclothes agents. Some sources said that it was already third time. They've known the exact address of this apartment for a while. They broke down the locked door and destroyed the whole apartment. Before destroying it, they took everything they could in small bags like termite ants. There was nothing of value there. I regret only books being destroyed. It took me time to stock them and some have been beautiful. Luckily, few favorite ones are on other place. Hopefully they will survive, for better days. I do not understand why they destroyed books and other small things in the apartment. Most of the stuff in the apartment is not my property. Actually, all I own is books. My sister's guitar is among things they stole from the apartment. How is the guitar related to the revolution against the dictatorship I'm doing? Hard to grasp. Actually, what we called "army" is a thief and a robber gang. How sad it would be for the General Aung San, the founder of the Tatmadaw army, if only he would found out that his child has become robber gang. General Aung San requested from the army to be the “Mother and Father of the People”. Would he now reverse that motto? This Burmese (Bama) army is the killer of the people. Actually, Tatmadaw has been been a big gang of thieves and robbers for years. Over 70 years similar crimes have been committed on regular basis in other non-Bama ethnic regions where Tatmadaw’s war against civilians never stopped. We the Bama, majority ethnic people have a clear view of the inner workings of this murderous and robbery army during the current 2021 Spring Revolution. We are experiencing it first-hand and in front of our own eyes. It is now becoming obvious to everybody in the country who is the common enemy. Who is the main obstacle to the establishment of a peaceful and prosperous federal democracy. It is in a plain sight that the only obstacle for the peace and prosperity in our country is a terrorist military regime. Clarity of this fact is the biggest gain in our current revolution.....ဒီနေ့ ညနေနဲ့ ညဦးပိုင်းမှာ မန်းလေးက ကျနော် နေခဲ့ဖူးတဲ့ တိုက်ခန်းလေးကို အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီ လက်ပါးစေ စစ်သား၊ ရဲ၊ အရပ်ဝတ်အစုံ အင်အားအလုံးအရင်းနဲ့ နှစ်ကြိမ် လာသွားတယ်လို့ ကြားသိရပါတယ်။ အချို့သတင်းတွေကလည်း သုံးကြိမ်လို့ ဆိုပါတယ်။ ဒီတိုက်ခန်း‌လေး လိပ်စာအတိအကျကို သူတို့သိထားတာ ကြာပါပြီ။ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလလယ်လောက်ကတည်းက မန်းလေးမြို့လူထုက စရဖလို့ ယူဆရသူတစ်ယောက်ကို ကျနော့်အိမ်လိပ်စာပါတဲ့ စာရွက်ကလေးနဲ့အတူ လက်ပူးလက်ကြပ် မိထားဖူးပါတယ်။ ဒါ့ကြောင့် အဲ့ဒီမှာ ဘယ်သူမျှ မနေတော့တာလည်း ကြာလှပါပြီ။ ကျနော့်အတွက် အရေးကြီးပစ္စည်းလည်း အဲ့ဒီမှာ ဘာမျှ မထား၊ မရှိ‌ပါဘူး။ သူတို့က သော့ခတ်ထားတဲ့ တိုက်ခန်းတံခါးကို ဖျက်ဖွင့်ပြီး တစ်အိမ်လုံး မွေနှောက်ဖျက်ဆီးသွားကြပြီး တွေ့သမျှ တန်ဖိုးရှိ၊ မရှိ၊ ဘာသောညာသောမရွေး အကုန်လုံးကို အိတ်ကြီးအိတ်ငယ် အသွယ်သွယ်နဲ့ အဓမ္မ ယူဆောင်သွားကြလေသတည်း။ ပစ္စည်းသင်္ခါရ လူသင်္ခါရသဘောပေမို့ ကျန်တာ‌တွေတော့ သိပ်မနှမြောပါဘူး၊ စာအုပ်တွေတော့ နှမြောလှတယ်ဗျာ။ ကို့ယ်အကြိုက် လက်ရွေးစင်လေးတွေချည်း အိမ်မှာ စုသိမ်းထားတာမို့ပါ။) သူရို့က ကျနော့်ကို ရဲစခန်းပေါင်း‌များစွာမှာ စွဲဆိုထားတဲ့ ပုဒ်ထီးပုဒ်မတွေရှိတယ်လို့တော့ ကြားသိပါရဲ့။ ဒါပေသိ၊ ဒီစာအုပ်‌တွေ၊ အခြားပစ္စည်းတွေကို အဓမ္မလုယူသိမ်းဆည်းရတဲ့ အကြောင်းရင်းကို ကျနော့်တော့ ဉာဏ်မမှီ၊ စဉ်းစားလို့ မရပါ။ အဲ့တိုက်ခန်းမှာ ရှိတဲ့ပစ္စည်းတွေကလည်း အကုန်လုံးက ကျနော့်ဥစ္စာပစ္စည်း မဟုတ်။ ကျနော် ပိုင်ဆိုင်တာက စာအုပ်တွေပဲ ရှိတာ။ သူရို့ အိမ်က သိမ်းယူသွားတဲ့ ပစ္စည်း‌တွေထဲမှာ ကျနော့်နှမတစ်ဦးရဲ့ ဂစ်တာလေးဝောာင် ပါသွားသေးပါသတဲ့။ ကျနော်လုပ်နေတဲ့ အာဏာရှင်တော်လှန်ရေးနဲ့ ဒီဂစ်တာ‌လေးနဲ့က ဘယ်လိုများ ပတ်သတ်တာပါလိမ့်၊ ဆန်းကြယ်လှပါဘိတောင်း။ အိမ်း၊ “တပ်မတော်” လည်း သူခိုး၊ ဓားပြဂိုဏ်းအကြီးစားကြီး လုံးလုံး ဖြစ်နေပါပေါ့လား။ တပ်မတော်ကို စတင်တည်ထောင်ခဲ့သူ ဗိုလ်တေဇ (ဗိုလ်ချုပ်အောင်ဆန်း) သာ ဒီအကြောင်းတွေ သိမယ်ဆို ဘယ်လောက် စိတ်မကောင်း၊ ဝမ်းနည်းဖြစ်နေမယ်မသိဘူး။ သူ့ပြည်သူတွေအတွက် သူရင်နာလို့ ဆုံးရှာမှာ မဟုတ်ဘူး။ တပ်မတော်အတွက် ဗိုလ်တေဇာမှာခဲ့တဲ့ စကားက “ပြည်သူသာ အမိ၊ ပြည်သူသာ အဖ” တဲ့။ အခုတော့ သူရို့က ဒီဆောင်ပုဒ်ကို ပြောင်းပြန်လုပ်ထားပါပေါ့လား။ တကယ်တော့ ဒီ ဗမာ (မြန်မာ) စစ်တပ်ဟာ သူသတ်၊ သူခိုး၊ ဓားပြအုပ်စုအကြီးစားကြီး ဖြစ်နေတာ နှစ်ပေါင်းများစွာ ကြာခဲ့ပါပြီ။ အထူးသဖြင့် ဗမာမဟုတ်တဲ့ ကျန်တိုင်းရင်းသား လူမျိုးတွေဒေသတွေ၊ ပြည်တွင်းစစ်ဖြစ်ပွားရာဒေသတွေမှာ ဒီလိုမျိုး ရာဇဝတ်မှုပေါင်းများစွာကို နေ့စဉ်နဲ့အမျှ၊ အချိန်နဲ့အမျှ ကျူးလွန်လာတာ နှစ်ပေါင်း (၇၀) ကျော် ကြာခဲ့ပါပြီ။ “ကျောချမှ ဓားပြမှန်း သိ” ဆိုသလို ကျနော်တို့ ဗမာတိုင်းရင်းသားတွေကတော့ ဒီစစ်တပ်ရဲ့ အတွင်းသရုပ်မှန်ကို အခု ၂၀၂၁ နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးကြီးမှာ ကွက်ကွက်ကွင်းကွင်း၊ ရှင်းရှင်းလင်းလင်း၊ မျက်မြင်ကိုယ်တွေ့ သိရှိခံစားလိုက်ကြရတာပါပဲ။ ငြိမ်းချမ်းပြီး သာယာဝပြောတဲ့ ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီနိုင်ငံတော်တစ်ရပ်ကို တည်ထောင်ဖို့ အဓိကအနှောက်အယှက်ပေးနေတဲ့ ဘုံရန်သူဟာ ဒီအကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုပဲဆိုတာ လယ်ပြင်မှာ ဆင်သွားသလို့ (ဗမာတွေကိုယ်တိုင်က) ထင်ထင်ရှားရှား သိမြင်သွားကြတာပေါ့ဗျာ။ ဒါသည်ပင်လျှင် တော်လှန်ရေးထဲက အမြတ်ကြီးတစ်ခုလို့ ကျနော်ကတော့ ခံယူမိပါတယ်။ အဖိနှိပ်ခံ ပြည်သူတစ်ရပ်လုံး သွေးစည်းကြလော့။ ဘုံရန်သူကို တိုက်ခိုက်ကြလော့။ ဘုံပန်းတိုင်ကို ရှေးရှုကြလော့။..."
Source/publisher: Tayzar San via Igor Blazevic
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-23
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Type: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup
Description: "As of 23 April, (745) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (6) fallen hero today. These (6) heroes from Mogok Town in Mandalay Region and Pakokku Town in Magwe Region were killed on previous days but documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of April 22, a total of (3371) people are currently under detention; of them (79) are sentenced. 1118 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document. Nowadays in Burma the terrorists are brutally assaulting anyone who stands against the junta. Women are not spared against the brutality. Females are being systematically tortured, (physically and mentally) sexually assaulted with intent. A 17 year old girl who was released from Shwe Pyi Thar interrogation center, Sanchaung Township, Yangon, said so-called police from no.24 police station verbally assaulted and touched her inappropriately on shoulder then threatened her with his gun. Two other women detained at the same interrogation center in relation to the bombings from Yankin Township where also brutally beaten. One of these women was treated worse and assaulted with a metal pipe. The so-called police sat on her shoulder, pulling her hair, hitting her female organs, she was not given medical treatment. These crimes are a clear violation of human rights, the terrorist group is cruelly torturing women. The junta is not using female officers but mostly male soldiers during questioning. After torture they are not given adequate medical treatment, putting their life at risk even further. The junta is putting the mental and physical security of the female arbitrarily detained at risk of sexual assault at any time. It is creating a climate of fear, sexual assault could happen at any time at these male-only interrogation centers Burma has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Dictrimaton Against Women (CEDAW). It is an international tragedy that these violations are happening inside Burma. The UN Women Organization, human rights groups, including the international community must not ignore us. They should take immediate and stern action for violating CEDAW and protect all women in Burma. In Bago Region, Pantaung Police Station was set on fire. On 22 April early morning, the junta arrested a 2-year old child, his father and grandfather. So-called police tortured the father and grandfather in front of the 2-year old child, forced to confess to the arson. After this forced confession, the mother came to collect the 2-year old. The mother was then arrested as a conspirator. Some local villagers were also detained and forced to confess through beatings in interrogations. On 22 April, in Tamu City, Sagaing Region, a male employee of Kanbawza Bank was followed by the junta. When they found 4 walkie talkies in his hut, they brutally beat him to the face, broke his wrist, so that his bone was showing, and lost excessive amounts of blood. He was told to only wear underwear while they threatened him with his life. Now the terrorist group is torturing and committing increasingly brutal violence, children are not safe, they can be taken as hostages. The junta is trying to break our dignity through violations of human rights, with no rule of law. They commit criminal acts. All civilians including children, women, and the elderly, could be detained. Civilians are helpless, there is no security inside Burma. These are the conditions of life inside Burma under the junta. Early morning April 23, Kayah State, Loikaw Township, Shan Ward, the junta crackdown on a dawn protest, one man who was running away had to jump into the stream and is currently missing. On April 23 there was also a gunfire clash in Magway region, in Thayet Township, between the terrorists and the people. The coup leader will attend the 24 April summit. The National Union Government (NUG) has informed Interpol to arrest the coup leader. To bring the continued brutality by this junta to an end, the international community must take immediate action to arrest the terrorist leader. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: “Our uprising must succeed” Email : [email protected] Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma In Solidarity, AAPP..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-23
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Title: Do or die moment for ASEAN in Myanmar
Summary: "When Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders meet in Jakarta to discuss the worsening political crisis in Myanmar on April 24, it will mark the first time that the regional...
Sub-title: Bloc's extraordinary Myanmar crisis meeting on April 24 could be the last diplomatic chance to prevent a regional catastrophe
Description: "When Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders meet in Jakarta to discuss the worsening political crisis in Myanmar on April 24, it will mark the first time that the regional organization holds a highest-level meeting to address a specific situation of concern involving one of its members. Non-interference in domestic affairs has traditionally been one of ASEAN’s basic operating principles, along with decision-making by consensus. As such, Saturday’s summit is seen as a test of the grouping’s code of constraint as regional leaders find themselves under mounting pressure to engineer a workable, face-saving resolution before the crisis spirals further out of control. To be sure, the situation in Myanmar is on a knife’s edge. Its ruling military junta has intensified a brutal campaign of suppression in defiance of world condemnation. The cycle of protests and bloody crackdowns has left at least 738 people dead, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) monitoring group. Inflexible repression by the Tatmadaw, as Myanmar’s military is known, has pushed segments of the urban-based protest movement into using low-level guerrilla warfare tactics, while escalating hostilities with ethnic armed forces in the north and east threaten a wider war on multiple fronts in the country’s borderlands. The fear within ASEAN is that the worst is yet to come. As the region copes with a resurgent Covid-19 pandemic that continues to thwart broad-based economic recovery, the bloc faces the prospect of Myanmar’s civil strife escalating into a protracted Syria-like civil war and a humanitarian emergency that sends huge numbers of refugees over its borders. The threat of a failed state emerging within mainland Southeast Asia has added impetus and imperative to ASEAN’s diplomacy. Should the regional grouping fail to act meaningfully, analysts say outside powers including the United States and China could be compelled to intervene, raising the possibility of Myanmar becoming a proxy theater for great power contestation. Saturday’s meeting is expected to set the parameters for ASEAN taking on a mediating role in the crisis. “ASEAN will engage with all parties in Myanmar, but under what conditions will be made clearer at the summit this coming weekend,” said Alistair D B Cook, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. Following weeks of planning, the talks are seen as primarily aimed at seeking de-escalation and establishing conditions for dialogue between Myanmar’s military and the ousted civilian government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD), whose leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior figures remain in detention. However, it’s not clear that a negotiated settlement would be acceptable to either side at this stage, with neither camp apparently willing to accept a compromise or return to the status quo ante. The Tatmadaw has shown no willingness to talk to members of the elected government it ousted, having ratcheted up its brutality despite appeals from its neighbors to refrain from violence. At least seven ASEAN leaders are expected to attend the summit in Indonesia’s capital, with Thailand and the Philippines opting to send their foreign ministers. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, chairman of the junta’s State Administration Council (SAC) and architect of the February 1 coup d’etat, is expected to travel to Jakarta to participate in the face-to-face meeting. “The fact that there will be an ASEAN summit meeting on the crisis and that General Min Aung Hlaing will attend it is an important but only tentative step forward,” said Choi Shing Kwok, director of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore and head of its ASEAN Studies Centre. “I expect ASEAN leaders to focus first on convincing Min Aung Hlaing to take a few short-term steps, including curtailing the violence against unarmed civilian protesters and exercising restraint in its dealings with its opponents,” he said. “Without such a break in the escalation in violence, no reconciliation of the political forces within the country is possible.” Critics of the military takeover have condemned the general’s planned attendance at the summit, with some observers viewing the invitation to sit alongside other ASEAN leaders as tantamount to lending legitimacy to his regime’s democracy-suspending putsch, particularly in light of the recent establishment of a parallel authority by pro-democracy forces. “The invitation to Min Aung Hlaing must be handled with extreme caution, and ASEAN must make it abundantly clear that he is not there as a representative of the Myanmar people, who totally reject his barbaric junta,” said Charles Santiago, chairperson of advocacy group ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR). Deposed members of Parliament, leaders of anti-coup protests and ethnic minority organizations announced on April 16 a National Unity Government (NUG), which says it is the country’s legitimate interim authority and has requested international recognition and an invitation to the ASEAN meeting in place of the junta leader. Figures associated with the NUG, which previously referred to itself as the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), have said they were not consulted over the planned summit. Some regional foreign ministers and officials are known to have held back channel talks with Myanmar’s ousted lawmakers since the coup, however. “ASEAN cannot adequately discuss the situation in Myanmar without hearing from and speaking to the National Unity Government. If ASEAN’s purpose really is to strengthen democracy, as stated by its Charter, they must give them a seat at the table,” said Santiago in a statement. “After all, they are the embodiment of democracy in Myanmar.” Analysts expect ASEAN’s diplomats to continue their quiet diplomatic outreach with the NUG in the weeks ahead, but some say that the Tatmadaw’s leader may have refused to attend the regional summit if representatives of the parallel authority, which the junta regards as treasonous and unlawful, were also in attendance. “The call by the CRPH for ASEAN not to meet with MAH [Min Aung Hlaing] is an attempt to gain the diplomatic upper hand over the SAC, but acceding to it will be tantamount to an abandonment of any meaningful role by ASEAN,” said Choi, echoing the view that any practical de-escalation of the situation requires direct engagement with the military’s leader. “The formation of a NUG is still in its early stages and it remains to be seen if the other opposition forces in the country will accept it as the legitimate political authority. Should it be able to establish this in due course, ASEAN will certainly have to take its views and participation into account in any future reconciliation process,” Choi added. Proposals being considered for the summit reportedly include a humanitarian aid mission that would entail a pause in hostilities and delivery of medical supplies needed to counter Covid-19 as well as food aid. The appointment of a special envoy who would negotiate with the military junta and members of the deposed elected government is also reportedly under consideration. Naypyidaw has thus far refused to allow the United Nation’s special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, to visit the country. Burgener will reportedly be in Jakarta to engage ASEAN leaders on the sidelines of Saturday’s summit. While still regarded as the best hope for a diplomatic solution, the 10-member grouping’s record in tackling regional human rights crises has been abysmal. ASEAN states are already clearly divided on Myanmar’s crisis, with some of its members describing the junta’s bloody consolidation of power as an “internal matter.” Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and, more recently, the Philippines have censured the junta in uncharacteristically strong terms and called for the release of Suu Kyi and other political detainees, a step that the bloc itself has eschewed. Others have taken a more ambiguous position. Thailand, which shares a porous border with Myanmar and clearly fears a fresh influx of refugees, hasn’t openly criticized the coup but has tellingly said it is “gravely concerned” about escalating bloodshed and has more recently called for dialogue between the Tatmadaw and NLD. Hunter Marston, a PhD candidate at the Australian National University, said he anticipates that the summit will expose rifts within ASEAN on democratic and autocratic lines. “I do not expect a univocal response strong enough to convince Min Aung Hlaing that his regime has gone too far and will be held to account.” By ignoring the NUG’s entreaty to attend the summit, ASEAN has put itself in the awkward position of “effectively treating Min Aung Hlaing as the representative of Myanmar’s government even as certain members call for the release of elected leaders and a return to democracy in the country,” he added. Marston said some ASEAN states at least appeared reluctant to recognize the senior general as the legitimate leader of Myanmar. The Canberra-based academic said outside powers such as the United States, the European Union and others could soon opt to extend diplomatic recognition to the NUG, but aren’t ready to do so yet. The NUG aims to establish a federal democratic system, but isn’t yet materially able to support a nationwide parallel administration. Outside powers are thus “waiting to see how much of a following [the NUG] have, what resources they’re able to command, and whether they can effectively claim to govern Myanmar given the current state of chaos,” said Marston. Elina Noor, director for political-security affairs and deputy director at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington DC, said there will be pressures on, but also an inclination by, Western liberal democracies, in particular, to recognize the NUG as Myanmar’s legitimate government, which could allow it to access country funds now punitively frozen in overseas banking systems. The US, for one, is now holding over US$1 billion worth of Myanmar state funds. “If this happens, ASEAN will be in an even more difficult position since the UN and ASEAN’s own dialogue partners have all expressed support for the grouping’s key role in this crisis. ASEAN centrality will be further questioned if a split on recognition happens in the international community,” she told Asia Times. ASEAN centrality refers to the notion that the regional grouping and its associated mechanisms should serve as the core institutional platform through which disputes are managed and wider diplomacy with outside powers is advanced. That centrality, observers argue, risks being undermined by ASEAN’s inability to manage affairs within its region. “If the violence can be stopped and some interim mechanism of dialogue can be agreed upon involving the NUG, then ASEAN can help play a constructive, bridging role in charting a more sustainable roadmap ahead for Myanmar,” Noor said. In a recent op-ed published by the Jakarta Post, Noor said that while ASEAN must deal with the military junta as the de facto party in power in order to realistically address the situation, Myanmar’s suspension from ASEAN should be a consideration, particularly if the regime remains intransigent and rebuffs regional efforts to reach a solution. While suspending Myanmar from the bloc at a time of worsening violence could seem unconstructive and cause ASEAN to lose its leverage with the junta, Noor said Southeast Asian governments could be better off continuing their engagement with the Tatmadaw outside rather than within the ASEAN framework. “The solution may be to unshackle ASEAN member states from the constraining formalities of organizational bureaucracy while still working closely behind the scenes plurilaterally, as is effectively the case now,” she said. Noor added that engagement, rather than isolation, would in any case help to affirm ASEAN centrality and stave off external interventions. “If Myanmar teeters on the brink of civil war or if there is protracted bloodshed, there is a risk external powers will feel compelled to intervene and not completely for altruistic reasons, either,” she said. “This would be a worst-case scenario, in which major powers would carve out spheres and territories of influence in Myanmar as well as in the region. “That is why it is imperative for ASEAN to set the stage this weekend by demonstrating effectiveness, even if it’s just to stop the ongoing violence so that mediation can begin. It won’t be enough for the people of Myanmar who voted in a different government, but it will be a necessary precondition for some kind of change on the ground.” Should the crisis in Myanmar escalate and ASEAN’s attempt to broker a solution falter, analysts believe it is possible that the case for external military intervention, potentially in the form of missile strikes against military targets, could be seriously considered by Washington and its allies in a bid to pressure Naypyidaw to the negotiating table. The possibility of such an escalation is still seen as remote given that Washington has so far been broadly content to leave the crisis to ASEAN. The situation in Myanmar, moreover, isn’t deemed as being of critical strategic importance to the US, and military intervention would almost certainly spark divisions among the Washington-led Quad alliance. “The appetite for and effectiveness of foreign military intervention by the major powers is very much in question today,” said ISEAS’ director Choi. “With the Tatmadaw being fiercely independent and having the option to play one major power off against another, it is highly questionable what kind of effective intervention any power could mount.” ASEAN’s approach, “whatever it may be called, therefore remains an attractive option for the international community to rally behind, though its ability to deliver is not guaranteed,” Choi added. He expects “only modest progress” at the weekend’s summit, with the main aim being to persuade Min Aung Hlaing to accept a process towards a mediated reconciliation, which could also include the involvement of other international stakeholders. “The situation in Myanmar is at a point where it could get a lot worse before it gets better,” Choi lamented. “ASEAN’s record in the past has been to continue engaging rather than to close doors when there is still hope for improvement. Having said that, the situation is so open-ended that I believe anything is possible and nothing can be ruled out.”..."
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-23
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Title: For Immediate Release: From the office of Union Minister of International Cooperation and Spokesperson, National Unity Government of Myanmar - အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ နိုင်ငံတကာပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်ရေး ဝန်ကြီးဌာန၏ ထုတ်ပြန်ချက်
Description: "On principle, the meetings that can contribute to a solution to the deepening crisis in Myanmar are welcome, meetings that exclude the people of Myanmar but include murderer in chief Min Aung Hlaing who is murdering the people of Myanmar are unlikely to be helpful. The legitimate representatives of the people and country of Myanmar, the National Unity Government (NUG) stands ready to engage and attend any ASEAN meeting on Myanmar, including the one scheduled for April the 24th that starts in less than 24 hours. We firmly believe that a meeting on Myanmar should not include illegal, illegitimate military junta unless the following serious conditions are met. The military junta must meets the following conditions and demonstrates that it is adhering to them. This is the only way to restore democracy, stability and prevent the great civil war that will end in genocide. 1. Stop murdering civilians. The junta has killed over 740 Myanmar civilians since the coup and the number of its victims increase daily; 2. Stop systematically attacking neighborhoods and randomly discharging weapons into civilians' homes that have claimed the lives of many civilians, including children; 3. Stop bombing and shelling villages, which has caused significant casualties and has led to tens of thousands of civilians being displaced; 4. Stop preventing those who need medical care from receiving it, including agreeing to immediately stop: (i) occupying medical facilities, (ii) arresting and attacking medical personnel, and (iii) preventing emergency medical personnel from reaching victims; 5. Unconditionally release the over 3,300 political prisoners detained since the coup and stop arbitrarily detaining protesters, CDM members and others who are exercising their fundamental right to the freedom of expression. 6. End the coup, end all violence and return the power to elected Government of Myanmar- t he National Unity Government -NUG We once again express our sincere appreciation to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) willingness to help Myanmar address the crisis that has gripped our nation, and indeed our region, following the illegal coup d'etat on 1 February. Dr.Sasa Union Minister of International Cooperation and Spokesperson National Unity Government of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: Dr. Sasa via National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-23
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Title: KIA has seized 10 Myanmar military bases since coup, locals estimate
Summary: "The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has seized at least 10 of the junta’s army bases since fighting escalated with the Myanmar military following the February 1 coup, according to local sources....
