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coup in Myanmar

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Here are published uncommented and without censorship news from the international press. The selection depends on the topicality, but not on the content.

And...:

Myanmar police offices and army have received a review on google maps: "Caution - danger to life. The uniformed who are housed here are terrorists who kill people indiscriminately. The alleged policemen shoot at children, women, old people.... "

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Neue Züricher Zeitung, March 23.2022

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Bangkok Post, February 04.2022

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Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Dec. 21.2021

New refugee flows from Myanmar soon? 

Fighting between military and rebels intensifies during dry season - neighboring countries react nervously

After hours of arduous marching through rough terrain, he had finally made it. He entered Thai territory near Myawaddy, a border town in southeastern Myanmar. The man in his forties wants to remain anonymous so as not to end up on the radar of the authorities. He is a political refugee who has also been in prison. "After the military junta seized power on February 1 of this year, I had no choice but to leave my homeland," he says on the phone.

He is staying in Thailand illegally, waiting for his asylum application to be approved so he can leave for a Western country. He must be on guard, however. If Thai police catch him, trouble looms. "Then I will probably be detained for one to two months before the Thai authorities deport me to Myanmar," he says. It's the worst scenario he can imagine, he says.

It cost him 3,000 baht - about 83 francs - to escape. A guide familiar with the area showed him the way at night. "There are also expensive offers that cost 8000 baht. Then you are picked up by a bus on the Thai side and taken away from the border region," he says. However, he didn't have that kind of money. Along the Myanmar-Thai border, which is about 2400 kilometers long, everyone wants to make money from the refugees, he says. "Human trafficking is the order of the day," he adds.

He estimates that about 95 percent of refugees leave Myanmar for economic reasons. The need is great. Andrew Wilson of the Swiss development organization Helvetas points to projections by the United Nations Development Program that one in two people in Myanmar will suffer absolute poverty in the Southeast Asian country next year. "Hunger is growing, and there are many reasons for this. Because of the disastrous economic situation, incomes are collapsing, and at the same time, food prices are rising sharply. The crisis will worsen when lockdowns occur again because of the pandemic and the textile industry will leave the country," Wilson says.

According to figures released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in mid-November, 22,000 people have fled Myanmar for one of the neighboring countries since the coup d'état in February; within the Southeast Asian country, there are said to be as many as 235,000 displaced people who have fled fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic minority units and the People's Defense Force, which is part of the parallel government.

The pattern repeats itself

The outlook is for the situation to continue to worsen. "With the onset of the dry season, fighting increases because military equipment and troops can be moved more easily," says Felix Heiduk, who works at the Berlin-based think tank Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik and specializes in Southeast Asia and

Security and Defense Policy at the think tank Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik in Berlin.

This pattern outlined by Heiduk had occurred repeatedly in the past. During the dry season, fighting intensified, especially along the ethnic-controlled southeastern Myanmar-Thai border regions, which are de facto autonomous areas. However, the forces withdrew with the onset of the rainy season. Subsequently, those who fled across the border returned home from Thailand.

In 1984, however, the Myanmar military stopped following this pattern for the first time and, after the offensive, secured the conquered areas even during the rainy season. The consequences were fatal: Around 10,000 Karen, a minority living along the Myanmar-Thai border, were unable to return after fleeing to the neighboring state. And even in the years that followed, the military did not relinquish the conquered territories. Many refugees were unable to return home.

Cheap labor

More than 91,000 refugees live in the nine UNHCR-protected camps along the border in Thai territory; 84 percent belong to the Karen ethnic group. One in two refugees living in the camps is Christian, and one in three is Buddhist, according to the UNHCR. The largest camp is located north of Myawaddy in Mae La, where more than 34,000 refugees are housed.

The truth is also that the Thai economy has benefited in the past from workers from the neighboring country. They charge lower wages than locals. According to estimates, 2.3 million people from Myanmar are registered as workers in Thailand.

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FAZ / German Newspaper Oktober 19.2021

Myanmar Releases Thousands of Political Prisoners Under ASEAN Pressure

Among the 5600 released from detention is the party spokesman for the previous de facto head of government, Aung San Suu Kyi. Earlier, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) excluded the military leadership from its summit.