Sub-title: The junta has reportedly not been able to recapture any of the camps that they have lost to the Kachin forces
Description: "The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has seized at least 10 of the junta’s army bases since fighting escalated with the Myanmar military following the February 1 coup, according to local sources. Clashes between the KIA and the regime’s armed forces have been ongoing since early March, when the KIA began to launch offensives to capture military bases and police stations in the Kachin State townships of Hpakant, Mogaung, Waingmaw, Putao and Tanai, as well as in northern Shan State. Among the locations since overtaken by the KIA are the Alaw Bum and Ywathit military outposts in Momauk Township, as well as one police base; the Tan Khawn and Aungbalay bases in Hpakant; and the Nambyu base in Tanai. “The KIA raided and seized around 10 bases, including small ones,” a Myitkyina resident and military observer said, adding that Kachin forces continue to maintain control over some locations, and others they destroyed. “They set fire to the military bases that they did not continue to occupy, so now neither force is at those,” the individual added. He said that the military junta had not been able to recapture any of the camps they lost. KIA information officer Col Naw Bu told Myanmar Now on April 21 that Kachin forces had seized some bases belonging to the junta, but that further details were unavailable, with fighting ongoing in multiple locations. Much of the regime’s focus has been on regaining control of the strategic Alaw Bum hilltop base in Dawphoneyang sub-township of Momauk. Since April 11, the junta has carried out repeated airstrikes against the KIA in an attempt to drive them out of Alaw Bum and areas controlled by KIA’s Brigades 8 and 9, but the military has reportedly suffered heavy casualties in the offensive, according to KIA sources. These sources have said that hundreds of Myanmar military troops, including battalion commanders, were killed in the fighting, and at least one whole battalion– LIB 320– was wiped out. Myanmar Now has not been able to independently verify these casualties. A KIA officer told Myanmar Now that, at the time of reporting, more than 1,000 junta soldiers had been airlifted to Momauk Township as reinforcements. Locals have noted that since a previous 17-year ceasefire with the Myanmar military broke down in 2011, the KIA had been largely fighting on the defensive; only since the coup had they started engaging in offensives against Myanmar’s armed forces. “It is like the KIA is attacking places that they used to control in the past. The tension can only escalate from here,” a resident of Hpakant said..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-23
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Title: Min Aung Hlaing’s ASEAN invite is necessary despite injustice of ignoring shadow government
Summary: "On April 24, ASEAN is set to hold an emergency meeting in Jakarta on the political crisis in Myanmar. On February 1 the Myanmar military, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, took over the country...
Description: "On April 24, ASEAN is set to hold an emergency meeting in Jakarta on the political crisis in Myanmar. On February 1 the Myanmar military, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, took over the country’s government after alleging there were irregularities in last November’s elections. There is no evidence of mass voter fraud and since taking power the military has imposed draconian measures to silence resistance to the takeover, including curfews, internet blackouts and bans on social gatherings. Amid waves of mass protest, security forces have also killed over 700 people—a number the military disputes. With a global spotlight on the situation, ASEAN’s meeting is an attempt to work towards a resolution of the political impasse. In the runup to the meeting, however, there has been considerable handwringing by activists and observers as to the role ASEAN is prepared to play in the conflict. Activists aligned with Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement are concerned that by inviting Min Aung Hlaing to the summit, ASEAN legitimizes the military’s actions on the international stage, including its use of deadly force against its own population. They also argue that by ignoring Myanmar’s shadow government, an organization called the National Unity Government (NUG) made up of the country’s duly elected leaders, ASEAN is dismissing the stakeholders that have a legitimate say in the country’s future. With that said, despite the injustice and authoritarianism of the military government, not inviting them to the meeting would likely make Myanmar’s political situation worse. Although disinviting Min Aung Hlaing would be a snub to the military government—and a cathartic moment for activists—the reality is that the junta holds power in Myanmar. Without his attendance at the meeting, ASEAN leaders would be abandoning an opportunity to apply direct diplomatic pressure. Instead of decrying the attendance of junta leaders at ASEAN’s meeting, pro-democracy advocates should focus on the way the bloc interacts with Myanmar’s military government when the meeting takes place.....ASEAN needs to walk a fine line given democratic norms in the region: The metaphorical elephant in the room regarding ASEAN’s dealings with Myanmar’s junta is that a significant portion of the bloc is made up of countries with authoritarian leaders, who in some cases circumvented or altered the democratic process to gain power. Cambodia’s Hun Sen, the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte and Thailand’s Prayuth Chan-ocha are the most glaring examples. After Thailand’s military took power in 2014, for instance, ASEAN’s response was muted and leaders in the region generally treated the coup as an internal matter. Noninterference is a guiding principle of the bloc, as stated in ASEAN’s charter. This arguably gives the junta more confidence coming into the summit and they will doubtlessly claim that the crisis is a domestic issue that does not warrant outside interference. One of the main issues following the coup in Myanmar, however, is the ongoing violence coupled with widespread international attention. This has put added pressure on ASEAN to help find a resolution to the crisis. Amid the controversy surrounding the meeting, Thailand’s Prayuth announced that he would not be attending personally and instead would send his foreign minister, saying that other countries are also doing the same. So far, only the Philippines has confirmed it intends to follow Thailand’s lead in sending its foreign minister. The heads of state of Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, meanwhile, confirmed they would be attending.....ASEAN must engage the junta but that doesn’t mean they should treat it as a normal government: Although engagement with the junta is necessary, that doesn’t mean leaders can’t take steps to make the summit a meaningful step towards resolving the crisis in Myanmar. Short of inviting NUG leaders, ASEAN leaders could take smaller steps to ensure the military government doesn’t think the meeting is business-as-usual. As suggested by pro-democracy activists, leaders in the region could express their position on the coup by ignoring the international titles of junta officials, such as foreign minister, in favor of referring to them as delegates of the military’s governing body, known as the State Administration Council (SAC). Another idea is to allow member states to make their own official statements after the meeting instead of issuing only a single joint statement by ASEAN’s Chair. This would give member states a chance to clearly voice their disagreements with the junta. Most importantly, despite ASEAN’s potential disagreements over the situation in Myanmar, the bloc must convey to Min Aung Hlaing and his government that the SAC’s actions not only push the region into further political disrepute but also threaten regional stability. Alongside the language of noninterference in ASEAN’s charter is a commitment to adhere to the “principles of democracy…respect for and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.” ASEAN has a duty to push for stable democracy, peace and security for the people of Myanmar. Directly engaging with those in charge on the ground in Myanmar, in a tactful and careful manner, is the best way to increase the likelihood that this happens..."
Source/publisher: "ASEAN Today" (Singapore)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-23
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Title: Myanmar: Human rights must be top priority for emergency ASEAN summit
Summary: "The catastrophic aftermath of the Myanmar coup is the biggest test in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) history, said Amnesty International today, calling on the regional bloc to...
Description: "The catastrophic aftermath of the Myanmar coup is the biggest test in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) history, said Amnesty International today, calling on the regional bloc to prioritise protecting the human rights of people in Myanmar and prevent the situation deteriorating into a human rights and humanitarian crisis. The organization is also urging the Indonesian authorities and other ASEAN member states to investigate Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on credible allegations of responsibility for crimes against humanity in Myanmar. As a state party to the UN Convention Against Torture, Indonesia has a legal obligation to prosecute or extradite a suspected perpetrator on its territory. “The Myanmar crisis trigged by the military presents ASEAN with the biggest test in its history. The bloc’s usual commitment to non-interference is a non-starter: this is not an internal matter for Myanmar but a major human rights and humanitarian crisis which is impacting the entire region and beyond,” said Emerlynne Gil, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Research “The crisis initiated by a murderous and unrepentant Myanmar military has engulfed the country, and will cause severe aftershocks – humanitarian and more – for the entire region, particularly if the military can continue to commit serious violations and crimes with complete impunity. “Moreover, the Indonesian authorities are duty-bound to investigate Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other Myanmar military officials who may join his delegation to Jakarta. “The extensively documented allegations against Myanmar’s coup leader, by the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, Amnesty International and many others, must be investigated. The Indonesian authorities and other ASEAN member states cannot ignore the fact Min Aung Hlaing is suspected of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole.”......ASEAN’s credibility on the line: In an open letter to ASEAN member states, Amnesty International highlights the fact that hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have been detained in the weeks following the 1 February military coup in Myanmar. The Myanmar military remains unmoved by the various calls from the international community and civil society organizations. Myanmar’s economy is on its knees and expected to contract by up to 20%, while food prices increase and banking system disruptions and limited cash availability hinder humanitarian operations. The World Food Programme has warned that up to 3.4 million people in Myanmar face hunger in the next several months. “The Myanmar military appears to be operating with the assumption of total impunity. The situation today is the direct result of a broader failure by the international community, including the ASEAN, to hold the Myanmar military to account for its past crimes. “If not stopped, the violations committed by the Myanmar military will result in escalating violence and conflict, worsening inequality, hunger and mass displacement, including into ASEAN Member States – all amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “Amnesty International urges the ASEAN and its Member States to work together and take immediate action to protect the people of Myanmar, prioritizing their human rights and to end impunity,” said Emerlynne Gil. The need to end impunity: On 10 March 2021, after examining over 50 clips from the ongoing crackdown, Amnesty International found that the Myanmar military is using increasingly lethal tactics and weapons normally seen on the battlefield against peaceful protesters and bystanders across the country. Many of these killings amount to extrajudicial executions. In a statement to the UN Human Rights Council on 11 March 2021, the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Tom Andrews, noted that the repression of peaceful protests since the coup likely meets the threshold of crimes against humanity. In 2018, Amnesty International released a report containing extensive and credible evidence implicating Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and 12 other named individuals in crimes against humanity committed during the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya population in northern Rakhine State. Thousands of Rohingya women, men and children were murdered – bound and summarily executed; shot and killed while running away; or burned to death inside their homes. Rohingya women and girls were raped in their villages and as they fled to Bangladesh. Over the last few years, Amnesty International has also documented war crimes and other serious human rights violations committed by the Myanmar military against various other ethnic minorities in Rakhine, Chin, Kachin and northern Shan States. Amnesty International continues to call on all states, including ASEAN Member States, to exercise universal and other forms of jurisdiction to investigate any person who may reasonably be suspected of committing crimes against humanity, war crimes or other crimes under international law in Myanmar. ASEAN should not shield perpetrators from accountability and must put an end to the years of impunity of the Myanmar military. “There is sufficient evidence to reasonably suspect that Min Aung Hlaing is responsible for crimes under international law, including torture, and this needs highlighting at every opportunity,” said Emerlynne Gil. “The deadly operations by the military since the 1 February coup only magnify the urgency of bringing Min Aung Hlaing and other suspected perpetrators to justice. The Indonesian authorities have an obligation to investigate him and must do so.”.....Background: In its open letter to ASEAN and member states ahead of the emergency summit, Amnesty International calls on the following: To the ASEAN - Unequivocally condemn all human rights violations in Myanmar and continue to call for the release of all individuals who are arbitrarily detained, and the end of the use of lethal force against children, peaceful protesters and bystanders. Direct the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) to develop a common approach to ensure that all engagement with Myanmar takes into account and addresses human rights concerns, in accordance with the AICHR’s mandate in Section 4.11 of its Terms of Reference. This common approach shall be adopted by ASEAN and shall guide the regional body in all of its engagement in Myanmar, including in relation to the situation in Rakhine State and to repression of opposition to the military coup. Support the work of independent international mechanisms, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar to investigate human rights violations in Myanmar. Urge the United Nations Security Council to refer the situation in Myanmar as a whole to the International Criminal Court. Support the call for the UN Security Council to impose a comprehensive global arms embargo against Myanmar. Support the call for the UN Security Council to impose targeted financial sanctions against officials suspected of responsibility for crimes under international law and serious violations, including in the context of the repression of opposition to the 1 February coup. To ASEAN member states - #Refrain from returning any person to Myanmar under the current circumstances, regardless of their immigration status, and continue to halt all deportations and returns until human rights protections can be guaranteed. Returning any person under the current circumstances would constitute a breach of the principle of non-refoulement, which, as part of customary human rights law, prohibits the return of any person, irrespective of migration status, to a state where there are substantial grounds to believe they would face irreparable harm upon return due to serious human rights violations. #Ensure that any future repatriations or returns of refugees are only conducted when safe, voluntary, and dignified, with explicit human rights protections in place, including the right to citizenship. States should provide an individual assessment for each person to evaluate needs for international protection. #Exercise universal and other forms of jurisdiction to investigate Senior General Min Aung Hlaing for allegations of committing crimes against humanity, war crimes or other crimes under international law in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-23
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Title: Myanmar’s military ‘a system of monarchs and slaves,’ defector says
Sub-title: A major who abandoned LID 99 says a culture of fear has long stopped soldiers from leaving the army, but now feels that may change
Description: "An army major who recently broke rank has described Myanmar’s military as an institution rife with rank- and class-based discrimination, a reality that he said had made soldiers consider defecting prior to the February 1 coup. Major Hein Thaw Oo, of the Meikhtila-based Light Infantry Division (LID) 99, was the highest-ranking known defector from the military at the time of reporting. He abandoned the military after 20 years and joined the anti-junta Civil Disobedience (CDM) on March 24. A native of Magwe Region and a 2002 graduate of the 48th intake of the Defence Services Academy, the major had been stationed on the frontline in Lashio, northern Shan State. There, LID 99– whose soldiers are among the military’s “shock troops”– is known to have engaged in brutal clashes with ethnic armed organisations based in the region. “In the military, for whatever reason, you’re always scared of anyone who has a higher rank than you,” Hein Thaw Oo told Myanmar Now. The major said that the military “alienated” anyone who questioned the institution or its practises. “It’s not just now, it has always been this way. If they don’t get along with you, you’re pushed aside. Not only that, you get in trouble,” he explained. Those who, like him, have defected from the military and police are largely sheltering in areas controlled by ethnic armed organisations. Hein Thaw Oo insisted there are more who want to defect, “from sergeants on upward.” “If you don’t believe it, go ask them. If you ask them if they want to get out, they’d get out, dancing,” the major said. The major said that he planned to undertake a temporary monkhood, and would later join a federal army to fight against the junta’s armed forces. At least 739 civilians have been killed nationwide by the military regime during Myanmar’s anti-dictatorship Spring Revolution since the February 1 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a group which has been monitoring the violence. On April 9 alone, more than 80 civilians who were protesting peacefully in Bago were murdered during a crackdown by the junta’s armed forces that involved the use of heavy artillery. Hein Thaw Oo told Myanmar Now that the suppression of public opposition at these demonstrations has been directly ordered by military strategists from the junta’s Ministry of Defence in Naypyitaw. Military officers consider protest sites to be battlefields, and ignore when lower ranking soldiers loot homes or commit robberies and extortion, he explained. “I assume they’re giving these orders so that they can let the soldiers on the ground just roam freely and do what they want,” the major said, adding that this was how the military treated conflict areas. Dr. Lian Hmung Sakhong, the federal union affairs minister with the newly formed interim cabinet of the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), recently said that he believed there were more officers who would leave if given the chance. The cabinet, known as the National Unity Government (NUG), urged military and police to defect and stand with the public at an NUG press conference on April 16. Dr. Lian Hmung Sakhong invited military officers he came to know during his work on peace negotiations between the Myanmar army and ethnic armed organisations to join the CDM. “Don’t follow [military chief] Min Aung Hlaing, follow justice and truth,” he said at the press conference, addressing those still serving in the regime’s armed forces. “Join us in building a society where everyone treats each other with humanity.” Although there are soldiers who are dissatisfied with the military coup, chances of a mutiny depend on the NUG’s governing capacity, Major Hein Thaw Oo told Myanmar Now. Captain Htun Myat Aung, a 15-year veteran of Myanmar’s military and another recent defector, said the same. He was among those whom Myanmar Now spoke to who speculated that other soldiers were waiting to see the NUG’s next moves before abandoning the armed forces. “The military has been broken for a while. But they’ve instilled so much fear [in soldiers] that it would take a big spark that could combat this,” he said..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-23
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Title: Open Letter to ASEAN Leaders: Recommendations from CSOs in Myanmar and in Southeast Asia to the Special ASEAN Summit on Myanmar - အာဆီယံ ခေါင်းဆောင်များသို့ အိတ်ဖွင့်ပေးစာ – မြန်မာနိုင်ငံနှင့် အရှေ့တောင်အာရှရှိ အရပ်ဘက်လူထုအဖွဲ့အစည်းများမှ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ အာဆီယံအထူးထိပ်သီးအစည်းအဝေးသို့ ပေးပို့သောအကြံပြုတိုက်တွန်းချက်များ
Description: "Your Excellencies, In alignment with the upcoming Special ASEAN Summit on Myanmar on 24 April 2021, we, the undersigned 744 individuals, 402 civil society organisations in Myanmar and 444 in other Southeast Asian nations and globally, call on the ASEAN, its leaders and Member States to come up with an effective and sustainable strategy jointly with the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations Human Rights Council, the International Criminal Court (ICC), and other international community actors in addressing the illegitimate and brutal coup and atrocity crimes committed by the military junta in Myanmar. We welcome the decision to hold the Special ASEAN Summit on Myanmar, based on the proposal made by President Joko Widodo of the Republic of Indonesia to discuss the worsening situation in Myanmar following the violent crackdown against peaceful protesters and the terror campaign against civilians launched by the junta. The decision hopefully constitutes a precedent and reflects the commitment of ASEAN Member States leaders to address Myanmar’s appalling situation using its highest-level policy-making body. However, in view of ASEAN Member States’ differing positions on the coup in Myanmar, we remain extremely concerned that the ASEAN Summit’s response might be to consider the crisis as solely within Myanmar’s domestic affairs and therefore deciding to refrain from any meaningful action in line with the “ASEAN Way” of non-interference and overzealous respect for ‘state sovereignty’. The differing positions of ASEAN Member States have made it difficult for ASEAN to reach a consensus and resulted in equivocations and delayed responses from ASEAN, while the military junta continued its deliberate, murderous attacks on Myanmar’s people, including various violence against women and girls, much to our sorrow and anger. As evidenced from the outputs produced by the Informal ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting (IAFMM), ASEAN responses fall well short of meeting the will of the people of Myanmar. The chair’s statement of the IAFMM meeting neither specifically publicly called out the junta’s brutality nor called for stronger cooperation with the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council. Further, it also fails to mention ASEAN’s commitment to supporting targeted economic sanctions against military personnel and business entities and global arms embargo and referral of the Myanmar situation to the ICC. With the different interests and political will of ASEAN Member States at the moment, we are concerned to what extent the Special ASEAN Summit can create an immediate and meaningful intervention to resolve the situation of Myanmar. ASEAN’s collective and meaningful action to uphold democracy is warranted at this time. Any decision by the ASEAN leaders to treat the military junta as the legitimate representative of Myanmar in the Summit will serve to legitimize the military junta’s crimes and will thus damage not only the relationship of ASEAN with the peoples of Myanmar but the people’s movement for democracy and human rights in the region as a whole. Further, the ASEAN and its Member States must recognise the legitimacy of the National Unity Government (NUG), the legitimate and democratically-elected government of Myanmar, given that it represents 76% of elected Members of the Union Parliament, ethnic leaders, the civil disobedience movement, and general strike committees endorsed by the people of Myanmar. Therefore, Myanmar must be represented by the NUG; not by the illegal junta who is trying to take full control of the country through its unprecedented brutality. As we send this letter to the ASEAN Leaders, the violence and killings by the Myanmar military against protesters and supporters continue with no sign of abating. The junta have so far arbitrarily killed 739 and arrested 3,331 people, including women, elderly people and children.[1] In Karen and Kachin ethnic areas, the junta has been bombing villages, displacing more than 30,000 villagers.[2] In these bombing attacks, civilians including children lost their lives as well as faced difficulties not only about their safety, but also for health, shelter and food. Among those fleeing were women, children, elderly and pregnant women who are due to give birth. There was also a case of a woman who gave birth to her child while she was fleeing. Given the gravity of the situation, the increasing number of victims, and the impact of the crisis on the region’s security and political stability, we strongly urge ASEAN to take firm and effective actions to address the Myanmar coup through the Special ASEAN Summit. We urge all ASEAN leaders to listen to, strongly consider, and to heed the aspirations and will of the peoples of Myanmar. The voices of Myanmar people who have risked their lives in defense of democracy and justice must be the anchor, the conscience, behind any modality and outcome of the Special ASEAN Summit on Myanmar.....၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဧပြီလ ၂၄ ရက်နေ့တွင် ကျင်းပပြုလုပ်မည့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ အာဆီယံအထူး ထိပ်သီးအစည်းအဝေးနှင့်အညီ အာဆီယံခေါင်းဆောင်များနှင့် အဖွဲ့ဝင်နိုင်ငံများကို မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် ဖြစ်နေသည့် တရားမဝင် ရက်စက်သော အာဏာသိမ်းမှုနှင့် စစ်အုပ်စုက ကျူးလွန်သော ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်သည့် ရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို ကိုင်တွယ်ဖြေရှင်းရာတွင် ကုသသမဂ္ဂ လုံခြုံရေးကောင်စီ၊ ကုလသမဂ္ဂ လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ကောင်စီ၊ နိုင်ငံတကာ ရာဇဝတ်တရားရုံး (ICC) နှင့် အခြားသက်ဆိုင်ရာ နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုင်းအဝိုင်းများနှင့်အတူ ထိရောက်ခိုင်မာသော မဟာဗျူဟာတစ်ခုကို ပူးတွဲလုပ်ဆောင်ရန် အောက်တွင် လက်မှတ်ရေးထိုးထားသော တစ်သီးပုဂ္ဂလ ၇၄၄ ဦး၊ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံမှ အရပ်ဘက်လူထုအဖွဲ့အစည်း ၄၀၂ ဖွဲ့နှင့် အခြား အရှေ့တောင်အာရှနိုင်ငံများမှ အရပ်ဘက်လူထုအဖွဲ့အစည်း ၄၄၄ ဖွဲ့တို့က တောင်းဆိုလိုက်သည်။ အင်ဒိုနီးရှားနိုင်ငံ သမ္မတ ဂျိုကို ဝီဒိုဒို (Joko Widodo) ၏ အဆိုပြုချက်အပေါ် အခြေခံပြီး မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအတွင်း ငြိမ်းချမ်းစွာ ဆန္ဒပြသူများအပေါ် စစ်အုပ်စုမှ လုပ်ဆောင်သော အကြမ်းဖက် ဖြိုခွဲမှုများနှင့် အရပ်သားများအပေါ် ကြောက်မက်ဖွယ် တိုက်ခိုက်မှုများဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့သည့်နောက်ပိုင်း ပိုမိုဆိုးရွားလာနေသော အခြေအနေများကို ဆွေးနွေးရန်အတွက် အာဆီယံအထူးထိပ်သီးအစည်းအဝေးကို ကျင်းပပြုလုပ်ရန် ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်ကို မိမိတို့မှ ထောက်ခံကြိုဆိုသည်။ ယင်းဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်သည် အာဆီယံအဖွဲ့ဝင်နိုင်ငံ ခေါင်းဆောင်များမှ ၎င်းတို့၏ အမြင့်ဆုံးအဆင့် မူဝါဒရေးဆွဲချမှတ်သည့်အဖွဲ့ကို အသုံးပြုပြီး မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် ဖြစ်ပေါ်နေသော ဆိုးရွားလှသည့် အခြေအနေများကို ကိုင်တွယ်ဖြေရှင်းရန် ကတိကဝတ်ပြုမှုကို ထင်ဟပ်သည့်အပြင် လိုက်နာရမည့်ထုံးတမ်းစဉ်လာဖြစ်လာလိမ့်မည်ဟု မျှော်လင့်ပါသည်။ သို့ရာတွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ အာဏာသိမ်းမှုအပေါ် အာဆီယံအဖွဲ့ဝင်နိုင်ငံများ၏ မတူကွဲပြားနေသော ရပ်တည်ချက်များကို ကြည့်ခြင်းအားဖြင့် အာဆီယံထိပ်သီးအစည်းအဝေးမှ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ အကြပ်အတည်းကို ပြည်တွင်းရေးသာဖြစ်ပြီး “အာဆီယံနည်း” အရ ဝင်ရောက်စွက်ဖက်မှု မပြုခြင်းနှင့် နိုင်ငံ၏ အချုပ်အခြာအာဏာအပေါ် အလွန်အကျွံ လေးစားမှုတို့ကြောင့် အဓိပ္ပါယ်ပြည့်၀သော အရေးယူ ဆောင်ရွက်မှု လုပ်ဆောင်ခြင်းမှ ရှောင်ကြဥ်သွားမည်ကို မိမိတို့မှ စိုးရိမ်မိပါသည်။ စစ်အုပ်စုမှ မြန်မာပြည်သူများအပေါ် တမင်ရည်ရွယ်သော သတ်ဖြတ်တိုက်ခိုက်မှုများ ဆက်လက် လုပ်ဆောင်နေချိန်တွင် အာဆီယံအဖွဲ့ဝင်နိုင်ငံများအကြား မတူကွဲပြားသော ရပ်တည်ချက်များက အာဆီယံအတွက် ဘုံသဘောတူညီချက် ရရှိရန် အခက်အခဲဖြစ်စေပြီး မရေရာမှုများကို ထွက်ပေါ်စေခြင်းနှင့် အာဆီယံ၏ တုံ့ပြန်မှုများ နှောင့်နှေးကြန့်ကြာနေမှုသည် မိမိတို့အား ဝမ်းနည်း အမြတ်ဒေါသ ဖြစ်စေပါသည်။ အာဆီယံနိုင်ငံခြားရေးဝန်ကြီးများ၏ အလွတ်သဘော အစည်းအဝေး (IAFMM) မှ ထွက်ပေါ်လာသော ရလဒ်များက ဖော်ပြနေသည်မှာ အာဆီယံ၏ တုံ့ပြန်မှုသည် မြန်မာပြည်သူများ၏ ဆန္ဒနှင့် ကိုက်ညီမှု မရှိပေ။ IAFMM အစည်းအဝေး ဥက္ကဌ၏ ကြေညာချက်သည် စစ်အုပ်စု၏ ရက်စက်ယုတ်မာမှုများကို တိကျစွာ လူသိရှင်ကြား ဝေဖန်ရှုတ်ချခြင်း မရှိသကဲ့သို့ ကုလသမဂ္ဂ လုံခြုံရေးကောင်စီနှင့် ကုလသမဂ္ဂ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးကောင်စီများနှင့် ပိုမိုအားကောင်းသော ပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်ရေးအတွက် တောင်းဆို ခဲ့ခြင်းလည်း မရှိပေ။ ထို့အပြင် အာဆီယံသည် စစ်အုပ်စု ခေါင်းဆောင်များနှင့် စီးပွားရေးလုပ်ငန်းများအပေါ် ပစ်မှတ်ထား စီးပွားရေးအရေးယူပိတ်ဆို့မှုများ၊ ကမ္ဘာတစ်ဝှမ်း လက်နက်ခဲယမ်း ပိတ်ဆို့မှု နှင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အခြေအနေကို နိုင်ငံတကာရာဇဝတ်တရားရုံး (ICC) သို့ လွှဲပြောင်းရေး တောင်းဆိုချက်များအပေါ် ထောက်ခံရေး ၎င်း၏ ကတိကဝတ်ကို ဖော်ပြရန်လည်း ပျက်ကွက်ခဲ့သည်။ လက်ရှိအချိန်တွင် အာဆီယံအဖွဲ့ဝင်နိုင်ငံများ၏ မတူညီသော အကျိုးစီးပွားနှင့် နိုင်ငံရေးစိတ်ဆန္ဒများ ရှိနေခြင်းကြောင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ အခြေအနေကို ဖြေရှင်းရန် အာဆီယံအထူးထိပ်သီးအစည်းအဝေးမှ လျင်မြန်ပြီး အဓိပ္ပာယ်ပြည့်ဝသော ကြားဝင်ဖြေရှင်းမှုကို မည်သည့်အတိုင်းအတာအထိ ဖော်ဆောင်နိုင်မည် ဆိုသည့်အပေါ် မိမိတို့မှ စိုးရိမ်ပူပန်သည်။ ယခုအချိန်တွင် ဒီမိုကရေစီ ထိန်းသိမ်းရေးအတွက် အာဆီယံ၏ အဓိပ္ပါယ်ပြည့်ဝသော စုပေါင်းအရေးယူဆောင်ရွက်မှုကို လိုအပ်သည်။ လာမည့် ထိပ်သီးအစည်းအဝေးတွင် အာဆီယံ ခေါင်းဆောင်များမှ စစ်အုပ်စုအား မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ တရားဝင်သော ကိုယ်စားလှယ်အဖြစ် သတ်မှတ်ဆက်ဆံရန် ဆုံးဖြတ်ပါက စစ်အုပ်စု၏ ရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို တရားဝင်စေမည်ဖြစ်သဖြင့် အာဆီယံနှင့် မြန်မာပြည်သူတို့၏ ဆက်ဆံရေးကိုသာမက ဒေသတွင်းတစ်ခုလုံး၏ ဒီမိုကရေစီနှင့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးလှုပ်ရှားမှု ကိုလည်း ပျက်စီးစေလိမ့်မည်။ ထို့အပြင် အာဆီယံနှင့် ၎င်း၏ အဖွဲ့ဝင်နိုင်ငံများအနေဖြင့် ရွေးကောက်တင်မြှောက်ခံထားရသည့် ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားလှယ် ၇၆%၊ တိုင်းရင်းသား ခေါင်းဆောင်များ၊ လူထုအာဏာဖီဆန်ရေး လှုပ်ရှားမှုနှင့် အထွေထွေသပိတ်ကော်မတီများဖြင့် ပါဝင်ဖွဲ့စည်းထားသော မြန်မာပြည်သူများ ထောက်ခံ ထားသည့် တရားဝင် ဒီမိုကရေစီနည်းကျ ရွေးကောက်တင်မြှောက်ခံ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ အစိုးရဖြစ်သည့် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ၏ တရားဝင်မှုကို အသိအမှတ်ပြုရမည်။ ထို့ကြောင့် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေး အစိုးရကသာ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံကို ကိုယ်စားပြုရမည်ဖြစ်ပြီး ဆိုးရွားလှသည့်ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်မှုများမှတစ်ဆင့် နိုင်ငံကို အပြည့်အဝ ထိန်းချုပ်နိုင်ရန် ကြိုးစားနေသည့် တရားမဝင် စစ်အုပ်စုက မဖြစ်ရပေ။ ဤစာကို အာဆီယံခေါင်းဆောင်များထံ ပေးပို့သည့်အချိန်တွင်ပင် ဆန္ဒပြသူများအပေါ် လုပ်ဆောင်နေသော စစ်အုပ်စု၏ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများနှင့် သတ်ဖြတ်မှုများသည် လျော့နည်းလာမည့်လက္ခဏာ မရှိဘဲ ဆက်လက်ဖြစ်ပွားနေသည်။ လက်ရှိအချိန်ထိတွင် စစ်အုပ်စုမှ လူဦးရေ ၃,၂၂၉ ဦး မတရားဖမ်းဆီး ထိန်းသိမ်းထားပြီး လူပေါင်း ၇၃၇ ဦးကို သတ်ဖြတ်ခဲ့ကာ ထိုအထဲတွင် အမျိုးသမီး၊ သက်ကြီးရွယ်အိုများနှင့် ကလေးများ ပါဝင်သည်။[1] ကရင်နှင့် ကချင် တိုင်းရင်းသား နယ်မြေများတွင် စစ်အုပ်စုက ကျေးရွာများအား ဗုံးကြဲတိုက်ခိုက်ခြင်းကြောင့် အရပ်သားပေါင်း ၃၀,၀၀၀ ကျော် ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်နေကြရသည်။[2] ထိုဗုံးကြဲ တိုက်ခိုက်မှုများတွင် ကလေးငယ်များအပါအဝင် အရပ်သားများ အသက်ဆုံးရှုံးရမှုများအပြင် ၎င်းတို့၏ လုံခြုံမှုအတွက်သာမက ကျန်းမာရေး၊ နေထိုင်ရေးနှင့် အစားအသောက်တို့အတွက်ပါ အခက်အခဲများ ကြုံတွေ့ရသည်။ ထိုထွက်ပြေးရသူများထဲတွင် အမျိုးသမီးများ၊ ကလေးငယ်များ၊ သက်ကြီးရွယ်အိုများနှင့် မွေးဖွားခါနီး ကိုယ်ဝန်ဆောင်အမျိုးသမီးတို့ ပါဝင်သည်။ ထိုအထဲတွင် ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်ရင်း မီးဖွားခဲ့ရသော အမျိုးသမီးတစ်ဦး၏ ဖြစ်ရပ်လည်း ရှိခဲ့သည်။ အခြေအနေ၏ ဆိုးရွားမှု၊ ကျူးလွန်ချိုးဖောက် ခံနေရသူ အရေအတွက် များပြားလာမှုနှင့် ဒေသတွင်း လုံခြုံရေးနှင့် နိုင်ငံရေးတည်ငြိမ်မှုတို့အပေါ် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အကြပ်အတည်း၏ သက်ရောက်မှုကြောင့် အာဆီယံထိပ်သီး အစည်းအဝေးမှတစ်ဆင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းမှုကို ဖြေရှင်းရန်အတွက် အာဆီယံအနေဖြင့် ခိုင်မာထိရောက်သော အရေးယူဆောင်ရွက် မှုများ လုပ်ဆောင်ရန် မိမိတို့မှ တိုက်တွန်း တောင်းဆိုသည်။ အာဆီယံ ခေါင်းဆောင်များမှ မြန်မာပြည်သူများ၏ ရည်မှန်းချက်များနှင့် စိတ်ဆန္ဒကို နားထောင်ပြီး အလေးအနက်ထား ထည့်သွင်းစဥ်းစားလုပ်ဆောင်ရန် မိမိတို့မှ တိုက်တွန်းတောင်းဆိုသည်။ ဒီမိုကရေစီနှင့် တရားမျှတမှု ကာကွယ်ရာတွင် ၎င်းတို့၏ အသက်များကို စတေးထားသော မြန်မာပြည်သူများ၏ အသံများသည် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ အာဆီယံအထူးထိပ်သီးအစည်းအဝေး၏ လုပ်ဆောင်မှုပုံစံနှင့် ရလဒ်များ၏ အခြေခံကျောရိုး ဖြစ်ရမည်။..."
Source/publisher: 744 individuals, 402 civil society organisations in Myanmar, 444 in other Southeast Asian nations and globally via "Progressive Voice"
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-23
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Title: Senior Chinese diplomat hopes ASEAN summit helps with Myanmar ‘soft landing’
Description: "Senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi said on Thursday that China hoped the upcoming ASEAN summit on member Myanmar would pave the way for a “soft landing”. The in-person summit in Jakarta on Saturday is the first concerted international effort to ease the crisis in Myanmar, where security forces have killed hundreds of pro-democracy protesters since a Feb. 1 coup. The meeting is also a test for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which traditionally refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of a member state, and operates by consensus. "The Chinese side expects the meeting to lead to a good start towards helping realise a 'soft landing' for the Myanmar situation," said Wang, China's State Councillor and Foreign Minister. He was speaking with Thailand and Brunei's foreign ministers, the current and incoming ASEAN chairs, respectively. China is not a member of ASEAN, but is included in ASEAN Plus Three, along with Japan and South Korea. It was not immediately clear whether China will be attending Saturday's meeting in Jakarta. "Inappropriate intervention" from outside the region should be avoided, a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry cited Wang as saying. "Practice has proved that blindly exerting strong pressure by foreign forces will not help resolve a country's internal problems, but will bring turbulence or even deterioration to the situation, which will affect and destabilise the region," Wang said. The United States has been imposing punitive sanctions on Myanmar after the country’s military coup. Washington has said it would take further action. "China calls on the international community to take an objective and fair attitude and do more to help ease the tension in Myanmar, rather than the opposite," Wang said. "China will maintain close communication with ASEAN, and continue to handle any work related to Myanmar in its own way."..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-23
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Title: Soldier shoots 14-year-old girl in the hand during raids on Mandalay neighbourhoods
Sub-title: A monk was also injured in the attacks, a rescue worker said
Description: "A 14-year-old girl and a 30-year-old man were injured when the coup regime’s troops stormed residential areas in at least three townships in Mandalay on Wednesday night and shot at people who were outside their homes, rescue workers said. The girl was shot in the right hand and the man was shot in the thighs and in the back, one of the workers told Myanmar Now. The military came into neighborhoods in Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi township at around 9pm and began shooting, a resident said. The attack happened after residents heard an explosion near a ward administration office where the troops were stationed. “They have been setting off sound bombs every night to scare people so no one thought they would come into the neighborhoods and start shooting at them. People were just staying in front of their homes,” the resident said. The girl was shot while she was washing herself in front of her house. She had to undergo surgery for the bullet wound on Thursday after the arteries in her hand were damaged, according to a relative. “She is unable to move two of her fingers,” the relative said. “The arteries were damaged. Last night even the family could not bear to look at it. The flesh is coming out.” Myanmar Now was unable to gather further details about the man who was shot. The troops continued to shoot their guns and intimidate people until midnight, the resident said. Eyewitnesses said two teenagers were also arrested after the attacks. “My child was crying, but I had to shut his mouth forcefully. We had to sleep in immense fear the whole night,” another Chanmyathazi township resident said. Soldiers also raided a monastery in Maha Aungmyay township and shot a monk with rubber bullets. “He was shot in the back. I was told that they stormed into the monastery and started firing. I can’t say the name of the monastery due to security reasons,” said a rescue worker who helped injured people at the monastery. The armed forces also attacked residents in Pyigyitagon township on Wednesday night and reportedly arrested one person, locals said. At least 10 residents were reportedly arrested across the three townships. Myanmar Now was unable to verify the number independently. The military’s spokesperson could not be reached for comment. The troops also carried out raids inside the Mya Yi Nandar housing complex in Chanmyathazi township on Thursday morning, witnesses said. Despite constant attacks against protesters and civilians, Mandalay’s residents continue to stage daily anti-coup rallies. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group said at least 739 civilians have now been killed by Min Aung Hlaing’s regime..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-23
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Title: Southeast Asian summit to address Myanmar’s post-coup crisis
Summary: "When the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations holds a special summit Saturday to discuss Myanmar, the regional body will be under as much scrutiny as the general who led the February...
Description: "When the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations holds a special summit Saturday to discuss Myanmar, the regional body will be under as much scrutiny as the general who led the February coup ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Opponents of the junta are furious that ASEAN is welcoming its chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, to its meeting in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, arguing that because he seized power by force, he is not Myanmar’s legitimate leader. Also weighing heavily against him is the lethal violence perpetrated by the security forces he commands, responsible for killing hundreds of largely peaceful protesters and bystanders. “Min Aung Hlaing, who faces international sanctions for his role in military atrocities and the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, should not be welcomed at an intergovernmental gathering to address a crisis he created,” said Brad Adams, Asia director for New York-based Human Rights Watch. “ASEAN members should instead take this opportunity to impose targeted, economic sanctions on junta leaders and on businesses that fund the junta, and press the junta to release political detainees, end abuses, and restore the country’s democratically elected government.” The junta’s foes have promoted the idea that the opposition’s parallel National Unity Government, recently established by the elected lawmakers the army barred from being seated, should represent Myanmar, or at least have some role in the Jakarta meeting. It has not been invited. “It’s unacceptable that they invite this murderer-in-chief, Min Aung Hlaing, who has just killed more than 730 people in Myanmar, and I think it is very unfortunate that they, again and again, talk to the military generals and not to the civilian government of Myanmar, which is the NUG,” says the parallel government’s Minister of International Cooperation, Dr. Sasa, who uses one name. Evan Laksmana, a researcher for Indonesia’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank with close government ties, told The Associated Press there is a very practical reason for engaging Min Aung Hlaing face to face. ASEAN recognizes “the reality is that one party is doing the violence, which is the military, and therefore that’s why the military is being called to the meeting. So this is not in any way conferring legitimacy to the military regime,” he said. By talking to the general, ASEAN hopes to initiate a longer-term process, starting with ending the violence, that will “hopefully help facilitate dialogue among all the stakeholders in Myanmar, not just (with) the military regime.” Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said at a news conference Friday that her country hopes the ASEAN leaders will reach an agreement that is good for the people of Myanmar. But skeptics feel ASEAN faces basic problems in seeking to resolve Myanmar’s crisis. They point to the divergent interests of the group’s members, its longstanding conventions of seeking consensus and avoiding interference in each other’s affairs, and the historic obstinacy of Myanmar’s generals. One faction in the group, comprising Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, believes the instability engendered by the coup threatens the entire region as well as ASEAN’s credibility as a group powerful enough to act independently of big power influence. They also point out that the ASEAN Charter — adopted in 2007, 40 years after the group’s founding — includes democracy, human rights, good governance and rule of law as guiding principles. “Now is a grave time for ASEAN’s much-touted centrality, the idea that ASEAN is a central regional platform for regional dialogue, for promoting peace and stability in the region,” said Prof. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute of Security and International Studies at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University. He said that conception of ASEAN is now facing “its most severe, grave challenge” in 53 years of existence. Member countries with more authoritarian regimes — Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam — see little benefit in paying more than lip service to such principles, and have treated Myanmar’s crisis as its own internal matter. The Jakarta meeting is a hybrid one, with onsite attendance encouraged but virtual participation by video an option because of the coronavirus pandemic. Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte both announced they will stay home and send their foreign ministers in their stead, but they are dealing with serious COVID-19 outbreaks, obscuring any political message in their decisions. “It is more difficult to communicate on a personal level between the leaders without the leaders being present fully, particularly with regards to the prime minister of Thailand, whom we believe to have the best relationship with the current senior general from Myanmar,” observed Indonesia’s Laksmana. He believes ASEAN has a unique opportunity to engage productively with Myanmar’s ruling junta “because right now there is no other option on the table.” “We haven’t seen any progress from the U.N. Security Council, for example. There is no collective effort by other countries. This is it. This is the first potential breakthrough for the current crisis,” he told The Associated Press. U.N. specialized agencies and experts have been active in criticizing the coup and the junta’s crackdown. U.N. Special Envoy on Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener will not take part in ASEAN’s deliberations, but intends to take part in sideline consultations. The junta has rejected her repeated requests to visit Myanmar. The Security Council could effectively coordinate actions such as arms embargoes to pressure the junta, but Russia and China, major weapons suppliers to the junta, would veto such moves. Western nations have already enacted targeted sanctions against members of the junta and businesses giving them financial support, but Myanmar’s past military governments have successfully stood up to such pressures, and would be expected to do so again, especially with support from Beijing. ASEAN prefers quiet diplomacy to intimidation, seeking incremental gains. Even getting the two Myanmar sides to talk to each other could take some time, acknowledges Laksmana. “I think the gravity of the situation on the ground is as such now that there is no space or even willingness for dialogue until we end the violence,” he said. “So I think the first steps would be to what extent can ASEAN facilitate the observance of a humanitarian pause first and then the delivery of the humanitarian aid,” he said. Only after that might a forum be possible where all the stakeholders could talk. A Southeast Asian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said another opening move is under consideration. This would involve having ASEAN’s current chairman, Brunei Prime Minister Hassanal Bolkiah, travel to Myanmar for meetings with the military leadership and Suu Kyi’s camp to encourage dialogue. He would go there with ASEAN Secretary General Lim Jock Hoi — also from Brunei — if the junta gives them the nod. ASEAN-style diplomacy with Myanmar has borne fruit in the past. The military regime in charge in 2008 was incapable of mounting sufficient rescue and recovery efforts in the wake of devastating Cyclone Nargis, but refused to open up the country to an international aid effort. ASEAN took the initiative in offering to open a channel for foreign assistance, and the much-needed aid started flowing..."
Source/publisher: "Associated Press" (New York)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-23
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Title: Why the Tatmadaw won’t crack in Myanmar
Sub-title: While the world gasps at the Myanmar military's brutal crackdown, there is little hope for a soldier-led mutiny or countercoup
Description: "A military coup that overthrows a democratically elected government and sparks three months of nationwide protests and strikes. More than 700 people including children as young as five shot and killed as security forces fire into crowds of anti-military demonstrators. Thousands of people, among them not only politicians, activists and journalists but also some of the nation’s best-known singers, movie stars and celebrities arrested on various trumped-up charges. An economy on its knees with non-performing banks and foreign investors running for the exits. Such a litany would normally be enough to bring down any coup-installed government through a counter-coup or some other action by a military’s top brass who could see the self-defeatism of trying to cling to power when nearly the entire population is opposed to your takeover and rule. But not in Myanmar. Instead, the military and its controlled police seem prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve its democracy-suspending power grab. So far, there have been no signs of substantial cracks or divisions within the security establishment apart from a handful of policemen who have fled to rebel-held territories near the Thai border or across the border into neighboring northeastern India. But is Myanmar’s military truly full of spineless, mindless yes-men, or is there something else that holds the institution together in the face of massive local resistance and rising international condemnation? The simplistic explanation, put forth mostly by foreign security analysts, is that the Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw, is a battle-hardened force that has been fighting against an array of political and ethnic rebels continuously for more than 70 years. Myanmar’s civil wars broke out shortly after independence was achieved from Britain in 1948. Before that, an army founded by independence hero Aung San had fought alongside the Japanese military against the British and then, at the end of World War II, allied themselves with the British and turned against the Japanese. Consequently, the Tatmadaw sees itself as the true defender of the nation’s independence and the only force that can hold the ethnically diverse and politically divided country together. But that analysis misses the enigma of military power in Myanmar. Although Aung San’s daughter and coup-toppled democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi once referred to the Tatmadaw as “my father’s army”, the military force which fought during World War II had little in common with the army that emerged after independence. Because of post-war agreements with the British, most of the old fighters were demobilized and turned into a militia known as the People’s Volunteer Organization (PVO) which, in turn, resorted to armed struggle against the government because it saw independence as a sham that perpetuated colonial rule. By then, Aung San had been assassinated and of the legendary “Thirty Comrades” who had followed him to Japan to receive military training before the Japanese invasion of Myanmar in 1942, only three remained in the Tatmadaw in the 1950s, including army chief General Ne Win, who eventually seized power in a 1962 coup, the first absolute military-takeover in Myanmar, then known as Burma. By the 1950s, Myanmar’s civil wars were more or less over, with the rebel Karen National Union (KNU) and Communist Party of Burma (CPB) pushed back into remote areas. Persistent internal political turmoil, though, led to the formation of a caretaker government led by Ne Win, which was in power from 1958 to 1960. Rather than fighting the rebels, Ne Win and his 4th Burma Rifles spent the latter part of the 1950s building up a power base — and a business empire that in many ways endures today — centered around their regiment. In 1958, it published a document called “The National Ideology of the Defense Services” which strikingly resembles the dwifungsi, or dual function, doctrine of the Indonesian army that stated that the military has both a defense and social-political role. Ne Win also established an entity called the Defense Services Institute. (DSI), which soon controlled vital sectors of Myanmar’s economy. It had its own retail stores in Yangon and elsewhere it controlled the lucrative importation of coal for the railroads, electric supplies and inland water transport. DSI even established an external shipping line, the Five Star Line, and took over an English-owned bank and renamed it the Ava Bank. A newspaper, the Guardian, and a publishing house were also controlled by DSI. Meanwhile, the once-tiny Myanmar Army, perhaps as few as 2,000 men in 1949, grew steadily in strength and importance. By the late 1950s, Ne Win had more than 40,000 soldiers under his command. The army was becoming a state within the state, but few Myanmars, the vast majority of whom had faith in the nation’s then democratic system, constitution and rule of law, paid much attention until New Win seized power in 1962. Significantly, the junta that overthrew a democratically elected government introduced a new economic system called “the Burmese Way to Socialism.” But rather than establishing a socialist regime reminiscent of those in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union or China, Ne Win’s rendition meant that everything was nationalized and taken over by 23 military-run state corporations. Military coups were not uncommon in Asia at that time, but the difference in Myanmar was that the military seized not only political but also economic power. While the economies of Thailand and Indonesia, for instance, blossomed because the military entered into marriages of convenience with indigenous plutocracies, Ne Win took Myanmar in a completely different direction. The old business community, which was mainly of Indian and Chinese origin, had their properties and assets seized by the military, driving hundreds of thousands out of Myanmar into India, Southeast Asia or Taiwan. But if the 1962 coup had been meant to squash what was left of the insurgents, it turned out to be counterproductive. A rebellion broke out among the Kachin in 1961 in areas of northern Shan state. After 1962, it spread to Kachin state and the Kachin Independence Army took over most of the state. An even smaller rebellion among the Shan, which broke out in 1958, escalated into full-scale war as several bands grouped together to form the Shan State Army in 1964. The Burmese Way to Socialism had, hardly surprisingly, led to economic collapse — and a flourishing black market with neighboring Thailand. The KNU, which controlled the border areas, collected taxes on that trade, and was able to buy modern guns from the Thai black market. And, most devastatingly, China decided to give all-out support to the CPB, including modern, sophisticated weaponry of kinds that the old forces in central Myanmar never possessed. Thus, the new power structure that emerged in Myanmar after 1962 had more to do with preserving an order that hugely privileged the military in an otherwise collapsing society than the fact that officers had seen fierce combat. That new order had a very narrow base, consisting of men from Ne Win’s own regiment, the 4th Burma Rifles. And Ne Win himself was probably the least battle-hardened senior officer in the Tatmadaw as he arguably spent more time gambling at horse races than on the battlefield. Actually, the country’s most battle-hardened officers – among them the popular Brigadier Kyaw Zaw, who was purged in the late 1950s, later joined the CPB and ended his life in exile in China, and General Tin Oo, who fought in several frontier areas and in 1988 became one of the leaders of the then newly-established National League for Democracy (NLD) – did not become killers of civilians. Rather, it was Ne Win loyalists who opened fire on demonstrating students in 1962, on students and workers in the mid-1970s, and then the massacres in 1988, when thousands of pro-democracy protesters were gunned down in the streets of Yangon and elsewhere. Ne Win and his men from the 4th Burma Rifles remained in power until after the events of 1988, when somewhat younger officers took over. Ne Win’s legacy was finally dismantled in 2002, when he died and his relatives were purged allegedly for plotting against the then-military government. But the system he created lives on today. The military became the ruling class, which enjoyed privileges denied ordinary citizens. It had its own schools and hospitals and it was rare for someone who did not come from a military family to get a job in the government. The new army that emerged after 1962 also included a series of Light Infantry Divisions, which became notorious for their brutality when fighting rebels and suppressing civil movements in urban areas, as they did in 1988 and are doing once again in the wake of the February 1 coup. The Burmese Way to Socialism was abolished after the 1988 uprising, but the military retained an important role in the semi-capitalist system that succeeded it. While Ne Win had his DSI, Myanmar’s new military leaders established powerful companies like the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings and the Myanmar Economic Corporation, which currently have vast holdings across the economy. As such, the very concept of the 1958 declaration and the 1962 coup has not been abandoned but rather reshaped: the military should have a defense function as well as playing social, political and economic roles. Whether Suu Kyi and her NLD aimed to roll back those roles and holdings in a second elected term is an open and important question. Suu Kyi largely refrained from challenging the Tatmadaw’s political and economic power in her first term, but the NLD’s overwhelming election win last November – which coup-makers claim without evidence was fraudulent – gave her a strong mandate to push for more democratic change. Top brass leaders also likely feared the risk of retribution for their many crimes. All senior Tatmadaw officers know where the skeletons are buried of past atrocities, both in ethnic minority areas and now also in urban centers home to the middle class. The current commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, is now widely loathed across the population for his regime’s ruthless post-coup clampdown. He and his associates know by now that they either maintain power or land in prison — or worse. But it is a combination of those fears, deeply entrenched economic interests and a dual-function ideology that holds the Tatmadaw so tightly together, not some underlying sense of patriotism or because officers have been hardened through battles in the field. And that explains why no cracks have or are likely to emerge in the Tatmadaw, despite the brutal, irrational and seemingly self-defeating orders being handed down by officers and carried out by unswervingly obedient foot soldiers..."
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-23
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup
Description: "As of 22 April, (739) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) has not yet confirmed any fallen heroes today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of April 22, a total of (3370) people are currently under detention; of them (76) are sentenced. 1099 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document. Today, people across Burma continued to protest the dictatorship. In Myingyan, Mandalay Region on April 22, the main strike was fired upon by the junta forces. The terrorists then detained protestors in Myingyan Town. Last night in Chanmyathazi Township, Mandalay Region a 14 year-old girl and a man were shot and injured in the neighborhood for no reason. Reports of the junta reportedly calming down on crackdowns. Is nothing of the sort. The junta has continued to repressively try to shut down the internet across the country, and in rural areas where information is now especially difficult to ascertain and document, the junta’s violence is continuing at its normal brutality. This is most likely because of the upcoming ASEAN summit on 24 April, it wants to avoid condemnation and accountability and so is moderating its violence and terror in the more easy to document urban areas. Terrorist groups continue to arrest political party members, student activists, striking CDM workers, and youth protesters. Warrants are increasing, the junta is putting any and everyone who is against this junta on this list. In Magwe Region, over 100 CDM oil workers were threatened by the junta into returning back to work. If they did not return to work on April 22 they will be charged under 505(a) of the Penal Code. 2 private hospitals (Sein Thitsar and Sawn Metta) in Bhamo City, Kachin State were threatened by the junta if the 4 doctors involved in CDM give medical treatment there, then the hospital’s license would be revoked. Through the propaganda media MRTV, the junta said doctors will be prosecuted. On April 20 evening two CDM teachers from Hpa-An Township were detained in a village they were hiding in. The junta is changing tactics, the terrorists are threatening civilians and civil servants because they realise they cannot govern the country. Civil servants from many and various departments are now being detained, just as the junta is also increasingly issuing arrest warrants. Just like in the 2007 Saffron Revolution, the terrorists are violently arresting monks to maintain power. In Mandalay Region, Mogok, Sayadaw U Yewata (former chairman of ABSFU, formerly called Ye Yint Paing) from Yepu Monastery was beaten and detained last night. Journalists are now being charged under different sections of the law. In Ayeyarwady Region, a freelance journalist from Myaungmya was arrested last night. In addition, from yesterday the Monywa Gazette announced on their website they will stop operating. The terrorist group is trying to shut down the internet to hide the evidence of their atrocities, again. Information is being suppressed, and yet the media continues to work hard and document the truth to inform Burma’s people. Last night in Monywa Township, no.3 light infantry battalion chased 3 petrol trucks who passed them by, one driver was shot dead. After 6pm in Mon State, Billin and Thaton Township, the so-called police and military were shooting at anyone who passed by their camps. Civilians are too frequently injured and killed in Burma nowadays, after nearly 3 months the people continue to endure atrocities. If this dictatorship gets stronger, democracy will disappear. We must end the history of dictatorships in Burma to ensure democracy and human rights for all. For this movement to succeed we must have internal strength but also more substantial international support. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: “Our uprising must succeed” Email : [email protected] Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma In Solidarity, AAPP..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-22
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup
Description: "As of 21 April, (739) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) hero from Myaung Township in Sagaing Region was killed the previous day and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of April 21, a total of (3331) people are currently under detention; of them (76) are sentenced. 1059 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document. On April 21, “Blue Shirt Day 2021”, in honour of the seventh anniversary of the death of prominent journalist U Win Tin, protesters in Burma and many and all people inside and outside of the country, wore a blue shirt to stand with all political prisoners still detained in Burma. Political prisoners, those disappeared and in-hiding continue to increase. The situation for those detainees, their access to court – medical treatment – and fair trial is deprived. On this Blue Shirt Campaign Day, AAPP urges the international community including ASEAN to take action to ensure immediate release of all the political prisoners in Burma again. Today, sound grenades and live ammunition was used against the Dawei Strike in Tanintharyi Region. Five people including a 16-years old student were beaten and arrested. Among the arrested five, one youth was reportedly injured by a bullet shot, emergency treatment for him is clearly needed. The junta makes people who peacefully oppose them into enemies. They don’t even give medical treatment, increasingly civilians are dying from this. A main strike in Launglon town, Tanintharyi Region was also crackdown on. Two motorbikes were reportedly stolen by the junta forces, but no confirmed arrests yet. Yesterday, 200 terrorist troops took a military base between Thee Kone village in Yinmar Pin Town and Kapine village in Sagaing Region. Local residents opposed to this troop base waged a defence clash in which five villagers were killed as initially reported, further confirmation is being investigated. The junta reportedly used drones to scout the villages before using heavy artillery. The terrorists raid houses and take people as hostages. On April 19, two NLD members of Kyaukse Township, Mandalay Region, were searched for in their homes. The two were evading arrest. So, the junta detained both of their eldery fathers (one of whom is visually impaired). A CDM teacher charged with Section 505(a) and evading arrest in Thanbyuzayat town in Mon State was searched for on April 19, three family members were found and taken as hostages. Such hostage taking is a serious crime committed by the junta to indoctrinate a climate of fear. The terrorists oppress in many ways, unarmed civilians defy this oppression in peaceful protests/CDM – to destroy the dictator’s governance. Several innocents have sacrificed their lives. The international community must take whatever action is necessary. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heros in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: “Our uprising must succeed” Email : [email protected] Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma In Solidarity, AAPP..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-22
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Title: Dirty Secrets #3: Min Aung Hlaing's daughter in secret deal with MYTEL
Description: "The daughter of Myanmar’s #1 international criminal has had substantial business dealings with military-controlled mobile operator Mytel, new leaked documents obtained by DDoSecrets show, in a serious conflict of interest. Khin Thiri Thet Mon, daughter of the leader of illegal coup d'état Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, was still a shareholder in Pinnacle Asia, a company that built mobile phone towers for Mytel when her father staged the coup illegally on February 1. She only resigned from Pinnacle Asia on March 17 – just days after the US government imposed Treasury sanctions against her in response to the violent attacks on unarmed civilians who are against the murderous regime.....Mytel and Min Aung Hlaing: Mytel was created during the military’s proxy government, led by the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. The government’s 28% share is allocated to Star High. Star High was created by Myanmar Economic Corporation, a military conglomerate controlled by Min Aung Hlaing. Star High’s remit is seemingly to hold the military’s stake in Mytel. This creates a serious conflict of interest as Min Aung Hlaing's family is profiting access to state business. Min Aung Hlaing personally played a key role in the establishment of Mytel, leading numerous negotiations with the Vietnamese military and presiding over the launch.....Pinnacle and Mytel: Pinnacle Asia appears linked to Mytel from its first inception. Pinnacle Asia was established in 2016, the same year that the military was awarded shares in Myanmar’s fourth mobile operator Mytel. Pinnacle Asia then entered into business with Star High to build towers for Mytel and, according to a Linkedin profile, also has contracts with Ooredoo, another mobile phone company. Pinnacle Asia’s managing director is Sao Sawm Zai, an Australian citizen. A third director is Mya Myitzu. Sao Sawm Zai and Mya Myitzu are both directors of Pinnacle Myanmar, a Singapore registered company. Little information is available about the Singapore business, which had links to publicly listed firm Singaporean Myanmar Investco to establish a Jones the Grocer franchise in Myanmar. The deal was called off in 2018......Bank complicity: Yoma: The tower business that Khin Thiri Thet Mon owned until last month is financed by internationally exposed Myanmar banks. This raises human rights and corruption concerns for their shareholders. In February 2020, Yoma Bank, a Myanmar lender, issued a loan to Pinnacle Asia, guaranteed against a tower contract with Mytel. Khin Thiri Thet Mon signed the loan as a guarantor. The loan specified that revenue from Mytel is to be routed to Yoma Bank until the loan is repaid. The loan was authorised by both Star High and Telecom International Myanmar. This was followed by a second loan guaranteed against Mytel towers.....International shareholder exposure: Even though Yoma Bank was doing business with Min Aung Hlaing’s family and financed towers for Mytel, Norway’s Norfund and Singapore’s GIC invested in the bank. The equity purchase was announced in April 2020. In 2019, the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank, converted an earlier Yoma Bank loan to 5% equity in the bank. Norfund, GIC and IFC stand to profit from Yoma Bank’s business with Mytel and the family of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and are exposed to the corruption and human rights implications of these loans. In July 2020, crony bank AGD, owned by Tayza, announced a project finance agreement with Pinnacle Asia for an undisclosed amount to increase tower holdings to 400 by 2021. Tayza is a close associate of Than Shwe who built his business through the preferential treatment he receives as a result of his close and personal ties with the military. In August 2019, the UN Fact-Finding Mission concluded that the military’s economic interests enable their atrocity crimes. It recommended that “no business enterprise active in Myanmar or trading with or investing in businesses in Myanmar should enter into or remain in a business relationship of any kind with the security forces of Myanmar, in particular the Tatmadaw, or any enterprise owned or controlled by them” and cautioned against business with family members of the military, which can be linked to or support the military. Yoma Bank and AGD disregarded these recommendations.....Family business: Khin Thiri Thet Mon’s business with Mytel shows how Min Aung Hlaing’s family profits from access to state resources. Star High was awarded the government’s lucrative share in Mytel but, before the brutal and illegal coup de’ tat, was unaccountable to parliamentary scrutiny. Khin Thiri Thet Mon’s business with Star High and Mytel is a clear example of a conflict of interest that is seen across military cartel businesses. Since the coup, the military has been deliberately attacking and killed more than 700 people including 49 children. Youngest killed was seven years old girl, whom before being shot, was scared because her father and brother were beaten by police who broke into their house. They have been using lethal weapons with sole aim to kill and these amount to crimes against humanity. The military has carried out indiscriminate air strikes against ethnic Karen and Kachin peoples in recent days, part of ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity the Myanmar military has been committing against ethnic communities for decades. Min Aung Hlaing and the junta leadership, who are seeking to profit from the coup, must be held to account and perpetrators of these crimes must be prosecuted. Khin Thiri Thet Mon and other children of top military generals have long profited from the systemic corruption of the Myanmar military, at the expense of the people of Myanmar. As long as the military maintains power, this corruption will continue. Min Aung Hlaing’s family must be investigated for corruption and any stolen assets returned to the people of Myanmar. The cartel must be dismantled..." ‍
Source/publisher: Justice For Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-22
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Title: End violence, start talks: Malaysia to Myanmar junta
Sub-title: Malaysian premier to attend meeting of ASEAN leaders on April 24, foreign minister confirms
Description: "Malaysia on Tuesday reiterated its call for an end to violence in Myanmar and the immediate release of all people detained by the military junta since its February power grab. “Provide space for peaceful assembly and freedom of speech. Return to the negotiating table to resolve this political crisis and avoid escalation of tensions,” Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in a statement. His remarks came ahead of a meeting of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta on Saturday. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will attend the special ASEAN meeting as he has received a special invitation from the bloc’s current chair, Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, according to the foreign minister. Hishammuddin urged the military junta to open access for humanitarian aid to reach the people of Myanmar, while also calling for efforts for the peaceful, voluntary, and dignified repatriation of the persecuted Rohingya community. “We hope that during the upcoming discussions in Jakarta, Myanmar will agree to receive representatives from the ASEAN chair Brunei or from the ASEAN secretariat to help the country return to normalcy,” he added. Brunei confirmed on Wednesday that the meeting of ASEAN leaders will take place in Jakarta on Saturday and will be chaired by Sultan Bolkiah. At least 738 people have been killed so far as Myanmar’s military has used brutal methods to quell anti-coup protests raging across the country, according to the latest figures by a rights group. Figures provided by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners show over 3,260 people have been detained, 75 of them convicted, and arrest warrants issued for at least 970 others since the Myanmar army – officially known as the Tatmadaw – seized power on Feb. 1, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi..."
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-22
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Title: Military coup clouds control over jade, gems in Myanmar
Sub-title: Opposition to the military’s coup has boosted ethnic armed groups, creating a new challenge to its lucrative jade and gems business
Description: "Life in Myanmar’s jade-producing regions was always difficult and precarious but since the military seized power from the civilian government on February 1, it has become even more dangerous. In Kachin State’s Hpakant township, which has the world’s largest and most lucrative jade mines, there are more soldiers and police, access to mining sites has become more difficult and local markets have stopped operating. “Many places are dangerous to dig jade now. There are only a few places where we can dig by hand or small machine,” said Sut Naw, a local miner who preferred to use a pseudonym for security reasons. Police and soldiers are now guarding company compounds, he added, patrolling roads day and night. They also stop people on the streets or in their vehicles, checking for jade and other valuables and searching through people’s phones for evidence of resistance to the coup. “I have seen many zombie movies, but never realised that I would be living in a similar environment,” he said. “People don’t go out at all unless they have to.” The military has long dominated Myanmar’s jade industry and continues to rake in immense profits. Myanmar’s annual jade and gems emporium, held from April 1 to 10, brought in $6.5m on the sixth day alone, according to state media.....Lucrative resource: In 2015, the environmental watchdog Global Witness valued Myanmar’s jade industry at $31bn and described it as possibly the “biggest natural resource heist in modern history.” Identifying the Tatmadaw and armed elites as the industry’s biggest profiteers, the exploitation of jade was “an appalling crime that poses a serious threat to democracy and peace in Myanmar,” it said. Keel Dietz, a Myanmar policy adviser with Global Witness, told Al Jazeera that with the Tatmadaw now in total control over the formal governance of natural resources, they were likely to step up that exploitation. “There is a huge risk that the military, in their desperate efforts to maintain control, will look to the country’s natural resource wealth to sustain their rule, to buy weapons, and enrich themselves,” he said. Escalating clashes between the Kachin Independence Army, the armed wing of an ethnic armed group in the resource-rich northern state and the military, known as the Tatmadaw, have raised questions over the control over the jade mines. Before a 1994 ceasefire, the Kachin Independence Organization, which has been fighting for federal rights to self-determination since 1961, controlled most of the mines and local people were able to enjoy a share of the wealth through small-scale mining activities. The KIA is its armed wing. The ceasefire saw most of the jade-mining region nationalised under a military government known for exploiting resources without regard for the social and environmental consequences. The state-owned Myanmar Gems Enterprise took control over the regulation of mining activity and issuing licences, which it signed over to itself and to companies that benefitted its interests, including proxy companies, companies run by military cronies and those connected to armed actors including the United Wa State Army, which runs its own special administrative region on the China border and has a history of links to drug trafficking. These companies levelled mountains, dug enormous trenches and dumped waste with impunity. Hundreds of thousands of migrants flocked to the area, dreaming of digging their way to prosperity but found themselves scavenging through company waste heaps; if they found a big stone, it was confiscated by soldiers. The natural environment was destroyed, landslides and mining accidents claimed hundreds of lives, and drug abuse skyrocketed – all while the Tatmadaw pocketed handsome profits. Shortly after winning elections in 2015, the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi pledged to reform the industry and in August 2016, suspended the renewal of mining licences and the issuance of new ones. But companies bypassed the suspensions with impunity, and the NLD government was widely criticised by rights groups for failing to bring meaningful changes to the jade industry. In July 2020, more than 170 people were buried in a landslide in a Hpakant jade mine. “The government and military have never respected natural resources,” said Ah Shawng,* a land and Indigenous rights activist in Hpakant. “They extract resources as they wish and only for themselves. .. Our natural resources are all disappearing and being destroyed.” But since the coup, resistance to centralised policies and the exploitation of ethnic people and the land and resources in their states appears to be rising.....Shifting allegiances: The 2008 military-drafted constitution, which centralised land and resource management at the union level and entrenched Tatmadaw power, was abolished on March 31 by officials forced out by the military. In its place, they put forward an interim Federal Democracy Charter. Mainstream support for armed resistance to military rule has also increased, as the Tatmadaw arrests thousands and indiscriminately shoots civilians. Some 739 people have been killed, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which is tracking the violence. With ethnic armed groups, including the KIO, in a position to offer protection and help fight back against the generals, ethnic minorities’ struggles for self-determination under a federal system, which were once largely ignored by the majority Bamar public, are now increasingly popular. Pro-KIA demonstrations have been held across Kachin State and even in central Myanmar, while the number of recruits is rising. Although the KIA and Tatmadaw have been at war since the ceasefire collapsed in 2011, fighting had slowed since 2018. But since the coup conflict has escalated. Clashes have been taking place nearly every day. The KIA, so far, appears to have the upper hand – it has taken several Tatmadaw bases and claims to have obliterated entire battalions, killing hundreds of soldiers. Some of the most intense fighting has occurred in and around Hpakant, where Ah Shawng, the local rights activist who also prefers to use a pseudonym for her security, says most locals support the KIA. “Now, when [junta] forces harm people, the KIA protects and stands with us,” she said, adding that the KIA had been successful in driving out some security forces from the area. On March 28, the KIA killed about 30 policemen who had raided a jade mining site operated by the Taut Pa Kyal mining company, according to Kachin State-based media reports. The company, according to a BBC Burmese article, is backed by the Kyaw Naing company, which has 64 licenced mining sites and failed to disclose a military crony among its beneficial owners in 2020. Days later, a photo circulated on social media of a police station, allegedly at another company jade mining site in Hpakant, bearing a white flag of surrender to the KIA. Al Jazeera contacted the KIO to verify the incidents but they declined to comment on matters related to Hpakant. The KIA may be fighting to gain control of other areas as well – including some areas beyond Kachin State. Local news agency Myanmar Now reported on April 15 that the KIA and Tatmadaw had clashed in Mogok, a city in Mandalay region hundreds of miles from Kachin State. Mogok’s mines possess the world’s most valuable rubies, as well as other lucrative gemstones. On April 16, a group of youth in Mogok staged a pro-KIA march and drew a large “Welcome KIA” banner on the street. The next day, the military forces gunned down at least two people in the city.....Sanctions, import bans: The United States has already imposed sanctions on Myanmar Gems Enterprise, as well as on two military holding companies, Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company Limited (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation Limited (MEC). This week, the European Union also added MEHL and MEC to its sanctions list. Dietz of Global Witness told Al Jazeera that while the sanctions were “hugely important,” they were likely to have only a limited effect on the jade sector without the support of China, which serves as the primary market for Myanmar’s jade, a highly prized luminous green stone. “Global Witness encourages the international community to place import bans on all jade and coloured gemstones coming from Myanmar,” he said. He also expressed concern that as the Tatmadaw finds itself squeezed of funds, it might try sell off resource concessions in exchange for fast cash. “The international community should make it clear to commodity trading firms and other investors in natural resources that now is not the time to be making large new resource deals in Myanmar – the military regime is not a legitimate government, and should not be allowed to sell away Myanmar’s remaining mineral wealth to sustain itself,” he said. Tu Hkawng the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation under the newly-formed interim National Unity Government running in parallel to the generals’ administration, told Al Jazeera that it was time to bring natural resource management back into the hands of the local people. Appointed on April 16, he has already begun engaging with local stakeholders to reform natural resource management policy through the lens of Indigenous rights. “We are trying to build a collective leadership … to engage more with the grassroots-level community and solve the problems together,” he said. “This is a bottom-up approach. In order to achieve it, we have to build a network with every stakeholder and collaborate.” He hopes that by addressing natural resource governance, the civil wars that have plagued the country for the past 70 years can finally be brought to an end. “Every ethnic group has the right to manage and benefit from the natural resources on its own land. Right now we don’t have that,” he said. “If everyone gets to govern their own land, we won’t have to fight any more.”..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-22
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Title: Millions face hunger as Myanmar crisis worsens, United Nations says
Description: "Food insecurity is rising sharply in Myanmar in the wake of the military coup and deepening financial crisis with millions more people expected to go hungry in coming months, the United Nations said on Thursday. Up to 3.4 million more people will struggle to afford food in the next three to six months with urban areas worst affected as job losses mount in manufacturing, construction and services and food prices rise, a World Food Program (WFP) analysis shows. "More and more poor people have lost their jobs and are unable to afford food," country director Stephen Anderson said in a statement. "A concerted response is required now to alleviate immediate suffering, and to prevent an alarming deterioration in food security." The WFP said market prices of rice and cooking oil had risen by 5% and 18% respectively since the end of February, with signs that families in the commercial capital of Yangon were skipping meals, eating less nutritious food, and going into debt. The agency plans to expand operations, tripling to 3.3 million the number of people it assists, and is appealing for $106 million, it said. A Myanmar junta spokesman did not immediately answer phone calls to seek comment. Myanmar’s army seized power from the democratically elected civilian government on Feb.1, plunging the Southeast Asian nation into turmoil and cracking down on mass protests and a nationwide civil disobedience movement with brutal force, killing more than 700 people, a monitoring group said. The crisis has brought the banking system to a standstill, shuttering many branches, leaving businesses unable to make payments and customers unable to withdraw cash. Many people depend on remittances from relatives abroad. Most imports and exports have been halted and factories have closed. The World Bank forecasts Myanmar's GDP to contract 10% in 2021, a reversal of previously positive trends. Before the coup, the WFP said about 2.8 million in Myanmar were considered food insecure. The coronavirus pandemic took a heavy toll of the economy, which had been growing as it emerged from decades of isolation and financial mismanagement under former military governments..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-22
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Title: Myanmar’s Doctors Urge UN Action Against Military Junta
Summary: "After witnessing the military regime’s continuous targeted raids on doctors and healthcare facilities treating the wounded, Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights has asked the United Nation (UN) and...
Description: "After witnessing the military regime’s continuous targeted raids on doctors and healthcare facilities treating the wounded, Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights has asked the United Nation (UN) and international organizations to take meaningful measures against the junta. In an open letter to Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the UN, Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights demanded that the UN stop the junta’s forces from intentionally targeting medical professionals providing care to the wounded and help the injured seek treatment without fear for their own safety. The group includes volunteer doctors and 15 medical students’ unions. Since the Feb. 1 coup, the military regime has been conducting the deadly crackdowns on anti-regime demonstrations across Myanmar. Numerous atrocities have been committed against protesters and civilians by the junta’s forces during raids, arrests, and interrogations. During the crackdowns, many wounded protesters have been arrested without being provided medical treatment. Meanwhile, in several instances the bodies of the dead have been taken away and not returned to the families. Also, charity organizations and ambulances trying to pick up the bodies of those killed or provide medical assistance to the wounded have been fired upon or arrested by the regime’s forces. In a shooting in Mandalay in late February, Ko Yarzar Aung, a 26-year-old protester, who was shot in the leg, died at a military hospital without being provided the proper treatment, a witness told The Irrawaddy. A doctor from a charity group in the city, who tried to treat Ko Yarzar Aung, said that except for some minor treatment, the regime’s forces would not allow her to attend to wounded detainees before they were taken away. The doctor said that Ko Yarzar Aung would not have died from his leg injuries if he had been treated properly. In late March, the junta’s forces raided an office of a charity group comprised of several organizations in Mandalay giving treatment to the wounded, according to a social worker. The troops seized three ambulances and destroyed two others. They also seized clinic materials and arrested 26 social workers, including several medics. During an attack on anti-regime strongholds in Bago on April 9, when about 82 died in a massacre, the regime’s forces closed every entrance to four wards for days. No ambulances and social organizations giving medical assistance and free funeral services were able to go into the wards to pick up the dead or give medical treatment to the wounded. Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights said in its open letter to the UN that the military regime’s polices and soldiers are intentionally targeting medical treatment sites, charity clinics and hospitals providing critical care to the injured. On April 5, the regime’s troop stormed the house of orthopedic surgeon Dr. Kyaw Min Soe in Mayangone Township of Yangon and arrested the physician. They tied the doctor’s hands behind his back, and a black bag was put over his head. The doctor, a professor at University of Medicine, Yangon, has been involved in the civil disobedience movement (CDM) and was also providing medical treatment to those injured in anti-regime protests. On April 12, the regime’s forces arrested Dr. Maw Maw Oo, head of the Emergency Department of Yangon General Hospital, who had been providing medical care to the wounded even though he has joined the CDM. Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights said that in some places, doctors have been forced to keep the lights off in order to prevent the junta’s forces from finding and arresting them. Working with just torchlight, they have performed life saving operations. Since last week, the military regime has been issuing arrest warrants for doctors in the CDM each night. As of Wednesday, 179 medics in the CDM have been charged. “It is truly agonizing for us to see our fellow countrymen taking their last breaths in front of our very eyes,” said Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights. It also said in its letter that by many lives which could otherwise have been saved have been unnecessarily lost because doctors have been forcibly prevented from providing essential medical care to the wounded. After receiving the open letter, Dr. Simon Adams, Executive Director of Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, tweeted on its Twitter account on Wednesday that the time for statements of concern has long passed. “I was very moved by the letter I received from Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights,” he said. He added now is the time for the UN to place human rights at the forefront and use every practical diplomatic tool available. As of Wednesday, nearly 740 people have been killed by the junta’s forces during their crackdowns, raids, arrests and interrogations, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). Those killed include anti-regime protesters, bystanders, pedestrians and residents. In spite of killing and arrests, tens of thousands of people across Myanmar continue to take to the streets to show their defiance of the military rule..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-22
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Title: Myanmar’s Economy in Freefall Under Military Regime
Summary: "Before last year’s November election, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank predicted that Myanmar would bounce back strongly from the economic impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, with...