Myanmar's military government has released more than 5,600 political prisoners under pressure from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Among them was the party spokesman for the previous de facto head of government, Aung San Suu Kyi. "They came to me today and said they will take me home, that's all," he said after more than eight months in the notorious Insein prison. Other political prisoners, including parliamentarians and journalists, have been released in other cities such as Mandalay, Lashio, Meiktila and Myeik.

Military struggles to maintain reputation

Photos and videos on social media showed detainees embracing crying family members. The Myanmar Prison Service spokesman and a junta spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

The amnesty was described by some activists as a move by the military to restore international prestige. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who has led the Southeast Asian country since the Feb. 1 coup, had earlier been barred from the ASEAN summit in an unusual move for the grouping.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

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Neues Deutschland / Germany, Oktober 19.2021

Junta gets into trouble

Asean does not invite coup general Min Aung Hlaing to summit, military casualties rise sharply

When the Community of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) holds its next summit Oct. 26-28, one will not be there: Mynamar's coup leader Min Aung Hlaing. He was still present at the Jakarta summit in April, but this time he is explicitly not invited, it was decided over the weekend. "Deeply disappointed," the junta expressed, accusing the other Asean states of failing to honor even minimal commitments. Asean special envoy Erywan Yusof, Brunei's deputy foreign minister, also now plans to suspend his upcoming Myanmar visit. The background to this is that the regime did not want to grant him access to the imprisoned Aung San Suu Kyi, whose health is in poor condition. The military regime, which has come under pressure, announced on Monday that it would release 5,000 prisoners on the occasion of a Buddhist holiday. More than 7,000 people who demonstrated against the coup are still imprisoned.

This is not the first setback the regime has suffered. Already on October 7, the EU Parliament had declared its support for the democratic forces in the country in a resolution. The Senate, the upper house of the French Parliament, also called for recognition of the democratic shadow government (NUG).

The "defensive people's war" against the regime, which the shadow government declared in September, has long been in full swing. On Sunday, an explosive device detonated in the capital, Naypyidaw, after being thrown at a local administrative headquarters. There were no casualties. There are conflicting reports as to whether two guards were killed in a similar attack on a branch of the military-owned Myawaddy Bank on Friday. In any case, the shadow government's Interior Ministry recently reported that 1562 soldiers were killed between Sept. 7 and Oct. 6, and 552 were reportedly wounded. For the coup plotters, it was the deadliest month so far: according to the report, the army's blood toll was twice as high as in August, when the number of clashes had increased sharply.

Units of the military face off primarily against the People's Defense Forces. These types of citizen militias, loose alliances rather than an organizational unit with clear chains of command, are a kind of democratic alternative force to the shadow government. They are even capable of attacking convoys of military vehicles, recent incidents show.

Nevertheless, the rebel groups of the various ethnic minorities in the multi-ethnic state continue to form the strongest military counterforce to the "official" army. The so-called "ethnic armed organizations" keep thousands and thousands of men and women under arms. Actually, eight rebel groups had already signed a National Ceasefire Agreement under the semi-civilian transitional administration of former General Thein Sein as president (2010-2015), with others joining later. The agreement is now "effectively dead," according to a recent article in the news portal The Irrawaddy. The regime did sit down at the table with 18 small ethnic parties at the beginning of October. However, the thread of dialogue with the rebel groups has largely been severed, and a majority of them have now openly sided with the democratic resistance.

Currently, for example, the army is attempting a push toward the Chin National Front headquarters. Last week alone, soldiers burned down several homes and a church in two villages along an important road. The violent advance of the military unit forced 300 residents to flee, the Chin Baptist Convention reported. Fighting had recently intensified in the region.

For the putschists, it is an alarm signal that concerns and resistance are also emerging in the ranks of the army in the face of increasingly brutal action. On October 7, it was announced that the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Region, which includes Chin State, had been arrested: Phyo Thant had attempted to defect to the democratic opposition. The brigadier general would thus far be the highest-ranking military officer willing to switch sides.

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Bangkok Post, August 14.2021

Myanmar’s Covid crisis is testing its neighbours

It’s hard to find logic in the actions of a leadership that attacks doctors and nurses at the height of a pandemic. And yet that’s happening in Myanmar.