Description: "Before last year’s November election, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank predicted that Myanmar would bounce back strongly from the economic impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, with the economy set to grow at around 6 percent in 2021. In the immediate aftermath of the military’s Feb. 1 coup, junta leaders sought to keep the economy on track by presenting themselves as business-friendly and saying that economic policies would remain unchanged during the state of emergency. The junta even appointed some individuals to Myanmar’s key economic ministries who were already well-connected and well-known to the international community. But now the World Bank’s latest forecast reveals that Myanmar’s economy is in dire jeopardy and is projected to contract by 10 percent this year due to the impact of the military takeover. 80 days after the coup, there are already many signs that the economy is in freefall, with new investment drying up, the withdrawal of existing investment and the halting of key international-backed infrastructure projects, as western countries sanction the military regime. Western business groups including the United States, United Kingdom, European, Italian and French chambers of commerce rejected the regime’s invitation to meet with its cabinet members in March. Moreover, nearly 50 international companies including Coca-Cola, Telenor and Heineken, signed a joint statement expressing their deep concern over developments in Myanmar. The impact of the coup has been to reverse the country’s economic reforms and the economic progress made during the last decade. The coup has pushed Myanmar—previously one of the region’s fastest-growing economies – back into dire poverty and left the economy on the brink of collapse. The Irrawaddy looks at what has happened to Myanmar’s economy since the military takeover and how that has impacted people across the country.....Number of new companies slumps: Company registration figures from the government investment agency, the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA), reveal a huge slump in the number of new companies being registered. DICA data shows that the number of new registered companies was 1,373 in January, 188 in February and 163 in March. The figures reveal that the number of registered companies has declined nearly 87 percent compared with the same period last year. In 2020, under the National League for Democracy (NLD) government and even with the COVID-19 crisis, the number of new registered companies was 1,415 in January, 1,298 in February and 1,015 in March.....Internet restrictions cripple digital economy and Fintech market: The emerging digital economy and Fintech market collapsed after the military regime introduced large-scale internet restrictions across Myanmar. The internet blackouts have affected everything from mobile money to e-commerce and online food delivery services. Access to mobile money services including Wave money and KZB pay has been crippled since March, when the regime blocked mobile internet and broadband services. E-commerce business is down by 75 percent, while online food delivery services nationwide are down 80 percent following the coup, according to reports. The result is that thousands of young people are now out of work.....Garment sector in jeopardy: The garment sector has also been paralyzed after the largest foreign brands halted orders over concern at the politically unstable situation, while deadly crackdowns in industrial areas have also forced factories to close down and workers to return to their hometowns. Myanmar earned between US$4 billion and US$6 billion from cut, make and pack garment exports in 2020 and the industry employed 500,000 people before the coup. Now, over 80 percent of the garment sector has been forced to suspend operations since mid-February. Labour organizations say that over one-third [200,000] of garment industry workers have lost their jobs since the junta launched deadly crackdowns on anti-coup protesters and imposed martial law in industrial areas. Since the coup, the sector has also lost major foreign brands including Italy’s Benetton and Swedish Retailer H&M after they decided to pause new orders from Myanmar. H & M, the world’s second-biggest fashion retailer, has had around 45 direct suppliers in Myanmar for the last seven years. But the company has suspended new orders, citing “practical difficulties and an unpredictable situation”. Italy’s Benetton Group has also suspended all new orders from its suppliers in Myanmar, citing concerns over the increasing use of deadly violence against pro-democracy supporters.....Thousands of construction workers out of a job: Around 300,000 to 400,000 workers in the construction sector lost their jobs following the coup, according to the Construction Workers Union. The union said that the political instability since the coup has forced a halt on all major infrastructure projects in Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital, including the Korean Industrial complex, the Japan-backed Yangon-Thanlyin Bridge and the extension of the Thilawa Special Economic Zone.....Stock trading at a record low: The value of shares traded on the Yangon Stock Exchange (YSX) in March declined to its lowest level in history following the coup, according to YSX records. The records reveal that the value of stocks traded on the exchange in March was just 110 million kyats. In the same period last year, the value of stocks traded on the exchange peaked at 1.425 billion Kyats. The value of stocks traded in February this year also dropped drastically compared with the figures in February 2020. YSX records show that 442 million kyats worth of shares were traded on the exchange in February, compared to 1.48 billion kyats traded in February 2020.....South Korea suspends finance for infrastructure projects: In response to the military coup, the South Korean government has decided to halt financing for Myanmar government infrastructure projects until next year, according to Korean media reports. Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance has temporarily suspended financial support through its Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) for any new infrastructure projects by the military regime, according to the reports. The Korean government set up the EDCF to provide support for industrial development and economic stability in developing countries and to promote economic cooperation between Korea and those countries. The EDCF signed with the ousted NLD government to provide $1 billion worth of loans to Myanmar until 2022 to support industrialization and economic growth through various infrastructure projects. Under the agreement, the Export-Import Bank of Korea also agreed to support a nearly US$63 million loan to help Myanmar build a Korea-Myanmar Industrial Complex.....Banking and cash flow crisis: Myanmar’s banking system has been paralyzed since the coup as hundreds of branches of at least 31 local banks and 13 foreign ones have closed their doors due to staff strikes. All banking services have been halted in the country except for mobile banking and ATM services. As a result almost all trading companies, especially those engaged in sea-bound trade, have been forced to halt operations, as the banks are unable to issue the documents needed to import and export goods. Companies are also struggling to pay salaries, as banks are not providing payroll services. Businesses are also suffering from a cash shortage as bank branches have closed down and the regime has ordered limits on cash withdrawals for both individuals and companies. Moreover, businesses have been constrained by cash shortages for months. Foreign businesses are also suffering from a money shortage as both cash withdrawals from the local bank and importing new funding from abroad has become difficult. Under the previous government, the review process for new transactions from abroad took only a week. Currently, business people are not allowed to know how the review process works.....Foreign firms to exit: Large foreign firms are under pressure to pull out of any businesses which help bankroll the military regime, Australia’s Woodside Petroleum said it has decided to withdraw its 100-odd workers from an offshore drilling project in Myanmar. The company said the move is a response to human rights violations following the coup, with Woodside saying that it will keep all business decisions under review until they see the future outlook for Myanmar and that political stability has improved. The company completed pulling staff and machinery out of Myanmar in March. South Korean Steel Makers Coated & Color Steel Co Ltd, an affiliate of POSCO, said that a plan is underway to end its joint venture with Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Co Ltd (MEHL), one of the country’s two military-controlled conglomerates. The company is already discussing a plan to buy MEHL’s 30 percent stake so that it can continue operations as the sole owner. The joint venture company produces sheet metal for residential and factory roofing and made profits of around US$1.7 million in the last year. The move came after the company came under pressure from human rights group in both Myanmar and Korea to end its ties with military-linked companies in Myanmar.....World Bank forecasts 10 percent slump in growth: Myanmar’s economic growth is set to shrink by 10 percent this financial year as military rule hammers one of the region’s fastest-growing economies, according to the World Bank. The global financial institution forecast in December that Myanmar’s economy would start to recover from COVID-19 in March. But it said that since the coup Myanmar has been heavily affected by protests, strikes, military action, reductions in mobility and disruption to public services, like banking, logistics and internet access......ADB halts funding for government projects: One of the Myanmar’s biggest development partners, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has also put on hold funding for Myanmar government development projects ranging from transport and energy, to education and information technology, following the lethal crackdowns on peaceful anti-regime protesters that have killed over 700 civilians. The ADB said in a statement that it remains “deeply concerned about recent developments in Myanmar, especially the loss of life during civil protests”. The bank stated that the change in the country’s circumstances will have a serious impact on Myanmar’s economic and social development. Under the latest loans agreement, the ADB approved a US$484 million loan in November 2020 to construct a new expressway connecting Bago Region and Mon State. Both areas lie along Japan’s planned East-West Economic Corridor, a grand infrastructure scheme for the Greater Mekong Subregion.....French energy giant halts hydropower project: French energy giant Électricité de France (EDF) has suspended a hydropower project worth more than US$1.5 billion in Myanmar’s Shan State over human rights concerns, as the military regime continues to use deadly force against anti-coup protesters across the country. EDF said that it has halted development of the Shweli-3 Project, including the activities of its subcontractors. Led by EDF, the 671 MW project was being jointly developed with Japan’s Marubeni Corporation and the locally owned Myanmar Ayeyar Hinthar Company. The companies received a Notice to Proceed in 2018 under the NLD government. It was expected to generate 3 billion kWh of electricity annually for the national grid and supply power to more than 8.5 million people nationwide.....Singapore’s businessman leaves: Prominent Singaporean businessman Lim Kaling has pulled out of a joint venture with ties to the Myanmar military-owned conglomerate MEHL. One week after the military staged their coup and detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, Lim said that recent events in Myanmar had caused him “grave concern”. Lim Kaling disposed of his one-third stake in the joint venture that owns RMH Singapore Pte Ltd. MEHL and RMH jointly operate Virginia Tobacco Co. Ltd. (VTCL). RMH owns a 49-percent stake in VTCL, while MEHL owns the remainder. It has been operated as a joint venture since 1993. VTCL has a virtual monopoly on the cigarette market in Myanmar, producing the country’s most popular cigarette brands, Red Ruby and Premium Gold.....Kirin cuts tie with Myanmar Military-owned firm: Five days after the coup, Japanese beverage giant Kirin cut ties with a Myanmar military-owned conglomerate saying it was deeply concerned by the recent actions of the military, which are against their standards and human rights policy. Kirin Holdings Co. Ltd. announced that it would end its joint-venture partnership with MEHL. Kirin held 51 percent of both the Myanmar Brewery and Mandalay Brewery, with MEHL holding the rest.....World Bank halts payments to Myanmar: The World Bank, one of Myanmar’s largest development partners, announced that it had put a hold on disbursements for its existing development operations in the country in sectors ranging from electricity and education to technical assistance, following the military takeover. The bank is involved in at least 24 ongoing projects in Myanmar worth billions of dollars, according to the World Bank’s development project list.....Singapore: wait and see: Singaporean conglomerate Sembcorp has decided to halt a plan to develop an industrial park in Yangon’s Hlegu Township. Sembcorp President and CEO Wong Kim Yin told media that his company would wait until the political situation stabilizes, saying the company also needs to see how its customers respond as well. The Myanmar-Singapore (Hlegu) Industrial Park is expected to be built on 436 hectares of land in Hlegu Township at an estimated cost of $230 million. The project received approval from the Myanmar Investment Commission in 2020. The project was a joint development by Sembcorp CSSD Myanmar Co.—a subsidiary of Sembcorp Industries — and Myanmar’s Pahtama Group and Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corp. The development was a priority project under the ousted NLD government’s plan to secure foreign investment to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Myanmar’s economy......Toyota postpones plan to open new plant: Toyota, the world’s biggest car manufacturer, has delayed opening a vehicle production plant in the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on the outskirts of Yangon, with the company citing concerns over political instability following the coup. Toyota Myanmar announced its plan to build the US$52.6 million production plant in 2019, and said it anticipated employing more than 150 staff in Myanmar. The company said in 2019 that it expected the plant to produce around 2,500 Hilux trucks annually, starting from 2021.....US$1 billion industrial complex halted: One day after the coup, work on a US$1 billion industrial hub project backed by the Amata Corporation, Thailand’s largest industrial estate developer, was suspended due to possible sanctions by Western countries. Envisioned as an industrial complex on 2,000 acres of land near Laydaunkkan Village in East Dagon and South Dagon townships in Yangon, the project was one of a number launched by the former NLD government to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Myanmar’s economy. The NLD government inaugurated the project in late December last year and it was expected to create 33,000 jobs, attract foreign investment and boost the Yangon Region’s industrial output and exports..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-22
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Title: Open Letter From Dr. Sasa to ASEAN Union Minister for Ministry of International Cooperation National Unity Government of Myanmar
Description: "Open Letter from Dr. Sasa to ASEAN National Unity Government of Myanmar Union Minister for International Cooperation and NUG Spokesperson 22nd April 2021......I bring greetings to you as the Union Minister of International Cooperation and Spokesperson of Myanmar’s new National Unity Government (NUG). Formed by democratically elected leaders of Myanmar, this new government is accountable to, and reflects the diversity of, our great people. We greatly appreciate the Association of Southeast Asian Nation’s (ASEAN) willingness to help Myanmar address the crisis that has gripped our nation, and indeed our region, following the illegal coup d’etat on 1 February. We are aware that ASEAN will be holding an emergency Summit on Myanmar on 24 April. We believe that the people of Myanmar should be included in meetings about Myanmar and its future. We are therefore fully prepared, as the legitimate representatives of the people of Myanmar, to participate in this Summit. We stand ready to engage with our ASEAN neighbors toward ending this crisis, restore democracy and stability in Myanmar. If ASEAN believes that engagement with the military coup leaders- junta is necessary, we believe that it should only occur if the military generals- junta meets the following conditions and demonstrates that it is adhering to them: 1. Stop murdering civilians and end all kind of violence against the people of Myanmar. The military junta led SAC has killed over 740 Myanmar civilians since the coup and the number of its victims increase every day......2. Stop systematically attacking neighborhoods and randomly discharging weapons into civilians’ homes that have claimed the lives of many civilians, including most vulnerable groups, people with disability, children and women.....3. Stop bombing and shelling Kachin, Karen villages and other part of the country, which has caused significant casualties and has led to tens of thousands of civilians being displaced.....4. Stop preventing those who need medical care from receiving it, including agreeing to immediately: (i ) Stop occupying medical facilities, Schools, colleges building across the Nation (ii) Stop arresting and attacking medical personnel (iii) Stop preventing emergency medical personnel from reaching victims (iv) Stop arresting, attacking, torturing and harassing CDM members and their families who are exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression. (v) Stop arresting and attacking, torturing and harassing democratically elected leaders, their family’s members and love ones..... 5. Unconditionally release the over 3,300 political prisoners detained since the coup and stop arbitrarily detaining protesters and others who are exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression.....6. Stop all military actions against the innocent people of Myanmar and return the power to National Unity Government formed by democratically elected leaders by the people and for the people of Myanmar. The military junta continues to inflict horrific damage on our communities and people. We need ASEAN’s help in meeting the urgent humanitarian crisis that this has caused. Please provide support to the people who have been forced to flea their homes throughout our country because of the SAC-military junta’s attacks. World Food Programs (WFP) analysis shows millions more people face hunger in Myanmar the coming months as the crisis in Myanmar get deeper and deeper day by day. Please also provide support to those who seek refuge in other countries and send humanitarian assistance to help them. The National Unity Government can help facilitate the flow of humanitarian support to the people of Myanmar. We stand ready to help you help our people in need. We also need ASEAN’s help in bringing the pressure to bear that will end the military junta’s assaults and end its attempted illegal coup. Help us cut off the resources that they need to continue their attacks on our people. This includes stopping business operations that funnel money into their illegal coffers, cutting the flow of weapons to their arsenal, and helping us as we seek to hold them accountable for their crimes through international mechanisms. We humbly yet urgently request that ASEAN does everything in its power to help the people of Myanmar in this, our greatest hour of need. We look forward to returning to ASEAN a legitimate government in good standing so that, together, we can make ASEAN the peaceful and prosperous region that all of our people deserve. Sincerely, Dr. Sasa..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-22
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Title: Philippine president not attending ASEAN summit on Myanmar - spokesman
Description: "Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte will not attend a summit of leaders of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries in Jakarta this weekend, his spokesman said on Thursday. Duterte will be represented by the country's foreign ministry and will not join because of the face-to-face requirements of the meeting, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a regular news conference. He did not elaborate on the issues..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-22
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Title: ASEAN: Withdraw Invite to Myanmar Junta Leader
Sub-title: Southeast Asian Leaders Should Press for Return to Democratic Rule
Description: "The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should immediately withdraw its invitation to Myanmar’s junta leader, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, to attend its upcoming summit, Human Rights Watch said today. ASEAN has scheduled an emergency meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, on April 24, 2021, to discuss the crisis in Myanmar. ASEAN’s inclusion of Min Aung Hlaing lends unwarranted legitimacy to the junta’s State Administrative Council over Myanmar’s democratically elected government, which the military overthrew in a coup on February 1. Before and since the coup, the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union have imposed financial and travel sanctions on Min Aung Hlaing for his involvement in grave human rights violations as military commander-in-chief. “Min Aung Hlaing, who faces international sanctions for his role in military atrocities and the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, should not be welcomed at an intergovernmental gathering to address a crisis he created,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “ASEAN members should instead take this opportunity to impose targeted, economic sanctions on junta leaders and on businesses that fund the junta, and press the junta to release political detainees, end abuses, and restore the country’s democratically elected government.” On November 8, 2020, Myanmar’s voters overwhelmingly elected members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, to the national parliament. The NLD secured 83 percent of the contested seats. Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, claimed that the election was marred by massive fraud but has produced no credible evidence to substantiate that charge. Both domestic and international election monitoring organizations found the elections credible and rejected the Tatmadaw’s unsubstantiated claims. Myanmar’s generals refused to accept the massive electoral defeat of the military-linked Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and acted to deprive Myanmar’s people of their right to choose their government, a right enshrined in international law. Early on February 1, the day that the new parliament was to sit for the first time, the military arrested and detained President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, along with scores of other NLD ministers, members of parliament, and regional administrators. The state security forces have arbitrarily arrested numerous local NLD officials, at least two of whom have been tortured to death in detention. The authorities have also arrested commissioners of the national Union Election Commission and many of its state and regional offices. Malaysia and Indonesia have publicly expressed concern about the coup, and Singapore and the Philippines have urged the Myanmar security forces to exercise restraint. However, ASEAN as a group has done little more than call on “all parties” to refrain from violence and to seek a peaceful solution through “constructive dialogue.” This call ignores the reality that the violence has overwhelmingly been committed by state security forces against peaceful protesters, and the State Administrative Council has declared unlawful two bodies that would be likely parties to any dialogue. On March 21, the SAC declared the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, a group representing elected lawmakers, an “unlawful association.” On April 20, the SAC issued the same declaration for the recently formed National Unity Government, established by opponents to the coup. Ongoing nationwide protests organized by the national Civil Disobedience Movement have demonstrated widespread opposition to rule by the military, which has governed the country for most of the past 60 years. The junta’s response to the largely peaceful protests has been increasingly brutal. Since the coup, security forces have killed over 700 people, including at least 45 children as young as five, and detained an estimated 3,200 activists, journalists, civil servants, and politicians. Hundreds have been forcibly disappeared, which may amount to crimes against humanity. Over the past weeks, the military has demonstrated the callous disregard for human life that has driven its strategy for decades. In video footage from cities and towns across the country, soldiers can be seen shooting down children, brutally beating medical aid workers, and firing shotguns into crowds of peacefully protesting doctors. In the city of Bago on April 9, military and police used grenades against barricades erected by protesters, killing scores of people. The State Administrative Council has also ordered the shutdown of mobile data and public Wi-Fi connections, resulting in the shutdown of much of the country’s internet, and placed areas of the country under martial law. In these areas, protesters, other opponents of military rule, and journalists face trials in closed military courts under unfair trial procedures, with no right to appeal. Under the council order, those convicted by military courts may be sentenced to death or hard labor for unlimited periods of time. Since the declaration of martial law, military tribunals have sentenced at least 19 people to death. “ASEAN should be playing a constructive role in resolving Myanmar’s crisis, not providing a podium to the general most responsible for creating it,” Adams said. “ASEAN should make clear that it stands with Myanmar’s democratically elected government and will demand accountability from Min Aung Hlaing and other junta leaders responsible for the deaths of hundreds protesting for democracy.”..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-21
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Title: The case for a US missile strike on Myanmar
Sub-title: US could not unilaterally invoke 'R2P' to intervene in Myanmar's crisis but that doesn't mean the military option is off the table
Description: "Nearly 80 days and 800 deaths after the military coup of February 1, two divergent trendlines have emerged to define the future contours of Myanmar’s crisis: brutal reassertion of control by the military junta over a political and economic wasteland; or descent into civil war pitting the junta against a nascent coalition of forces fighting for federal democracy. Less noted and earlier in the crisis dismissed as quixotic, there is also however a third wild-card scenario involving action aimed at deflecting both of those two disastrous trajectories: foreign intervention to engage Myanmar’s generals in the only language they have ever understood or respected – military power. Impelled by the looming prospect of state collapse and humanitarian catastrophe as an inflexible Tatmadaw ratchets up its repression, the logic of external intervention in the form of US missile strikes against military targets is assuming a compelling momentum. As one well-placed Singapore-based analyst conceded: “We’re in such dire territory now that almost nothing is off-limits.” In the weeks following the putsch through February and into March many, including this writer, saw reassertion of control by the junta, known as the State Administration Council (SAC), as the most probable outcome. The argument was based on an assessment of four salient facets of the Tatmadaw as a military organization: its ample resources, institutional cohesion, proven ruthlessness and unblinking sense of mission. All of these characteristics had been amply demonstrated in earlier periods of popular protest. Where the assessment fell down was in underestimating the extraordinary courage and resilience of ordinary citizens. Led by a youthful vanguard armed with modern communications technology, hundreds of thousands who saw their future being torn away by the same military that between 1962 and 2011 had reduced their country to an economic basket case took to the streets in peaceful protest. This sustained outpouring of anger forced the military to move from relative restraint in the first weeks after the coup to a more characteristic resort to battlefield violence involving first targeted killings using rifles and finally open massacres with machine guns, grenades and rocket launchers..."
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-21
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Title: China, Myanmar and others criticised in report on rising religious persecution
Description: "Violations of religious freedom are increasing and persecution takes place in more than 25 countries, with China and Myanmar among those that have the worst records, according to a report by a Vatican-backed charity. The Religious Freedom in the World Report, covering 2019-2020 and issued on Tuesday, said that in some countries, such as Niger, Turkey and Pakistan, prejudices against religious minorities led local residents to blame them for the COVID-19 pandemic and denial of access to medical aid. The 800-page report was prepared by Aid to the Church in Need International (ACN), a worldwide Catholic charity that studies violations of freedoms of all religions. The latest report put 26 countries in a "red" category denoting the existence of persecution, compared to 21 countries at the time of the last report two years ago. It put 36 countries in the "orange" category denoting discrimination, compared to 17 two years ago. The report describes discrimination as when laws or rules apply to a particular group and not to all, and persecution as when there is an active programme to subjugate people based on religion. "There has been a significant increase in the severity of religiously-motivated persecution and oppression," the report said. It was particularly scathing about China and Myanmar. "The apparatus of repression constructed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in recent years is ... fine-tuned, pervasive, and technologically sophisticated," the report said. The most egregious violations were against Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang "where the atrocities have reached such a scale that a growing number of experts describe them as genocide", it said..... HARASSMENT AND ARREST": In February, the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden endorsed a last-minute determination by the Trump administration that China has committed genocide in Xinjiang and has said the United States must be prepared to impose costs on China. China says the complexes it set up in Xinjiang provide vocational training to help stamp out Islamist extremism and separatism. The Chinese foreign ministry has called allegations of forced labour and human rights violations "groundless rumour and slander". The ACN report said Catholic hierarchy in China "continue to suffer harassment and arrest" despite a landmark deal signed in 2018 between Bejing and the Vatican on the appointment of bishops on the mainland. Reuters reported last year that two nuns who work at the Vatican mission in Hong Kong were arrested when they went home to the mainland for a visit. China was increasing the use of facial recognition on worshippers of various religions, it said. In Myanmar, the report said Rohingya Muslims "have been the victims of the most egregious violations of human rights in recent memory". Last year, the International Court of Justice ordered Myanmar to take urgent measures to protect Rohingya from genocide. The government has denied accusations of genocide. The ACN report said the military coup on Feb. 1 was "likely to make things worse for all religious minorities" in Myanmar, where about 8% of the population is Christian. Africa would be "the next battleground against Islamic militants," the report said. Militant groups were causing havoc in countries including Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, northern Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Mozambique, it said..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-21
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup
Description: "As of 20 April, (738) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) has not yet confirmed any fallen heroes today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of April 20, a total of (3300) people are currently under detention; of them (76) are sentenced. 1020 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document. Today, protests across the country continued in resistance to the dictatorship. A seeming calm in crackdowns is actually not the case. This morning in Narnat Taw Ward, Loikaw City, Kayah State, a demonstration was attacked by junta forces, the area was then stormed and houses destroyed. This kind of violence is happening everywhere, as did many arbitrary arrests in several areas today. Yesterday early morning in Myingyan City, Mandalay Region, one protester was shot in the thigh and detained. By the evening, the junta told his family to collect his dead body. Across Burma, wounded people are being detained, mistreated and not given adequate medical care. In international conflicts people have a right to medical care when injured. The junta is treating anyone they see like an enemy. Injured protestors can not get treatment they desperately need. You have less chance of getting treated in junta crackdowns than in warzones seen outside our country. On the early morning of 19 April, in Chanmyathazi Township, Mandalay City, junta forces in a white unmarked car and military truck dropped a dead body by the trash in the Mya Nandar housing complex with his head wide open, wounds on his back, face bruised and his body burnt. There is a complete lack of human rights, the junta does not inform the family or place them in a hospital, there is no human dignity given. In Chanayethazan Township, Mandalay Region, the No.6 Police Station deputy was brutally arrested because of his involvement in CDM. The deputy has pre-existing kidney problems, he is reportedly not allowed medical care for his kidney problems. His family are worried if he can not get medical treatment, his health will further decline. The family have not been allowed to visit him, they are requesting he receive the medical treatment he urgently needs. It is a worry scenario when those being detained need medical treatment, in detention the situation is very insecure, there is no human rights given. This is worryingly happening every day across Burma now. But this is a systematic pattern of the junta behaviour. Detainees are entitled to human rights. The junta are targeting urban and rural areas with violence in crackdowns. In Sagaing Region, Ta Yaw Gyin village and Tha Byay Aye village in Yin Mar Bin Township; and Moe Gaung village, Chaung Ma village, Yar Gyi village, Lar Po village, and Sae Ywar village in Kani Township, locals were forced to flee because of the junta. Terrorist troops arrived and the villagers were forced to hide in paddy fields. The junta then based itself at the village, and destroyed and looted the villagers’ possessions. Last night, in Mee Laung Phya village, Nyaung Oo Township, Mandalay Region, the junta searched people’s homes, looting gold and jewelry. 30 villagers were detained and most of the rest were forced to flee. Yesterday evening, in Letwe-Myinni village, Nwathogyi Township, Mandalay Region, the junta set fire to defensive barricades. Terrorist troops also beat some of the villagers, searching one house and looting a satellite and other goods. All people feel unsafe because of the junta’s actions. The terrorist’s violence will only deteriorate. People will continue to have even less peace and security. ASEAN must not act like this is Burma’s internal affair, instability threatens the entire region’s economic and political interests. ASEAN must take a stronger response than at present. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heros in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: “Our uprising must succeed” Email : [email protected] Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma In Solidarity, AAPP..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-21
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Title: EU Sanctions 10 More Myanmar Regime Members But Some Still Missing
Summary: "The European Union imposed sanctions on 10 more junta members, including its ethnic minority representatives, and two military-controlled conglomerates on Monday. The latest sanctions target nine...
Description: "The European Union imposed sanctions on 10 more junta members, including its ethnic minority representatives, and two military-controlled conglomerates on Monday. The latest sanctions target nine members of the State Administrative Council (SAC), the junta’s governing body, and its information minister, U Chit Naing, who is responsible for issuing military propaganda. The EU said the sanctions include asset freezes and visa bans on those involved in decision-making, undermining democracy and serious human rights violations. At least 739 people have been killed and 3,261 detained by the regime since the military takeover on Feb. 1, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The EU imposed sanctions on U Chit Naing, saying he was responsible for spreading disinformation through the state media. It said he was also “directly responsible for decisions that led to the crackdown on Myanmar media”. After taking over the ministry, he outlawed the words “coup”, “military regime” and “junta” in the independent media. On March 8 he removed the operating licenses of Mizzima, Myanmar Now, 7Day News, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and Khit Thit Media, all of which had covered the protests against military rule. Seven ethnic-minority SAC members are included on the sanctions lists. Mahn Nyein Maung, a former Karen National Union leader and ex-political prisoner, ran unsuccessfully for the Lower House in Ayeyarwady Region’s Pantanaw Township for the Karen People’s Party in the Nov. 8 general election. Rakhine politician Daw Aye Nu Sein was on the Arakan National Party’s policy board and the party’s spokeswoman. Kayah politician Saw Daniel was the vice-chairman of the Kayah State Democratic Party until his dismissal from the party for joining the SAC. Dr. Banyar Aung Moe, a central executive committee member of the Mon Unity Party, was appointed to the SAC on March 17, leading to the resignation of many party members. Shan politician Sai Lone Hseng was a Shan State speaker representing the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party. Two other members of ethnic minorities on the SAC, Jeng Phang Naw Taung and U Moung Har, also face EU sanctions. New National Democracy Party chairman U Thein Nyunt and National Democratic Force chairman U Khin Maung Swe are on the sanctions list. Both are former National League for Democracy members who quit to take part in the military-organized 2010 general election and they served as MPs until 2015. Myanma Economic Holdings Public Company Limited (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation Limited (MEC) have been also been sanctioned by the EU. The two conglomerates are a key source of income for the junta. They control a range of banking, trade, logistics, construction, mining, tourism and consumer goods businesses. The EU said its decision is “a sign of the EU’s unity and determination in condemning the brutal actions of the military junta and aims at effecting change in the junta’s leadership”. The 27-member bloc said its sanctions targeted the economic interests of the coup leaders and aim to avoid harm to the people of Myanmar. Some are still missing In March, the EU issued a freeze on assets and a visa ban for coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and nine other senior officers who are SAC members and for the new head of the election commission. The EU’s latest sanctions on Monday target civilian members of the SAC and one minister. Other key SAC members have evaded sanctions. Foreign minister U Wunna Maung Lwin, a key member of the UDSP, also served as foreign minister under President U Thein Sein when he worked with his counterparts in Asean, a role he reprised on his recent trip to Thailand. He met the Thai and Indonesian foreign ministers weeks after the military coup. Also missing is the regime’s investment and foreign economic relations minister, U Aung Naing Oo. Despite his military background, he was appointed Myanmar Investment Commission chief under the ousted National League for Democracy government. With the experience he gained under the NLD government, he is now the economics czar for the regime. The junta’s minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement, Daw Thet Thet Khaing, was a military-friendly politician long before her ministerial appointment. Before the 2020 general election, she met Senior General Min Aung Hung to seek help if they were mistreated by the NLD during the election. She is a former NLD member. International cooperation minister U Ko Ko Haling used to be an adviser under U Thein Sein’s government in the early 2010s. He is a staunch supporter of China and he is an adviser to Yunnan University’s Center for Myanmar Studies. He has backed China’s policies towards Hong Kong and Taiwan. These ministers have all received severe criticism from pro-democracy supporters who have demanded western countries impose sanctions on them..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-21
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Title: Five civilians killed in clash with junta’s forces in Sagaing’s Yinmabin Township
Summary: "Five civilians were killed and five more injured after a shootout between the coup regime’s troops and locals armed with hunting rifles in Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region, on Tuesday. Following...
Sub-title: Troops used drones to track locals’ location and fired at them with long-range artillery
Description: "Five civilians were killed and five more injured after a shootout between the coup regime’s troops and locals armed with hunting rifles in Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region, on Tuesday. Following the clash, rumours circulated that 10 locals had died. Myanmar Now was able to confirm one death on Tuesday evening, and four more on Wednesday morning. “It’s not true that there were 10 deaths. We’re in touch with the leaders,” a relief worker from Yinmabin told Myanmar Now. The five casualties were Bo San, Aung San Oo, Aung Naing, Zaw Myo Aung, and Kyaw Myo Tun. They were from the villages of Win Kone, Kapaing-Theekone and Kyobin. The fighting with locals broke out after some 200 soldiers stationed themselves on the road to the Alaungdaw Kathapa pagoda near Kapaing village. While the locals defended themselves using traditional hunting rifles, troops took up positions beyond their range, using drones to track the villagers’ locations and fire at them with long-range artillery. Relief workers were only able to retrieve the body of Bo San, who had suffered multiple injuries in the shelling. At the time of reporting, Myanmar Now was still gathering further information about the five men who were killed in Yinmabin, but due to the lack of internet access to the region, such independent verification has been difficult. The ruling junta cut off mobile internet nationwide in March. Around 10,000 residents from at least 17 villages had fled their homes due to the clashes and were hiding in the jungle, the relief worker said. Residents in Sagaing Region’s Kalay, Kani, Tamu, Taze and Yinmabin townships have been resisting the regime’s attacks since the military began indiscriminate crackdowns on protests across the country following the February 1 coup..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-21
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Title: Myanmar Junta Imported $15M Worth of Russian Radar Equipment in February
Sub-title: Russia has continued to support the Myanmar regime after a military coup ousted Aung San Suu Kyi and brought an end to a decade of civilian rule.
Description: "The Myanmar military regime imported $14.7 million in radar equipment in February, Russian customs data seen by The Moscow Times. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu agreed to supply Myanmar with Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile systems, Orlan-10E surveillance drones and radar equipment during a visit to the capital Naypyidaw in January. The deal was made a week before a military coup ousting Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, which brought an end to a decade of civilian rule. It is unclear if the Russian radar equipment Myanmar imported in February was part of the January agreement. The Russian Federal Customs Service (FCS) did not respond to a request for comment. Russia has continued to support the increasingly isolated Myanmar regime. During a visit to Yangoon at the end of March, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin — who was the first high-profile foreign official to visit the country after the coup — vowed to deepen military cooperation between the two countries. According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute data for 2019, Myanmar's spending on Russian arms imports totaled an estimated $807 million for the decade, making Russia the number two military exporter to Myanmar behind China. In December, trade data also showed that Russia exported $96 million worth of goods classified as “hidden,” which are often defense-related products. While overall trade between Russia and Myanmar remains minimal, Myanmar’s leaders have urged Russian businesses to invest in the country. Their statements come as the international community increasingly shuns the Myanmar junta over its human rights violations. The U.S. has suspended a trade deal with Myanmar while several Singaporean companies, including a firm that sold anti-drone products to Myanmar's police, have canceled their deals. Over 500 civilians are reported to have been killed following the coup and the United Nations human rights office has warned the situation was heading “toward a full-blown conflict.” The EU, which on Monday introduced a new round of sanctions against Myanmar’s generals, has previously accused Russia of hampering a united international response to Myanmar’s military coup..."
Source/publisher: The Moscow Times ( Moscow)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-21
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Title: National Unity Government: Ministry of Education Announcement No.1/2021 - အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ ပညာရေးဝန်ကြီးဌာနက ကြေညာချက်အမှတ် (၁/၂၀၂၁) ထုတ်ပြန်
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-21
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Title: ‘Is Myanmar’s Spring Revolution Winnable?’: The Role of CRPH and the EAOs in the Revolution
Description: "On 8 November 2020, Myanmar had its third general election since 2010. The electorate overwhelmingly voted for the National League for Democracy (NLD). On 1 February 2021, the Tatmadaw staged a coup, alleging that the NLD had taken power by fraudulent means. President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, along with most senior NLD leaders, were immediately arrested. The remaining senior NLD leaders urged people to protest, before being arrested themselves. The people have risen to the occasion, and have sacrificed much to challenge the coup. The fate of the revolution lies in the hands of political entities and ethnic armed organizations, who must support the people before it is too late......People’s Response to the Military Coup: Under the banner of the “Spring Revolution”, Myanmar’s anti-military coup movement has generated an unprecedented level of national unity – overcoming ethnic, religious, and class boundaries. Since early February, protesters have drummed pots and pans every day at 8pm in response to the coup. They have come out to streets, turning major roads into seas of people, remaining peaceful despite the violence they endure at the hands of the military. Civil servants and private sector workers have established a national civil disobedience movement (CDM) in an unmatched attempt to cripple the military’s administrative mechanism. In response to brutal crackdowns from security forces, demonstrations are now smaller to aid escape. The protesters have also used road blockages to hinder the advancement of security forces. However, security forces have now forcefully cleared blockades at most protest sites. In some places, security forces have reportedly forced local residents (especially men) to clear them. Protesters have also started social punishment campaigns against military families and their associates, and have called for a boycott of products produced by military’s companies. These tactics have already had significant effects. For instance, many restaurants and bars no longer sell Myanmar Beer. There are also reports of people boycotting MyTel, a mobile operator jointly owned by the Tatmadaw and the Vietnamese military. One could argue that the public has done their part to the best of their capacities and it would be unrealistic to expect more from them. The best they could possibly do would be to continue the social punishment campaign against military leaders, their families and associates, as well as to sustain their boycott of products and services provided by the military’s companies. Therefore, at this point, the outcome of the Myanmar Spring Revolution largely depends on the capacity of institutional leaders to consolidate various opposition forces. The elected members of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (Union Parliament), mostly from the NLD, are attempting to provide the institutional leadership by forming the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH). Thus, the outcome of the Myanmar Spring Revolution depends on the political decisions and leadership of the CRPH.....The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH): The elected NLD members believe that their victory in the 2020 general election provides a mandate to form the CRPH, which was established so that they could perform the necessary activities and duties of an elected government. These include appointing and forming a government and making laws.....Political Visions of the CRPH: On 5 March 2021, the CRPH announced its political vision, declaring their commitment to the following: to end military dictatorship; to ensure the unconditional release of all unlawful detainees including President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; to achieve full-fledged democracy; and to rescind the 2008 Constitution and write a new Constitution based on the federal system. The CRPH also states that it will steadfastly work hand-in-hand with all ethnic nationalities and strive for the full realization of this vision. To pave the way for broader participation in the Spring Revolution, the CRPH removed all the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) from the ‘unlawful organization list’ while designating the Tatmadaw as a ‘terrorist organization.’ It seems that most of the ethnic minorities welcome the political visions of the CRPH. However, many ethnic minorities also feel that the CRPH’s vision statement is only the first step. The CRPH must further show a concrete roadmap for including diverse voices within their vision. For example, the former joint secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), Padoh Mahn Mahn, states that the political visions of the CRPH are only the beginning and that the CRPH must provide a workable plan for establishing a genuine federal union and a federal army. Likewise, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy also points out that CRPH must declare the abolishment of the 2008 Constitution if ethnic minorities are to come onboard. At that point, the status of the 2008 Constitution was unclear because its abolishment was only positioned as a ‘political vision.’ However, on 31 March 2021, the CRPH has declared abolishment of the 2008 Constitution and announced Federal Democracy Charter. The Charter provides further details on how the CRPH might seek to translate its visions into reality, for instance by declaring the duties of an interim National Unity Government (NUG). The list of individuals appointed to the NUG was released on 16 April 2021.....Progress of the political talks between the CRPH and the EAOs: The stated political visions of CRPH appear to have won the hearts and minds of some ethnic minority political parties and armed organizations. Since its formation, the CRPH has reportedly been negotiating with EAOs on the terms of creating a federal union. Among those involved in the talks are the Karen National Union, the Restoration Council for Shan State, and the Kachin Independence Army, as well as other groups that have signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. By March 2021, the political talks are about 80% complete, according to Zin Mar Aung, the Acting Foreign Minister of the CRPH. These political talks contributed to the aforementioned Federal Democracy Charter and the appointment of the NUG. According to the Charter, the interim NUG is formed with these roles: President, State Counsellor, Vice President 1, Vice President 2, ministers and deputy ministers. The NUG appointed by the CRPH shows that President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi remain in their posts despite being in detention. The NUG is perhaps the most diverse government in terms of ethnicities the country has ever had. As an aside, it is interesting to ask why the CRPH decided to keep Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as State Counsellor instead of appointing her as the President. Some might beg an answer for the rationale of keeping the post of “State Counsellor”. The post was created to circumvent the 2008 Constitution, which bars people married to foreigners from becoming the president. One wonders why the CRPH has decided to retain the “State Counsellor” post even after declaring the abolishment of the 2008 Constitution.....Doubts over the CRPH: Ethnic minorities have two major concerns over the capacity of the CRPH to uphold the agreements and understandings that the CRPH has reached with them. The first concern relates to ethnic minorities’ perception that Bama political leaders and the majority of Bama ethnic people do not have a strong political will for federalism. This is because a delegation of power to State governments (i.e., ethnic minorities) would mean less power to the Union (Central) Government (i.e., Bama). In other words, federalism is not the top priority of the NLD and (most) Bama ethnic people. Federalism has never been the top priority of the NLD[1] and the Tatmadaw. In the last Union Peace Conference in August 2020, they (Bama leaders) did not even agree over the terminology of “State Law” (insisted on by Bama leaders) and “State Constitution” (insisted on by NCA-signatories). Subsequently no agreement has been reached on how write a constitution or a mother law governing the ethnic states. This time, the CRPH announced its political visions and the Federal Democracy Charter while some members of the NLD’s 21-member Central Executive Committee were still in detention. Thus, the concern is whether the CRPH will be able to convince freed NLD leaders to support and honor the agreement (i.e., political roadmap) reached with the ethnic minorities. Another concern is whether the CRPH can convince the Bama public that federalism is the best way to address the long-standing civil war. From the start of public protests, the priorities of Bama ethnic group and non-Bama ethnic groups have been quite different. For example, the key demands of Bama protesters, who rally behind the NLD flag, have been: (1) the release of mother Suu (State Counsellor), President Win Myint and all other detainees; (2) respect the 2020 election result; (3) restoration of democracy and eradication of military dictatorship. On the other hand, the key demands of ethnic minorities and (some groups of) Generation Z have been: (1) the eradication of the military dictatorship; (2) abolishment of the 2008 Constitution; (3) establishment of genuine federal democratic union; and (4) release of all detainees including the President and State Counsellor. It took the CRPH a whole month to announce its ‘political visions’ statement above. It is understandable that the CRPH has hesitated to make the political decisions in the absence of all members of the NLD’s 21-member Central Executive Committee. The decision-makers of the CRPH must have worried about whether freed NLD leaders would support any political understanding or agreement reached between the CRPH and the EAOs. This author has learned that the ethnic minorities who chose to cooperate with the CRPH have the same concern. Padoh Mahn Mahn of KNU states that if the NLD or CRPH were to betray the ethnic minorities when they regain power, that would be the end of the ethnic minorities’ aspirations to remain in the union. This would force the minorities to choose a different political path. In his interview with Voice of Myanmar, KPICT spokesperson Nsang Gum San also echoes that for the Kachin, this could be seen as the final attempt to establish a federal union, which ethnic minorities have demanded for many decades. However, Arakan National Party (ANP) and Mon Unity Party (MUP)—two opposition political parties seeking to represent the respective ethnic groups—have decided to join the military regime’s State Administrative Council (SAC). This is clearly not helpful for the anti-coup movement as the military could argue that not all ethnic minorities are against the military’s takeover......Defeating the Coup Requires Faster Decision Making: The CRPH’s announcement on 31 March 2021 – which declared the abolishment of the 2008 Constitution and announced the Federal Democracy Charter – was certainly a huge milestone for achieving federalism in Myanmar. Ethnic minorities had been urging the CRPH to show a clear and concrete roadmap. In his interview with Irrawaddy, CRPH spokesperson said that the Charter was consulted and agreed on by at least four political organizations, although he could not name them for security reasons. It remains to be seen if the Charter is able to rally all major ethnic armed organizations. However, since the Charter is only a general roadmap, there might be issues that require mutually understanding clarification or definition. Both sides – that is, the CRPH and EAO leaders – have to work out such issues and cooperate quickly to resolve them. Time is of the essence. Without full cooperation from at least the major EAOs, the Spring Revolution will seem unwinnable to the public and international community. Needless to say, it is of the utmost importance that people do not lose faith in the revolution. Currently, the international community is on the side of the CRPH as they condemn the coup d’état and violent crackdowns on the unarmed and peaceful protesters. No government — not even China and ASEAN members — has publicly recognized the military junta. However, this could change if the international community begins to think that Myanmar Spring Revolution is unlikely to succeed. Therefore, having a concrete agreement between the CRPH and EAOs is key..."
Source/publisher: "Tea Circle" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-21
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Title: Announcement of Min Ko Naing, on behalf of the National Unity Consultative Council
Description: "Announcement of Min Ko Naing, on behalf of the National Unity Consultative Council on formation of the National Unity Government. (With English Subtitles.)..."
Source/publisher: Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-20
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Title: Blue Shirt Day to draws attention to political prisoners in Burma
Description: "21 April 2021 is the seventh anniversary of the death of U Win Tin – journalist, democracy activist, founding member of the National League for Democracy, and one of Burma’s most high profile and respected political prisoners. He spent over 19 years in prison. People around the world will be wearing a blue shirt or blue clothing to raise awareness about Burma’s growing political prisoner population, and in solidarity with those activists in jail for supporting human rights and democracy. When U Win Tin was eventually released in 2008, he refused to hand back his blue prison shirt, and vowed to wear a blue shirt every day until all political prisoners were released, saying: “If there are no political prisoners … I will take off my shirt, but up until now I haven’t seen good indications.” Arrest, torture and forced disappearances are taking place daily in Burma since the military staged a coup on 1 February. There are now more than 3200 political prisoners, who are being imprisoned for peacefully protesting and speaking out against the military. This figure does not include people who have been arrested or simply disappeared in very remote ethnic areas. Please join Blue Shirt Day on Wednesday 21st April. Wear blue, post pictures on social media, and tell the world that there is a growing number of political prisoners in Burma, and that they must be freed immediately..."
Source/publisher: "Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-20
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup
Description: "As of 19 April, (738) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) hero from Htone Bo Town in Pandaung Township, Bago Region was killed the previous day and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of April 19, a total of (3261) people are currently under detention; of them (75) are sentenced. 970 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document. Today at 8pm YGN time, junta propaganda MWD said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners was spreading fake news. AAPP is giving an accurate, verified, representation of the brutality of this illegal junta. Despite the inhumanity of torture, the junta in Burma has done it every single day since the attempted coup. Verified photos of six youths who were tortured after being arbitrarily accused and arrested for a bombing in Yankin township, Yangon Region went viral on social media. Such overt displays by the junta’s propaganda media reveal the inhumanity and notorious persecution in clear violation of international human rights laws and conventions, but in particular it is supposed to threaten people protesting for democracy of similar fates. Medical treatment is urgently needed for these respected youths. The consequences of these interrogations by the junta is extremely worrying. Terrorist troops passed by in front of a hotel with sailors returning to Burma, junta forces entered hotel rooms after allegedly hearing the banging of pots and pans, two sailors were assaulted, one had broken ribs, the other is reported to have gashed his eyebrows. The terrorists also robbed $1,500 from a sailors wages. AAPP strongly denounces such brutality, and we urge the UN, international community, including ASEAN, to take effective action as quickly as possible. Today, people across Burma continued to protest against the dictatorship with various marches. At the General Dawn Strike in Mandalay City, a frontliner was attacked by a car and the General Dawn Strike shot with rubber bullets, tear gas and live ammunition. 11 people were beaten and arrested and a victim was reported to have been injured in a car attack. This morning, two motorcycle strikes in Mandalay were rammed by a vehicle, one girl was crushed, another was injured by a bullet and more than 10 people were beaten and arrested. It is a serious situation when a terrorist group has repeatedly over the last few days been crashing into, to detain protestors in unmarked vehicles. Today, in Mohnyin town, Kachin State a strike was repressed, and two people, including a female university student, were arrested. People-made barricades were burned down in Nanataw Ward in Loikaw Township, Kayah State and the junta opened fire with live ammunition, and two young men were arrested. In Myin Gyan Town, Mandalay Region, the most tenacious fort in Ward 6 was brutally crackdown, the junta made it like a conflict zone with surface to air missiles and heavy artillery since April 18 evening. Six people, including a 13-year-old child, were reported to have been arrested, although some local residents who resisted were not wounded. The No.6 Ward barricade, demolished yesterday, was rebuilt by locals but then stormed again by large numbers of terrorists this morning. Two local residents were injured, one is reportedly in serious condition. The junta troops also went door-to-door searching for people; thousands of residents from No.6 Ward have fled to nearby villages. Homes and neighborhoods in Ward 3 and 4 were also violently raided, motorcycles were burnt down in No.4 Ward. In Kani township, Sagaing Region, more than seven villages fled due to the terrorist operation by the junta. Yesterday afternoon, large numbers entered Chung ma village, in Kani township, where junta troops searched door-to-door and stole food. Military vehicles arrived last night and shot randomly, forcing children and adults to flee. As a result of the junta’s forces’ arbitrary raids and shooting, residents are no longer safe even in their communities and face danger everywhere at any time. This morning, the junta troops opened and destroyed tombs at the Sin Phyu Kwin Cemetery, which had cremated fallen heroes from the Spring Revolution in Bago City. Bodies were removed and laid outside. A new tomb has not yet been created, terrorists have no respect for the dignity of those fallen with these disgusting acts. Burma’s transition to democracy, supposed to promote peace, national reconciliation and democracy, was destroyed by the coup. Abolishing the junta is the only solution to building a fully democratic society for the people. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heros in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: “Our uprising must succeed” Email : [email protected] Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma In Solidarity, AAPP..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-20
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Title: More Than 100 Myanmar Police Officers Join Anti-Regime Movement
Summary: "Following the recent deadly crackdowns on peaceful protesters against the regime, more than 100 police officers have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) so far. From the Feb. 1 coup to...