In response to civil disobedience by medical staff after a military coup in February, soldiers have hijacked ambulances, arrested personnel and confiscated equipment. In a collapsing state, it’s helping to accelerate a calamity of unknown proportions. Official figures put Covid19 infections at more than 310,000 and deaths at over 10,000, but the junta’s appeal for help last week, anecdotal evidence of overwhelmed funeral services and even new crematoriums suggest that’s likely a fraction of the real toll.

Myanmar has suffered crippling disaster before while under deeply isolated and incompetent military rule. In 2008, Cyclone Nargis killed an estimated 138,000 and displaced hundreds of thousands in the Irrawaddy Delta. The regime made things worse by resisting international aid that it feared as interference. The mishandling of the crisis and the international aid that eventually poured in contributed to the tentative opening that followed. The Covid catastrophe is unlikely to have the same effect, with a junta newly back in power and showing no signs of yielding.

The only hope is that the extent to which the country’s structures and economy have crumbled and the threat of contagion — with new variants circulating, at a time when much of Southeast Asia is grappling with record surges — will prompt action from the international actors who have the greatest clout here and the most at stake: Myanmar’s neighbors.

The pandemic picture is grim. From around 2,000 tallied daily cases in early July, numbers had more than doubled by the middle of the month. By July 19, United Nations figures put the test positivity rate at 39%, compared to 22% two weeks earlier. Desperate citizens have struggled to get their hands on oxygen cylinders, with demand soaring and sales or refills restricted by a military leadership that says it is trying to control hoarding. The situation is worse for political detainees, held in crowded prisons. Nyan Win, a senior adviser to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, died last month after contracting Covid-19 in jail.

Less than 3.4 million vaccine doses have been distributed in a population of 54 million — one of the lowest and slowest rates in the region. Doctors and nurses, already in short supply, have been continually harassed by a government unhappy to be opposed by a wellorganised professional group. In three months from Feb 11, Physicians for Human Rights counted 157 arrests and 73 raids on hospitals.

The World Health Organization counts 260 attacks to date.

The health emergency is compounded by floods across parts of the country, widespread unrest and clashes in the borderlands that have displaced tens of thousands, plus an economy expected to be almost a third smaller by the end of this fiscal year than it would have been without Covid-19 and the coup.

The question is how bad it has to get before nations in the region are prompted to press the military simply for restraint.

Thirteen years ago, relief efforts after Nargis did indirectly help encourage a level of engagement with the outside world. But much of that effort was down to the skill of the then-leader of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Surin Pitsuwan, a skilled Thai politician who was able to get past resistance from the Myanmar military and among member states to pull off a relief effort led by Asean. This time, there is none of that urgency or creativity, and practical difficulties involved in distributing medical aid are manifold.

Instead, the military is being allowed to use Covid-19 to crush an already battered population, fraying the trust that is desperately required for any adequate public health response, especially one that will lean on vaccinations. The prospect of a vote in 2023, dangled by the military leadership, is at best a mirage. Asean is left as the perpetual bystander.

Outsiders’ influence is limited. As Aaron Connelly of the International Institute for Strategic Studies pointed out to me, the escalation in Western sanctions has been too slow to jolt a junta well-used to circumventing just such curbs, with huge military-linked commercial outfits to lean on.

The world is not without options to at least limit the violence and devastation, and those start with Southeast Asia, where trading partners and military allies have the greatest influence over the junta. The threat to public health and national security posed by a fraying nation has not been greater. Unfortunately, it’s also a region with a tolerance for chaos among its neighbours and plenty of domestic reasons not to squeeze the regime too hard.

The West can still use its leverage to press Asean, at a minimum, to do more than belatedly appoint a special envoy and express concern, pushing the Myanmar military to abide by the modest five-point consensus agreed to in April, which among other things calls for a cessation of violence, dialogue and humanitarian aid. Absent that, neighbours could even consider beginning to cut perks for the leadership, like travel.

China, with no inclination to step in but worried about the chaos, will be hard-pressed to dissent. It has already seen coronavirus cases flare up in the southern province of Yunnan, including in the city of Ruili, a major trade and border crossing point.