Description: "Following the recent deadly crackdowns on peaceful protesters against the regime, more than 100 police officers have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) so far. From the Feb. 1 coup to March 3, police and soldiers’ violent crackdowns against anti-coup demonstrations across Myanmar have killed around 50 people in numerous cities, including the commercial hub Yangon; Mandalay, Monwya and Myinchan in Upper Myanmar; and Mawlamyine and Dawei in the deep south of the country. After joining the CDM, acting Police Colonel Tin Min Tun, 54, from the Yangon Police Department, said in a video message earlier this week that he had to make sacrifices in order to support the nationwide CDM launched by government staff. He is the highest-ranking police officer to join the movement. “I don’t want to serve the military regime,” said acting Police Col. Tin Min Tun, who has 31 years of service with the police force. He added that the whole police force is now being misused by the military regime. Following the lead of the senior police colonel, young officers are also joining the CDM. Police officer Kyaw Lin Oo, who finished his police training in August 2018, wrote on his Facebook page on March 2 that he would regret it in future if he failed to do something he knew should be done. “Have loyalty to the people rather than the police force. People are the main benefactor,” he wrote on his Facebook. He and two friends, both policemen, have reportedly joined the nationwide CDM, defying military rule after being ordered to open fire on peaceful anti-coup protesters. They are now in hiding, while their superiors hunt for them and put pressure on their families. Also on Tuesday, seven policewomen from Tanintharyi Region in southern Myanmar joined the movement, announcing they will get back to work when the democratically elected government returns. They said in their CDM announcements that police officers are ordered by the military regime to commit lawless acts against the people, and they cannot follow the military junta’s orders. On Thursday, 17 police personnel from Putao Police Station in Kachin State, northernmost Myanmar and Bokpyin Police Station in Tanintharyi Region also joined the CDM. Every day since early February, police personnel, including some higher-ranking officers in major cities in Myanmar, have joined the nationwide CDM, with the number now exceeding 100. The movement, which was initiated on Feb. 3 by hundreds of doctors and nurses from government hospitals in many cities including Yangon and Mandalay, has gained momentum after being joined by tens of thousands of government staff and several thousand staff from essential private business sectors and military related businesses. Since then, police personnel from many major cities across Myanmar have joined the CDM, taking part in the anti-regime demonstrations despite the risk of legal action under the Myanmar Police Force Maintenance Discipline Law, which carries a penalty of up to three years’ imprisonment for being absent from one’s duties. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), about three police members have been detained or charged under the Police Force Maintenance Discipline Law. In Naypyitaw, more than 70 police members have joined the CDM to defy military rule, according to a BBC news report. Early this week, about 12 military personnel in Hpapun Township in Karen State joined the CDM, taking refuge with the Karen National Union (KNU), according to a news report from Myanmar Now. Professor Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, who was appointed by the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) as the acting minister for the ministries of Education; Health and Sports; and Labor, Immigration and Population; issued a statement appealing to those government workers who have not done so to join the CDM by the deadline of midnight on March 7 (12 a.m. on March 8). The CRPH was set up by NLD lawmakers denied seats in Parliament by the coup. The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw is Myanmar’s Union Parliament. He said the elected government will label those government staff failing to join the CDM movement on time as having neglected the public’s interest. Currently, hundreds of thousands of people across Myanmar are taking to the streets daily to protest against the military regime and call for the release of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and others who have been detained since the Feb. 1 coup..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-20
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Title: Myanmar: Arria-formula Meeting
Description: "Council members will convene virtually for an Arria-formula meeting on Myanmar. Initiated by the UK, the meeting is being co-sponsored by Estonia, France, Ireland, Norway and the US. The expected briefers include Sai Sam Kham, a civil society representative from Myanmar; Richard Horsey, Senior Adviser at International Crisis Group; and Daw Zin Mar Aung, from the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH). Myanmar’s permanent representative, Kyaw Moe Tun, is also expected to participate. The meeting is expected to be broadcast via UNTV. Council members have met three times to discuss the situation in Myanmar since the 1 February government take-over by the Myanmar military (also known as the Tatmadaw). In these meetings, which have been held in closed videoconference format, Council members were briefed by Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener. Thus far, the Council has not been able to hear from a wider array of briefers since the closed consultations format does not allow briefers from outside the UN system and there has been resistance to a public Council meeting on Myanmar. According to a concept note prepared by the UK, tomorrow’s Arria-formula meeting would provide a platform for “Myanmar voices to brief the Security Council on the current situation from their perspectives and those of the people they represent”. The briefers are expected to discuss the various national, regional, and international implications of the developments in Myanmar since 1 February. Sai Sam Kham is likely to address the effect of the coup on the ethnic communities in Myanmar. Council members may be interested to hear his analysis on whether ethnic armed groups may join forces with those opposing the government take-over and the possible consequences of such developments on stability in the country. Horsey is expected to cover the potential for further violence and the impact on regional stability, particularly considering the influx of refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries. He may also cover the economic effects of recent protests as well as the impact of the crisis on an already fragile humanitarian situation in many parts of Myanmar. Members may be interested in hearing Horsey’s views on the diplomatic and security challenges for the region and the role that ASEAN could play. Horsey may urge countries to impose arms embargoes and avoid actions that could be construed as recognition of the military regime as Myanmar’s legitimate government. Daw Zin Mar Aung is likely to focus on the Federal Democracy Charter that the CRPH— which was formed by the democratically elected representatives in Myanmar on 4 February—published on 1 April. The charter was developed following consultations with political parties, ethnic armed organisations and civil society in Myanmar. A statement from the CRPH said that an interim unity government should be formed based on the charter. Some members will be interested in further details on the CRPH’s plan to establish a federal democratic union and interim constitutional arrangements ahead of adopting a new constitution, as indicated in the charter. Kyaw Moe Tun in his statement is likely to urge the international community to increase its pressure on the military. Following the Tatmadaw’s actions on 1 February, Council members issued a press statement on 4 February and adopted a presidential statement on 10 March. Council members also agreed on press elements on 1 April, following their most recent meeting on Myanmar, which took place on 31 March. Kyaw Moe Tun may also call for stronger action from the Council, including imposing targeted sanctions and instituting a temporary halt on foreign investment..."
Source/publisher: UN Security Council
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-20
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Title: Myanmar: National unity government must be recognised
Sub-title: The ITUC has welcomed the formation of a national unity government in Myanmar and called for it to be formally recognized by the United Nations, governments and inter-governmental bodies as the legitimate government of Myanmar.
Description: "The government is composed of parliamentarians elected in November 2020, representatives of the ethnic nationalities, academics and others with specialist expertise. Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said: “This is the legitimate government of Myanmar reflecting the will of the people as expressed in the November elections. The international trade union movement recognises its legitimacy and so should the entire international community. “The military junta, which is continuing its murderous campaign against the people of Myanmar, should be completely isolated. Governments should have nothing to do with it and all businesses must sever any economic ties they have with the military. “Failure to do so means direct complicity in mass murder of people who yearn for democracy and freedom from violent oppression.” The government includes U Win Myint as President, Aung San Suu Kyi as State Counsellor and Mahn Win Khaing Than as Prime Minister..."
Source/publisher: International Trade Union Confederation (Brussels)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-20
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Title: Myanmar: “I’m scared, but will not surrender…”
Sub-title: Journalists in Myanmar have put their lives at risk to tell the stories of protestors, doctors, nurses and citizens impacted by the military coup, writes Phil Thornton.
Description: "As a freelance photojournalist, Ng Maung has worked the frontlines of the protests since Myanmar’s military coup began on 1st February. Keeping low, behind flimsy barricades of wood, corrugated tin, tyres and bamboo, he photographed the hurts police and army inflicted on pro-democracy activists. Ng Maung told IFJ of the danger protestors and journalists are facing from heavily armed police and soldiers. “We were warned snipers were on roofs near where we were. I could hear and sense the bullets as they passed. These kids had no protection against bullets.” Ng Maung explained his view was restricted when focusing through a camera lens at soldiers down the street. “You see what is directly in front, not to your immediate side. Bullets were getting closer. I saw a young guy on the ground with a head shot…a lot of blood. People took him on a motorbike to an ambulance, but it was too late, he was already dead.” Ng Maung said soldiers and police are armed to kill and dressed for battle, unlike the unarmed protestors. “They’re targets are young men and women, mostly peaceful protestors, opposing the torture and jailing of elected politicians, workers, doctors, students and journalists. The only protection they have are hiding behind these barricades and running.” In an earlier interview with IFJ in February, Ng Maung, voiced his fears about unseen army snipers when he said they made the streets dangerous to work. “If I can see them I’m not scared, but knowing they could be concealed on rooftops, water towers, behind windows…anywhere…is terrifying.” Ng Maung’s fears became a reality on 23 March when a bullet tore through his hand as he focused his lens. “I could hear shooting. Near me three kids were using phones to take photos. I warned them to move away…take cover, as soldiers were firing.” Ng Maung felt the force of the bullet as it tore into his left hand, pulping bones, tissue and tendon. “I was confused, my hand was burning, at first it was relief the boys were not hit. Then I was worried my hand was destroyed. It looked bad. It took about three hours to get to a clinic.” Ng Maung is full of praise for volunteer doctors and nurses working the protests. “I’ve seen them put themselves at risk of being shot or wounded to care for the injured. I owe them a lot…they work for free…I am forever in their debt.” Ng Maung’s smashed hand has to be rebuilt. He has had a number of operations to try to reconstruct his hand – wire implants, bone repair and skin grafts. Despite the pain and the graphic nature of the wound, Ng Maung managed to photograph the surgical procedures. Ng Maung kept in regular contact with IFJ during the protests and after his wounding spoke of his determination to keep working as a photojournalist despite the dangers. “Everyone is in danger - the military shows no mercy - protestors, doctors, students, workers, children, citizens or journalists – we are all targets just to be shot...silenced. I feel they are no longer human and they don’t see us as human. I'm scared, really scared. As a journalist, I have no protection. I have to be very careful and secretive in getting information. It is so bad I dare not go home to sleep at night. It's very dangerous now. To report we risk our lives. I’m a photojournalist because I want people to know the truth from the pictures I take. I want to expose the brutality of the military and the brave resistance of our people to the world…I hope for international action to end the oppression.” The revolution will not be televised… To silence journalists, like Ng Maung, the military coup leaders ordered telecommunication companies and internet services to block social media platforms and shut down their networks to stop access to information and news. Journalists have been arrested and charged under 505a of the penal code, which carries a sentence of three years in prison. The licenses of Myanmar Now, Mizzima Media, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), 7 Day News and Khit Thit Media were revoked on 8 March. The Ministry of Information shut-down the five independent media outlets and banned them “from publishing or broadcasting” or using any kind of media or technology platforms reporting “news that affects the rule of law and security of the people and supports those who commit high treason…in accordance with Article 419 and 420 of the Constitution.” To make sure the five banned media organisations and their respective journalists got the message, soldiers and police broke into their offices, ransacked, thrashed and stole equipment. Ng Maung told IFJ “journalists are now being hunted – we’ve been put on wanted lists and they have arrested at least 42 journalists.” The police and army have been given unfettered authority by the coup appointed State Administration Council to raid homes to search and arrest without warrants. So called ‘suspects’ can be detained for 24-hours without court permission. Other sections of the Penal Code list a range of fines and jail sentences - twenty years, ten years, seven years and three years for alleged breaches. Faced with the danger of lethal force, nighttime raids on their homes or arrest, many journalists and media workers have been either forced into deep hiding or have left cities for remote ethnic areas in the jungle along the China, India, Bangladesh or Thailand borders. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) confirmed as of Sunday 16 April, 737 people have been killed and 3,229 arrested; 42 of those are journalists. Ko Bo Kyi is a founder and secretary of AAPP-Burma and was first jailed in 1989 for his political beliefs by the then military regime. He explained to IFJ how the military has deliberately created and are using divisions between soldiers and civilians to maintain its reign of terror. “This military is isolated from society. Soldiers are given a different history to what is really happening in the country or outside world. The internet cuts and mobile phone data blockages are not just to prevent protestors from organising, but to stop soldiers getting real information – their news intake is restricted to media controlled by the military - radio, websites, newspapers and television channels.” Ko Bo Kyi said despite fear of arrest, torture and jail, journalists and citizen journalists are still managing to report. “Everyday, underground reporters and civilian journalists are going out and bravely documenting human rights abuses. They’re finding ways to get verifiable and credible reports out to people inside and outside the country.” They’ve destroyed our industry… Zaw Myint, a senior editor, told IFJ he has been forced by soldiers and police making night raids near his home to leave his family and go into hiding, constantly changing his location. “I’m not the only journalist, many of us are now in deep hiding. It’s dangerous on the ground now. We can’t use our name on our stories. It’s getting difficult to survive as we aren’t being paid. Most of us are struggling and our families are suffering...the pressure is massive.” Zaw Myint said finding a means to communicate is getting more difficult. “Mobile data has been cut, it’s difficult to get ADSL connected, getting caught with a pocket Wi-Fi will get you arrested. I try to hook into established Wi-Fi at hotels owned by the military’s cronies.” With the forced closure of the independent media outlets most journalists fear their severance pay will soon be gone, Zaw Myint explains most journalist earn between US$300 and US$700 a month. “Most of us are struggling. The army has killed our industry. They’ve taken down our platforms to publish, they’ve robbed us of our salaries. They done this to silence us. It’s sad to see our industry ripped apart. There’s now no justice, only their law of the gun.” Zaw Myint made the decision to stay in the city despite the constant fear of arrest. “There are still some of us prepared to take risks to tell what’s going on. I hope our colleagues who get to safety in other places will keep working. We’ll print on pamphlets, photocopy them and get them to the people. We’ll send our stories and footage to exiled colleagues for publishing, we’re hurting now, but we will find a way to keep reporting and broadcasting.”..."
Source/publisher: "International Federation of Journalists" (Brussels)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-20
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Title: Prominent Protest Leader Escapes Arrest by Myanmar Junta
Summary: "One of Myanmar’s most prominent anti-regime protest leaders has escaped arrest after junta security forces failed to capture him at his home on Monday. Soldiers and police—some in plainclothes—...
Description: "One of Myanmar’s most prominent anti-regime protest leaders has escaped arrest after junta security forces failed to capture him at his home on Monday. Soldiers and police—some in plainclothes—arrived at Ko Tayzar San’s apartment in Mandalay and forcibly entered by smashing down the door. The protest leader was not there at the time of the raid as he has been in hiding elsewhere. The failed attempt to detain the 32-year-old comes a few days after the regime seized another protest leader Ko Wai Moe Naing in Sagaing Region’s Monywa. His mother said she has lost contact with her son since then and is worried about his safety. Ko Tayzar San has become a familiar face in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, since early February for being at the forefront of anti-regime protests. He is known for his leading role in organizing the first ever protest against the junta in Myanmar just a few days after their Feb.1 coup, while other activists in the country were still deliberating their course of action. Following that first protest in Mandalay, anti-regime rallies started taking place across the country. After the failed raid on his home on Monday, Ko Tayzar San wrote on his Facebook page that he had abandoned the place for some time. “But they rampaged through the whole apartment and took everything,” he said. The protest leader said he was upset that his collection of books at the apartment was ‘robbed’ by the regime’s troops. Ko Tayzar San is also an executive director at a free library in Mandalay. “The Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s military) has become a gang of robbers. It would be gut-wrenching for its founder General Aung San,” he wrote. Aung San established the Myanmar military 79 years ago and was also the father of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s detained leader. Ko Tayzar San said the raid and robbery were testaments to how Tatmadaw troops have behaved in the country’s ethnic areas, where fighting between the army and ethnic armed groups has raged for decades. Extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, arson and looting by the army have been widely reported. “Now we have experienced it personally,” he said. “It also proves that they [Tatmadaw] are our common enemy who have been hindering our attempt to establish federal democracy in the country,” he added. Before Ko Tayzar San came to prominence as a protest leader, he trained as a medical doctor but worked as a librarian and NGO worker with a focus on public health, political education and youth capacity building..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-20
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Title: Union Prime Minister Myanmar New Year speech
Description: "The Republic of the Union of Myanmar Union Prime Minister Mann Win Khaing Than Myanmar New Year's Speech..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-20
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Title: Local uprisings emerge to challenge Myanmar’s army
Description: "Sleeping by their makeshift barricades, knots of young men at Tahan in the western Myanmar town of Kale had not expected an attack in the pre-dawn darkness. Armed with a few hunting guns made by village blacksmiths, catapults, some airguns and Molotov cocktails, they were no match for forces hardened by decades of conflict and equipped with combat weapons. The first barrage of shots and rocket propelled grenades from Myanmar's army, known as the Tatmadaw, came around 5 a.m. on April 7, the protesters and residents of Kale said. By evening, the one-sided battle was over, the sandbag barricades had been cleared and 13 people were dead, three people involved in the armed group told Reuters. Soldiers deployed on street corners and remain until now. "So many people on our side were wounded that we couldn’t do anything and had to retreat," Aung Myat Thu, one 20-year-old protester in Kale, told Reuters from there by messaging app. Although the resistance in Kale was quickly crushed, it points to a new phase of bloodshed in Myanmar after the Feb. 1 coup, with some protesters now seeking to take up arms against the junta's forces. The junta did not respond to requests for comment. The junta-controlled Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said 18 rioters were arrested in Kale after attacking security forces with homemade weapons. "Some of the members of the security forces were seriously injured," it said Despite the early setbacks, disparate groups are trying to source better weapons, sharpen tactics, share intelligence and get training from some of the two dozen or so existing ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, several opposition politicians said. "Some small defence units have been formed across the country, in the community, villages or wards," said Moe Saw Oo, a spokesman for the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body representing ousted lawmakers that has set up a rival national unity government. "At the same time, we are in coordination with ethnic armed organisations about the establishment of a proper defence force," he said. Over 700 people have been killed and more than 3,000 have been detained by security forces cracking down on the nationwide protests that have raged since the military deposed the civilian government led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1. Even as the fighters in Kale retreated, other groups have sprung up elsewhere. Acts of sabotage, such as the burning of administrative buildings and attacks on businesses linked to the army have broken out the in the main city of Yangon and the second city of Mandalay. "It is a sign of the determination and the extreme violence the military has been using against protesters rather than a strategic assessment they can take on the might of the military," said analyst Richard Horsey, who recently briefed the U.N. Security Council on the threat of national collapse. Among the new groups, the Ayeyarwaddy Federal Army announced its arrival last week in the heartland of the Bamar majority, which forms the core of the armed forces as well as Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. "Armed revolution is the only way to return the people's power," spokesman Mratt Thu Aung told Reuters via messaging app. He did not disclose the group's location or the size of its force and Reuters was unable to do so independently.....'IF WE DON'T FIGHT...'.....Pressure to organise an armed group in Kale began in mid-March as the army stepped up violence against protests sweeping the largely Buddhist country of 53 million. On March 17, police opened fire on an anti-coup rally - killing four people - after chasing protesters to Myohla on Kale's outskirts, said a 36-year-old activist who was there. "From that point, the people, especially the youth, felt that we needed to do something to defend ourselves," he said, declining to give his name for reprisals against his family. By late March, at least three barricades were set-up around the main market in Tahan, hundreds of people joining to pile up sandbags. Young people in the town banded together to form the Tahan Civil Defence Group, local activists said. The group then raised funds and sought out weapons - mainly rudimentary hunting guns made by local blacksmiths, they said. "At first we had seven guns, which then increased to 15 within a short time," the 36-year-old activist said. The group went for target practice session in a nearby forest on March 26. Two days later, the Tahan Civil Defence Group held off an assault by junta forces. Shortly after, it combined with other local groups to form the Kalay (Kale) Civil Army. Such groups were getting help from the CRPH across the country, an official of the group said. Several thousand young people had been given basic training in arms and fighting by at least four ethnic armed organisations, mostly in Myanmar's border areas, he said. "More are coming," he said, declining to be named. "If we don't fight, the future of Myanmar is gone."......'DON’T UNDERSTAND THE TATMADAW'...In Kale, the little-trained fighters were emboldened by early success. The 19-year-old fighter said he was sleeping between barricades on the main road through Tahan when gunfire woke him. "I grabbed my hunting gun and two soldiers started shooting at me," he said. "I had one chance to shoot back, but my gun didn't work." He sheltered behind a wall, then fled during a lull. The Tatmadaw advanced systematically, blocking off escape routes, one resistance member in Tahan said. "We don't understand the Tatmadaw mindset," the 43-year-old said from a safe house. "That's our mistake." Several young fighters were among the 13 dead at the end of a day of fighting, activists said. Survivors had now gone underground, they said. "We were not safe in Kale anymore," the 19-year-old fighter said by phone from northeastern India, whose border is just over 100 km (60 miles away). Indian authorities declined to comment. A local NLD lawmaker involved in forming the Kalay Civil Army said fighters had been asked to lay low for now, while equipment and training were improved across Myanmar. “Maybe the time will come to fight with the Tatmadaw,” the lawmaker said, “For that, we will need good training.”..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-19
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Title: Mother of detained activist Wai Moe Naing demands her son be granted access to healthcare
Sub-title: The 26-year-old activist suffers from high blood pressure, and was hit by a car before he was taken into regime custody
Description: "The mother of detained Monywa protest leader Wai Moe Naing on Saturday requested that her son be allowed access to medical treatment after he was hit by a car and arrested by the junta’s armed forces on April 15. The 26-year-old Wai activist has suffered from high blood pressure for six years, Moe Sandar Kyu, his mother, told Myanmar Now. “I’m concerned because I don’t know how he’s living or if he’s being fed. He’s not a very healthy person but he’s very motivated. And that’s why he’s active,” she explained. Moe Sandar Kyu believes Wai Moe Naing was likely injured after he was struck by a car on Thursday, and demanded that she be updated on his current state. A photo of Wai Moe Naing in regime custody with a bruised eye and swollen face went viral on social media on April 16, suggesting that he may have been or is being tortured. His mother told Myanmar Now that she had not seen the photo since she, like many people across Myanmar, does not have Internet access since all mobile data was cut off by the coup regime earlier this month. “Since the time he was arrested, I’ve not been able to sleep well. [That day,] I couldn’t sleep for the entire night. On the 16th as well,” she said. “I am worried because I don’t know and I can’t see how he’s doing.” Wai Moe Naing was chair of the Monywa University Student Union from 2014 to 2015, and is also a member of Monywa’s General Strike Committee and the Sagaing Regional Youth Committee. He rose to prominence for his role organising daily anti-coup protests in Monywa, which sits on the eastern bank of the Chindwin River, since February 6. After two police officers were killed in Monywa on March 25, the junta hit him and fellow activist Ta Yote Gyi with murder charges. There is no known evidence linking them to the crime, but the allegations were made by the regime authorities in what has been seen as retaliation after Monywa locals captured and detained a person suspected to be an informant to the junta. He is also facing several other charges, including incitement and theft. Wai Moe Naing is currently being detained and interrogated at the military’s Northwestern Regional Command headquarters. “I don’t want the interrogation to go on for too long. For the protests and his involvement in the revolution, they’re definitely going to punish him like everyone else. But for these bizarre allegations of crimes he didn’t commit, we’ll resolve them as best we can,” Moe Sandar Kyu said, adding she has asked for legal assistance. Wai Moe Naing’s father died when he was six years old, and he is Moe Sandar Kyu’s only child. She had recently retired after working for 20 years as a schoolteacher in Monywa. “I only have one son, and he just has me. We’ve been surviving, just the two of us, without anyone’s help. I nurtured him as a struggling single mother. And now that it’s my turn to rest, he has been working hard to provide for me,” the 54-year-old mother said. Young people across Monywa will continue to fight for the cause of Myanmar’s anti-dictatorship Spring Revolution even though Wai Moe Naing was arrested, she told Myanmar Now, adding that everyone protesting was doing so out of their own free will. “He has said this since the beginning. This is the youth’s duty,” she said. “They have to fight the fight knowing that it is to oppose injustice.”..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-19
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Title: Myanmar military junta arrests prominent trade union leader
Summary: "One of Myanmar’s leading trade union leaders has been arrested as part of escalating attacks on pro-democracy figures by the military junta. Daw Myo Aye, director of Solidarity Trade Union of...
Sub-title: Daw Myo Aye, labour organiser and a leader of civil disobedience protests, dragged from office by army
Description: "One of Myanmar’s leading trade union leaders has been arrested as part of escalating attacks on pro-democracy figures by the military junta. Daw Myo Aye, director of Solidarity Trade Union of Myanmar (STUM), one of Myanmar’s largest independent unions, is a central figure in the movement for workers’ rights. She has been one of the most prominent union leaders in the civil disobedience movement, which has been organising national strikes and protests since the military seized power from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February. Myo Aye was dragged from her office by the army last Thursday and taken to a police station where she has been charged and detained. According to the union, she is due to be transferred to a prison in Yangon. “We lost our pillar,” said a member of staff at STUM. “But … we are going to operate with the remaining staff. We operate within the law and we provide assistance to workers in accordance with the labour law. Our organisation will not collapse because she is not here.” Thousands of people have been arrested and hundreds killed since protests against the military junta began. According to the latest figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), 737 people have been killed by the military, and 3,229 individuals are detained or have been sentenced. Chue Thwel, Daw Myo Aye’s daughter, said: “Since the beginning of the coup on 1 February, I thought they would come for her … I feel they arrested her to set an example.” A spokesperson for the Worker Rights Consortium, a labour rights monitoring organisation, said: “With many labour leaders already in hiding or exile, the military’s arrest of Daw Myo Aye poses a serious challenge to the vital role of the Myanmar labour movement in the struggle to restore democracy.”..."
Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-19
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Title: Myanmar/Burma: EU imposes sanctions on 10 individuals and two military-controlled companies over the February military coup and subsequent repression
Description: "The Council today decided to sanction 10 individuals and two military-controlled companies, Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company Limited (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation Limited (MEC) in relation to the military coup staged in Myanmar/Burma on 1 February 2021, and the ensuing military and police repression against peaceful demonstrators. The decision was taken by written procedure. The individuals targeted by sanctions are all responsible for undermining democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar/Burma, and for repressive decisions and serious human rights violations. The two sanctioned entities are large conglomerates that operate in many sectors of Myanmar’s economy and are owned and controlled by the Myanmar Armed Forces (Tatmadaw), and provide revenue for it. The adopted sanctions specifically target the economic interests of Myanmar’s military regime, which is responsible for the overthrow of Burma’s democratically elected government. Sanctions are crafted in such a way to avoid undue harm to the people of Myanmar. Today’s decision is a sign of the EU’s unity and determination in condemning the brutal actions of the military junta, and aims at effecting change in the junta’s leadership. Today’s decision also sends a clear message to the military leadership: continuing on the current path will only bring further suffering and will never grant any legitimacy. Restrictive measures, which now apply to a total of 35 individuals and two companies, include a travel ban and an asset freeze. In addition, EU citizens and companies are forbidden from making funds available to the listed individuals and entities. Pre-existing EU restrictive measures also remain in place. These include an embargo on arms and equipment that can be used for internal repression, an export ban on dual-use goods for use by the military and border guard police, export restrictions on equipment for monitoring communications that could be used for internal repression, and a prohibition on military training for and military cooperation with the Tatmadaw. EU restrictive measures add to the withholding of financial assistance directly going to the government and the freezing of all assistance to government bodies that may be seen as legitimising the junta. The EU remains a steadfast supporter of Myanmar/Burma’s people and of the country’s democratic transition. As a tangible sign of this support, the European Commission has recently allocated a further EUR 9 million in emergency humanitarian aid to assist those in need. Since 1994, the EU has provided €287 million in humanitarian aid to Myanmar, with €20.5 million allocated in 2021 so far. The EU works with trusted and independent humanitarian partners to address the protection, food, nutrition and health needs of the most vulnerable people, particularly in Rakhine, Chin, Kachin and Shan states..."