Reasons to act have never been stronger. The only question for all sides, at a time of multiple distractions, is the will to do so.

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Neue Züricher Zeitung / Switzerland, August 8.2021

(translated by Google)

"Now I am trying to make amends." 

Lin Htet Aung served in the brutal army of Myanmar.  Because of the military coup, he broke with the regime.  The deserter tells us his story Soldiers live in isolation with their wives Recorded by Verena Hölzl:

At first we didn't notice anything about the protests. I was stationed in an area of ​​the countryside that was previously completely under the control of the military. There were no demonstrations there.  I only found out about the brutality with which security forces attacked their own people elsewhere in the country through contact with friends outside the military. The news was unbearable. The generals thought they could go ahead with the coup without any major problems.  In the military we were surprised by the great resistance among the people - even I would not have thought that was possible.  Our superiors said that all means were allowed to bring the people under control.

The protesters are a threat to the stability of our country. The order was: Spread fear in the population by killing people. At first we only found out about the coup on February 1st from the state holiday. That our country had become a military dictatorship overnight made me sad. Although we couldn't say that out loud in the barracks, I know that I wasn't alone with these feelings.  The military says there was election fraud. But that is a situation. The National League for Democracy (NLD) won because the people support it. I do that too. I believe in NLD boss Aung San Suu Kyi and that's why I voted for her. That was possible because at that time we were voting outside the barracks in an uncontrolled manner in barracks.  They live in lousy accommodations and get bad food. I couldn't even support my family. When we get married, our wives also have to live and work in the barracks, for example carrying out construction work.  The soldiers live there isolated from the outside world.  We can't just leave the military compound whenever we want. I've always tried not to be so isolated. I was regularly in contact by phone with friends from earlier times who are not in the military. I also followed the news carefully and was out on social networks.  We were allowed to.  It got tougher last year.  We had to report our social media profiles to our superiors. Target of the military My everyday life today revolves around our revolution.  I am sharing my knowledge of the military with the public.  And I support other deserters.  When I was in the Tatmadaw, I often felt guilty. 

Now I am trying to make amends by helping people in my country.  From morning to night I think about what I can do to help.  That's why I was allowed to meet other deserters. The superiors believed that we were voting for the military party. Min Aung Hlaing, our commander-in-chief and coup general, is completely unashamedly out of his own advantage.  E does everything for power. More and more people have recognized this since the coup.  The Tatmadaw is the name of a group founded to help soldiers who want to get out of the Tatmadaw. We can only win back our country if the base can no longer be harnessed by the generals.  As soldiers, we should defend the rights of the people, not the rights of the mighty few in the Tatmadaw. I believe we can win this fight. If the higher ranks followed suit, pretty quickly, in fact. But unfortunately nobody has yet desecrated who was higher up than a major. Since May we have helped around 200 deserters.

We are also working with the government of national unity, our government-in-exile, which is made up of ministers and supporters of the ousted cabinet.  Of course, this work makes me even more a target of the military. They're looking for my relatives to get revenge on them when they can't find me.  Fortunately, I have been able to put my loved ones in safe places. I don't yet know what will become of me in the long term.  Right now I'm just relieved not to have to be part of the Tatmadaw anymore.  Ikch am grateful to my fellow Myanmar citizens abroad for supporting me financially.  Otherwise I don't know how to survive.  Some deserters have joined the armed protest movement groups that are emerging across the country.  For me the military is in Myanmar, it has lost a lot, including the support of many soldiers. Under the spell of propaganda films But we couldn't just revolt.  I knew several comrades who were shot for refusing to obey orders.  A police officer who had joined the protest movement was recently killed in a raid. I was also sentenced to death after deserting in mid-March.  Nobody pressured me to go into the military. I wanted that myself. My parents both worked for the state, my father in the building ministry, my mother was a teacher.  When I was 16 I was accepted into the military academy. That made me proud back then.  I've always been adventurous.