Source/publisher: Council of the European Union
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-19
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Title: Myanmar: Military under ‘major pressure’ as steel giant cuts ties
Summary: "Responding to reports that South Korean steel giant POSCO will end the steel venture its Myanmar subsidiary shares with military-owned conglomerate MEHL, Amnesty International’s Business and Human...
Description: "Responding to reports that South Korean steel giant POSCO will end the steel venture its Myanmar subsidiary shares with military-owned conglomerate MEHL, Amnesty International’s Business and Human Rights Researcher Montse Ferrer said: “POSCO’s decision to cut this tie is the latest blow to Myanmar’s military, which continues to impose its rule through murder and heinous human rights violations. Since staging a coup in February, the military has reportedly killed around 700 people, including dozens of children. “Given the scale of POSCO’s operations in Myanmar, this announcement is a major step forward. It increases the military authorities’ isolation, and adds to the growing pressure on other companies to end their business links with MEHL. “POSCO has yet to announce the full details of its plans to disengage from its steel venture and whether it will continue to pay lease payments to MEHL. The company also has yet to address its broader footprint in Myanmar in other sectors. However, this is still a warning sign to all companies and investors who have business partnerships with MEHL. All of these businesses should do the right thing and responsibly cut these links immediately. “As pressure builds on businesses, and as the military continues to commit appalling human rights violations, the UN Security Council must stop lagging so far behind. It must impose, without further delay, a comprehensive global arms embargo on Myanmar, as well as targeted financial sanctions on senior military officials responsible for atrocity crimes. The Security Council must also urgently refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court.”.....Background ...On 16 April 2021, POSCO announced that its Myanmar subsidiary, POSCO C&C, would end its relationship with military-owned Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL). This decision follows months of international pressure from Amnesty International and other organizations, who have engaged POSCO, its investors and stakeholders, calling on the company to cut ties with the Myanmar military. On 24 March 2021, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution on the human rights situation in Myanmar by consensus, which highlighted that no company active in Myanmar or with business links to Myanmar should do business with the military (also known as the Tatmadaw) or one of their business entities, until and unless those businesses are restructured and transformed. In September 2020, Amnesty International’s Military Ltd. report demonstrated that POSCO, as MEHL’s business partner, was linked to the financing of Myanmar’s military units implicated in crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations. The Myanmar military staged a coup on 1 February 2021 and has been increasingly using lethal force, including battlefield weapons, against overwhelmingly peaceful protesters and onlookers, reportedly killing over 700 people, including dozens of children. It has also arbitrarily detained over 3,000 individuals, including government officials, human rights defenders, activists, journalists, artists, medical workers and others..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-19
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Title: Myingan ‘like a war zone’ as regime troops destroy protest stronghold, locals say
Sub-title: Hundreds of soldiers and police crush an anti-coup defence area in the Mandalay Region town, shooting indiscriminately and arresting locals, including one child
Description: "The regime’s armed forces crushed an anti-coup stronghold in the Mandalay Region town of Myingyan on Sunday in an afternoon attack. The Lanmadaw protest base in the town’s sixth ward was a primary defence area from which civilians had been using homemade guns, such as hunting rifles, to resist attacks by regime troops. Some 200 members of the armed forces assaulted the stronghold from late afternoon until 10pm, according to locals. An estimated six people, including a 13-year-old boy, were arrested after the attacks, a resident said. Local sources said that there were casualties on the side of the armed forces, but that no civilians had died in the assault. Myanmar Now was unable to confirm these details at the time of reporting. A Myingan local told Myanmar Now that troops were “shooting at every person they saw… like in a war zone.” Residents rebuilt the Lanmadaw stronghold before dawn on Monday, but it was destroyed by the troops again at around 10am. Prior to the attack on Lanmadaw on Sunday, soldiers and police also indiscriminately shot at people near Myingan’s municipal market. At least one man was injured and in critical condition after being shot in the head, according to local sources. He was a worker in a rice shop, and was shot by troops as he tried to close the shop’s doors as they passed by the area. At around 4pm on Sunday, there was an explosion in front of the KBZ Bank branch in the town but no one was reported as injured. The cause of the blast is unknown. According to local relief organisations, at least 23 people have been killed in Myingyan by the military and police in crackdowns on demonstrations since the February 1 coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an advocacy group that has been monitoring the regime’s violence, reported that more than 730 people have been killed nationwide during the same period..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-19
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Title: The Tatmadaw is keeping families in the dark about their loved ones’ remains
Sub-title: As junta forces increasingly refuse to return the bodies of those they’ve slain, the pain of grieving families is being exacerbated by uncertainty.
Description: "The morning of March 11 was surprisingly cold in Mandalay, at least by the normal standards of Myanmar’s second-largest city. U Zaw Lin and his 19-year-old son, Ko Lin Htet, kept warm by huddling under a blanket. Lin Htet, a second-year geology student at Mandalay’s Yadanabon University, was recounting his experiences on the front lines of Mandalay’s anti-military protests when their conversation was interrupted by a phone call. “I have to go, dad,” Lin Htet said after hanging up. He leapt from the bed, disappearing into another room to get dressed. When he returned, he was wearing his father’s white sport shoes. “Look, your trainers fit me. Can I wear them?” Zaw Lin, 47, recalls his son asking. Lin Htet wanted to wear the shoes because he planned to join the Mya Taung protest group, which has been marching twice-daily through Mandalay since shortly after the February 1 coup. Sensing his son’s excitement, Zaw Lin gave his assent. Then they went their separate ways: Lin Htet to the protests, Zaw Lwin to his job at a car spraying workshop on Mandalay’s 16th street in Maha Aung Myay Township. He was at home eating lunch when he got the phone call. “A friend said that news was being shared on Facebook that Lin Htet had been shot,” Zaw Lin recalled, his voice trembling. “I was shocked – I couldn’t believe it at all.” As soon as Zaw Lin saw the photos, he knew it was his son. Lin Htet was tall, standing at six foot one (about 185 centimetres), with long black hair and the blue plaid shirt he’d left home in. What stood out in the photos, though, were Zaw Lin’s white shoes. “When I saw the photos on Facebook, I knew it was my beloved son, but I had trouble believing it – I couldn’t breathe, I was in shock,” Zaw Lin said. He rushed to the spot where his son had been shot, on 89th Street in Chan Aye Thar San Township, but the body was already gone. All that remained was the facemask his son had worn. Witnesses told him they had seen soldiers drag Lin Htet’s body into an unmarked black Toyota Alphard and drive away. Zaw Lin and his wife, Daw Htay Htay Myint, went to several police stations, army camps and hospitals around the city hoping to find their son’s body, but to no avail. Two days later, Police Chief U Toe Toe from the Maha Aung Myay’s No 6 police station told them that their son had been cremated the day he died. “I asked, ‘Why weren’t we informed?’ When I asked how they could do that without telling family members, he said they had to do it because it was their duty,” Zaw Lin said. He was furious at the police, both for their failure to help and their lack of remorse. “If they were unarmed, I would have fought them one by one,” he told Frontier on April 6. “But at the time, I even had to apologise to them just so I could try to get back my son’s remains for burial. Still, they shouted at us and claimed they had no responsibility to help.” More than a month later, Zaw Lin still does not know where his son’s remains are. Myanmar’s security forces have responded with growing brutality to the anti-coup demonstrations that have swept the country in recent months, a movement dubbed by some as the “Spring Revolution” and largely led by youthful “Generation Z” protesters like Lin Htet. Like Zaw Lin, scores of relatives who have lost loved ones face the added pain of not knowing the fate of their remains, and not having the chance to properly farewell them. The uncertainty magnifies their grief. On March 17, six days after Zaw Lin lost his only son, Ma Yee Mon Theint’s husband was killed in Hlaing Tharyar, an industrial suburb in Yangon’s west. Ko Thura Oo, a 25-year-old trishaw driver, was shot and killed by soldiers and police during an afternoon demonstration on Tharaphi Street in the Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone. Yee Mon Theint received the devastating news that evening, shortly after returning home from her job selling fish in a local market. “I was told by a friend who ran from the spot where my husband was shot. I tried to go to him, but because of the continuous shooting I couldn’t leave [my home] immediately. When I got there, my husband’s body was gone,” she said, crying. A witness told Frontier they saw Thura Oo shot in the head and back, before soldiers removed his shirt and hat and dragged his body into a nearby car. Yee Mon Theint said that when she arrived at the blood-stained spot where her husband had fallen, all that remained were his shirt and hat. Desperate to find her husband’s body, she went to Hlaing Tharyar Hospital, but they had no record of him. Later, ahe heard a rumour that his body had been dumped in a creek in the industrial zone, but her searches turned up nothing. Despite not finding his body, Yee Mon Theint accepted her husband’s death and held a small funeral ceremony three days later, but she still hopes that his remains will one day be returned. “Although my husband is already dead, I really want his body back. I want to bury him in a peaceful place,” she said, wiping away tears. “I have no idea where they took him.” Estimates on the number of people killed in Hlaing Tharyar range from 70 to more than 100. The leader of a relief organisation that works in the township told Frontier that the remains of at least 12 people who have been confirmed dead have not been returned. “Some family members are missing dead bodies although they heard information from witnesses, or [had seen evidence] that their sons and husbands had been shot during the protests,” said the leader, who asked not to be named. In other cases, he said, his organization has retrieved the bodies of protesters who have been killed, but has been unable to locate any family members, or even identify them. A relief worker in Mandalay, where at least 118 people have so far died, told Frontier that the bodies of three people – Lin Htet, another man and a woman named Daw Pyone – were unaccounted for in Maha Aung Myay Township alone. Relief groups are often asked to help families try to locate missing family members, the official said. “If the person’s body is not with the relief group, the family members then go to a police station or hospital to try and confirm if the person is alive,” he said. While the Mandalay official said he couldn’t understand why security forces were not returning the bodies of those killed in the crackdown, the leader of the Hlaing Tharyar relief group said he believed the military was trying to cover up evidence of its brutality. “I think it’s simply that the military wants to destroy the evidence of what they are doing,” he said. “They don’t want to hand back bodies that clearly show evidence of being shot.” The military regime has disputed death toll figures from independent monitoring groups, such as the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. On April 9, the military regime claimed that just 248 protesters had died, less than half of the AAPP total. That same day, junta forces reportedly massacred at least 82 people in the town of Bago, and AAPP says as of April 18, 730 people had been killed since February 1. Zaw Lin can still barely believe his son is gone. The father and son had enjoyed a close relationship, and Zaw Lin said he missed their animated conversations. “We have been distraught since my son left. I only had one son; he was a very talented child, and I miss him so much,” Zaw Lin said, crying. He described his son as intelligent, with a cool and calm demeanor, but said he had become angry after the February 1 coup. Lin Htet read news obsessively on social media; some days, he would sit alone and talk to himself, his father said, an indication of the profound impact the political situation was having on his son’s mental wellbeing. But Lin Htet had also been heavily involved in the youth-led protest movement since shortly after the coup. He would join rallies and marches, and note down significant dates – such as when protests started in Yangon and Mandalay, and when the United Nations held a meeting to discuss the situation in Myanmar – on a calendar at home. When Lin Htet’s parents tried to explain how anxious they were about him joining demonstrations, he would respond passionately, explaining why it was important for him to take part. “I didn’t think he would be so interested in politics,” Zaw Lin said. “When I suggested that politics is not a simple topic and he should spend some time learning more about it, he responded that the time had come for the younger generation to take the lead, and that he needed to be involved.” Zaw Lin accepts that his sone is gone – but his wife, Htay Htay Myint, believes that her son is still alive and in hiding. She prays and performs good deeds each day, hoping this will speed his return. “Every day I have to live with anxiety and grief,” she said. “I still expect to get a call from my son, and wonder if someone with good spirits is protecting him. Until I find his body, I cannot accept that my son is dead.”..."
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-19
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Title: Two killed in separate incidents, as hundreds flee amid military build-up
Sub-title: One casualty was reported in Kyaukme, in northern Shan state, while the other was in Sagaing region’s Kani township
Description: "Two anti-coup protesters were killed in northern Myanmar over the weekend as the military continued its push to crush resistance to its rule. One person was reported dead in the northern Shan State town of Kyaukme on Saturday, while another died during a shootout in Sagaing Region’s Kani Township on Sunday. Aung Ko Ko Phyo, a 25-year-old government employee who had joined the Civil Disobedience Movement, was shot in the head as he was leaving the monastery where he had temporarily ordained as a monk during the Thingyan holidays. According to local sources, Aung Ko Ko Phyo, who worked for the Department of Electrical Power, was shot near Kyaukme’s Wailuwun monastery at around 9pm on Saturday. “He was on his way to his teacher’s home. He had just left the monkhood because it was the end of Thingyan,” a Kyaukme resident told Myanmar Now. There were numerous witnesses to the incident, the source added, noting that it occurred in the centre of town. A doctor who treated him said he died from a bullet wound and would be cremated on Monday. The troops who killed him removed his body from the scene soon after the shooting. Family members were told they could collect it on Sunday. However, according to a local news agency, his mother was forced to sign a release before she was allowed to claim his body stating that her son had been stabbed to death and that the military was not involved in his killing. Residents of Kyaukme, a trading town located about 175km northeast of Mandalay, have held regular protests against the military since it seized power in a coup on February 1. On Sunday, another man died after the arrest of a local man led to a five-hour confrontation between regime forces and civilians in Sagaing region. The shootout, which occurred on the Monywa-Kalaywa-Yargyi road between Mingin and Kani townships, began at around 1pm, a resident of the area told Myanmar Now. “[Soldiers] fired a shot and came into the village. They arrested a local and that’s when the fighting began,” said a resident of Sal Yar Chaung, the village where the arrest was made. At least 100 soldiers were involved in the clash, according to another villager. No further details were available about the man who died. Residents said that some of the military forces may have been injured by homemade hunting rifles and air guns used by members of a village defence team. Residents say that hundreds of people have fled the area since Sunday, as more army troops pour in and conduct door-to-door raids targeting local civilians. “They came into the village in the morning. There were a lot of them. They were searching every house, so we had to run. It looks like they’re setting up base,” said a resident of Chaung Ma Kyway, one of the affected villages. The shootout on Sunday came days after a similar incident on April 15 left six civilians dead and at least 20 others missing. Many parts of Sagaing region have been tense since late last month amid efforts by the regime to crack down on strongholds of the anti-coup movement. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 730 civilians have been killed by the junta nationwide as of April 17..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-19
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Title: Who’s Who in Myanmar’s National Unity Government
Summary: "Myanmar’s ousted lawmakers formed a parallel government on Friday in an attempt to defy and discredit the country’s ruling military regime, restore civilian rule and establish a federal union....
Description: "Myanmar’s ousted lawmakers formed a parallel government on Friday in an attempt to defy and discredit the country’s ruling military regime, restore civilian rule and establish a federal union. The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), established by ousted lawmakers in the wake of the military coup in February, said in a statement that it had formed a National Unity Government (NUG) based on the mandate bestowed on it by the people in the 2020 general election, which the National League for Democracy won by a landslide. Despite being outlawed by the regime, the CRPH enjoys popular support at home and abroad. The new government is a coalition of democratic forces in Myanmar, including stakeholders from the country’s ethnic groups, formed under the terms of the Federal Democracy Charter, which the CRPH made public in March. The charter guarantees the formation of a federal union, something the country’s ethnicities have long sought. In the new government, Mahn Win Khaing Than, an ethnic Karen and former House Speaker under the NLD government, is the country’s prime minister, while President U Win Myint and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who were ousted by the coup and have been detained since February, retain their positions. The vice president is lawyer Duwa Lashi La, president of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly, politically the most authoritative body in Kachin State. For the time being the 15-member cabinet will be led by the vice president and prime minister. The CRPH has created three new ministries: the ministries of the Prime Minister; Federal Union Affairs; and Women, Youth and Children’s Affairs. Six of the federal ministers are ethnic Kachin, Karen or Chin, while no representatives of other ethnic nationalities have yet been appointed. However, with important ministries like Agriculture, Transport, and Energy yet to be filled, they will likely be added soon. In the NUG’s cabinet, four elected NLD lawmakers—Daw Zin Mar Aung, U Lwin Ko Latt, U Yee Mon and U Tin Tun Naing—have been appointed as the ministers for foreign affairs; home affairs and immigration; defense; and planning, finance and investment, respectively. U Yee Mon is somewhat of a surprise appointment as defense minister and brings some unusual qualifications to the portfolio, being a poet. Dr. Sa Sa, an ethnic Chin and the international envoy for the CRPH, has been appointed international cooperation minister. He will also serve as the NUG’s spokesperson. Dr. Win Myat Aye, who served as social welfare, relief and resettlement minister under the NLD government until the coup, will serve as minister of humanitarian affairs and disaster management in the new government. Another ethnic Chin minister in the new government is Dr. Lian Hmung Sakhong. With a mandate from the Chin Consultative Assembly, a politically authoritative umbrella organization among Chin ethnic people, the vice chair of the Chin National Front (CNF), a Chin armed group that has been lobbying for autonomy and federalism in Chin State, is now federal union affairs minister. Dr. Tu Hkawng, an ethnic Kachin with a postgraduate degree in social science and community development, is natural resources and environmental conservation minister in the NUG, while elected NLD lawmaker Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe, an ethnic Karen, is the minister for women, youth and children’s affairs. Another new face in the cabinet is Dr. Zaw Wai Soe. The orthopedic surgeon, who earned renown for his COVID-19 containment strategies in Yangon before the coup, as well as for his involvement in the Civil Disobedience Movement against the junta, has been named minister for both education and, unsurprisingly, health. In his statement on the formation of the NUG, spokesperson Dr. Sa Sa said the government members will serve the people of Myanmar regardless of their race, religion, community of origin or walk of life. “All will have a vitally important role to play in the great cause of liberating our nation from the scourge of this murderous military junta, and all will have equal rights as citizens of Myanmar,” he said. The spokesperson added that the NUG will bring all ethnic nationalities on board “so that it represents the great diversity and strength of this great nation of Myanmar.” The NUG also appointed 12 deputy ministers, six of whom are ethnic Kachin, Karen, Mon, Kayan, Karenni and Ta’ang. Many of them are young, politically active and well-educated. The announcement of the NUG’s formation was heartily welcomed by Myanmar’s people on Friday. On the CRPH’s Facebook page, the announcement earned 149,000 shares within two hours. One supporter simply said: “Our legitimate government and we support NUG!” Unsurprisingly, most of the other comments expressed similar sentiments. On Friday, the NUG’s Foreign Minister Daw Zin Mar Aung wrote in The New York Times that the people of Myanmar are ready to take great risks and pay a great price for their rights and freedom. “We ask the international community to support them, with coordinated political, financial and security measures,” she said..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-19
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Type: Individual Documents
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Title: CRPH announces lineup of interim ‘national unity government’
Sub-title: The cabinet includes 11 ministries and 26 members
Description: "Myanmar’s acting vice-president was appointed interim prime minister on Friday by the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body formed of elected lawmakers from Myanmar’s ousted civilian government. Mahn Win Khaing Than served as the speaker of the Upper House until the Aung San Suu Kyi-led civilian government was forced out in the February 1 military coup. The CRPH announced the lineup of its interim cabinet members at an online press event on Friday. It includes a president, state counsellor, vice president, prime minister and 11 ministers for 12 ministries. There are also 12 deputy ministers appointed by the CRPH. Of the 26 total cabinet members, 13 belong to ethnic nationalities, and eight are women. Ousted president Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi retained their previous positions, but were still detained in military custody at the time of reporting. Duwa Lashi La was appointed Vice President. CRPH spokesperson Yee Mon, also known as Maung Tin Thit, has been named the defence minister with his deputies revealed as Khin Ma Ma Myo, the founder of the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security Studies, and Nai Kao Rot, an ethnic Mon politician. Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, who has been the acting minister for three cabinet positions (labour, immigration, and population; education; and health and sports) has become the interim head of two ministries: education and health. Zin Mar Aung, an elected lawmaker and member of the CRPH was appointed foreign affairs minister. Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe, the elected Karen ethnic affairs minister for Yangon Region, was appointed Minister of Women, Youth and Children’s Affairs. Her deputy is Ei Thinzar Maung, who competed in the 2020 elections as a Lower House candidate for Yangon’s Pabedan Township. At 26 years old, Ei Thinzar Maung is the youngest interim cabinet member. She is a well known protest leader in the anti-coup resistance movement and a former member of the Democratic Party for a New Society. Dr. Sasa, a member of the CRPH and Myanmar’s Special Envoy to the United Nations, has been appointed the Minister for International Cooperation. The CRPH consists mainly of parliamentarians from the National League for Democracy (NLD) who were elected in Myanmar’s 2020 general election but were unable to take their seats in the legislature due to the February 1 military coup. A CRPH member, who spoke to Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity, said on Thursday that the cabinet was formed with the agreement of multiple ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) and would be in accordance with the political roadmap outlined in the Federal Democracy Charter. The Federal Democracy Charter was published by the CRPH on March 31, the same day it announced that it had abolished the military-drafted 2008 Constitution. The two-part charter lays out a plan to form an “interim national unity government,” the duties of which include working to “weaken the governance mechanisms” of the military regime, support the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), and make arrangements for “national defence.” According to the political roadmap described in the first part of the charter, legislative and judicial bodies will be created after the formation of a national unity government. The charter also includes plans to establish a national convention to draft a new constitution, which would be approved only after a national referendum is held. The charter states that the national unity government will govern under a parliamentary system and will include a prime minister, president, state counsellor and a vice-president. Under the charter, there are also plans to establish a National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) to coordinate cooperation among federal democracy forces. The NUCC will include representatives of the CRPH, political parties, EAOs, civil society organisations and CDM groups. Dr. Lian Hmung Sakhong, the appointed minister of federal union affairs, said at an online press conference on Friday afternoon that members of the NUCC would be announced within one week, although the council was originally supposed to have been formed at the same time as the interim cabinet. He said that the members were trying to ensure that the council would be as inclusive as possible. The interim cabinet was formed following a series of meetings between current CRPH members and the leaders of several EAOs and ethnic political parties, held after the previous NLD-led administration’s term officially expired on March 31. The 20-page Federal Democracy Charter is based on an interim constitution drafted between 1990 and 2008 by NLD lawmakers elected in 1990 and ethnic armed forces in Myanmar’s border areas. This is the first time it has been unveiled to the public..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-18
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Type: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup
Description: "As of 18 April, (737) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (7) fallen heroes today. These (7) heroes from Kani Township in Sagaing Region and Kyaukme Town in Shan State were killed the previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of April 18, a total of (3229) people are currently under detention; of them (75) are sentenced. 930 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document. All across the country today, various protests against junta were carried out. On 18 April, junta crackdowns may have appeared calmer but in Myingyan City, Mandalay Region, the junta fired at young protestors, a man inside a house and shot and seriously injured. On April 17 nighttime, in Larpo village, Kani Township, Sagaing Region, protestors defending themselves from junta forces attacks were shot at, 2 protestors were shot dead. Last night at around 9pm in Kyaukme Town, Shan State, 3 young boys riding a motorbike were fired at by the junta, one was shot dead in the head, the 2 others detained. In Yangon, Yankin and other townships, explosions were set off yesterday. After the explosions, from last midnight up until noon today the junta raided Yankin Township, and arbitrarily assaulted and detained 30 women and youths. In most of the wards in Myeik City, Tanintharyi Region, the junta has been randomly throwing sound grenades throughout the night, attempting to continue its climate of fear. On 16 April, the junta searched for an MP, his sister, Daw Nwel Nwel Aung (a lecturer in Botany at West Yangon University), was taken as a hostage from her home in South Okkalapa Township, because junta forces could not find her brother. The junta has continued its policy of hostage taking, just as new tactics of these terrorists emerge. People are not safe, even at home, they can be abducted any time, facing terror every single day. This month has also seen an increase in pressure on journalists. In Kachin State, 3 journalists from the Myitkyina News Journal outlet are detained in interrogation centers. At these interrogation centers, detainees are forced to sign and confess under duress or through harsher torture. These places witness unimaginable suffering, they should not exist – but the dictatorship in Burma continues to perpetrate crimes against humanity here. Now journalists are being targeted in these interrogation centers. The junta in Burma is killing, shooting, harassing, looting, assaulting. The generals in Burma only look out for themselves. Innocent civilians are losing their rights to security and dignity, their property is under attack. There is no rule of law, every single corner of the country is repressed. For the uprising to fully succeed, we must ensure accountability for these crimes. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heros in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: “Our uprising must succeed” Email : [email protected] Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/ Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma In Solidarity, AAPP..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-18
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