And I wanted to protect my country. That's what the Tatmadaw do, I thought at the time. Like everyone in the military, I belong to the Bamar ethnic group, the largest in the country. When I was young, I watched many films in which soldiers defend our country against minority armies in the border regions.  At the time I didn't know that it was propaganda and that the minorities in the country were only defending their own rights that had been taken from them for decades.  Understanding that has been a long process.  The longer I was in the military and the further I rose, the more I understood that the military was just something to do with us - nothing. I never want to have to hold a gun in my hand again.  People change when they carry weapons. There is not much good to be said about the Tatmadaw.  But there is an insane deadlock. It is ruining us. He's not interested in looting villages and raping women and has thought of us as terrorists ever since. How do Lin Htet Aung consider himself to be his own power?  In the Tatmadaw, many bad soldiers happen to me as a captain, at least at the moment I cannot open things. Our superiors instructed us, and never instructed us to do so.  But tell it. That would show solidarity to those in danger of treating even ordinary civilians like rebels - after all, we were trapped in the military. Bring one who supported me. For security reasons, I would like to do this. I couldn't just quit the service.  do not give details.  But what people- We might otherwise have the benefit of telling subordinates to bad right-wing groups about the military that risks our family.  it's correct.  Even if the military leadership regularly denies this.  Soldiers set fire, madaw, The risk of fleeing seemed to me to secure power.  The people in the military stick together among the soldiers.  The pressure myself never did that.  And I got the one, just as I managed to run away, that greetings with three from above welds them together. I don't miss my comrades anymore.  Or maybe I'd better say I don't want to miss her anymore.  I'm lonely for that now.  I cannot talk to anyone here about what concerns me.  That's a pretty bad feeling.  For safety reasons, I can't say where I'm hiding in the Monment.  Because I am still not safe. But at least my mind, it is finally free.  the opposition In the Tatmadaw one makes one's frustration movement.  treated, humiliated or unjustly punished. This is how you want your own. I actually stayed for ten years in the army. The protesters are a danger to the country.  The order was: Spread fear in the population by killing people.  high - not just for me, but above all are full of hatred and violence.  You have sel- for my family.  The military likes to take revenge on no rights or freedoms.  Soldiers to relatives. But then we soldiers were given bad food and had to be ordered to sleep in miserable accommodations against demonstrators. I go. I couldn't support that. I know many cases of soldiers who had been injured in combat for a long time with the thought and then played on the street, just to leave.  The crackdown ended because the military was no longer interested in the protests, which broke the barrel for me. The entire people - no longer just the minorities - hates the military. The Tatmadaw doesn't care about us.  I earned 360,000 kyat (200 francs) a month. I couldn't even support my family.  When we get married, our wives also have to live and work in the barracks, for example carrying out construction work. The soldiers live there isolated from the outside world.  We can't just leave the military compound whenever we want. I've always tried not to be so isolated.  I was in regular contact by phone with friends from before who were not in the military.  I've also followed the news closely and been on social media.  We were allowed to.  It got tougher last year.  We had to report our social media profiles to our superiors.  Target of the military My everyday life today revolves around our revolution.  I share my knowledge of the military with the public. And I support other deserters. When I was in the Tatmadaw, I often felt guilty.  Now I am trying to make amends by helping people in my country.  From morning to night I think about what I can do to help.  That's why I founded a group with other deserters to help soldiers who want to get out of the Tatmadaw.  We can only win back our country if the base can no longer be harnessed by the generals. As soldiers, we should defend the rights of the people, not the rights of the mighty few in the Tatmadaw.  I believe we can win this fight. If the higher ranks followed suit, pretty quickly, in fact.  But unfortunately nobody has yet desecrated who was higher up than a major.  Since May we have helped around 200 deserters.  We are also working with the government of national unity, our government-in-exile, which is made up of ministers and supporters of the ousted cabinet.  Of course, this work makes me even more a target of the military.  They're looking for my relatives to get revenge on them when they can't find me.  Fortunately, I have been able to put my loved ones in safe places.  I don't yet know what will become of me in the long term.  Right now I'm just relieved not to have to be part of the Tatmadaw anymore.  I am grateful to my fellow Myanmar citizens abroad for supporting me financially.  Otherwise I don't know how to survive. Some deserters have joined the armed protest movement groups that are emerging across the country.  For me this is nothing more.  I never want to have to hold a gun in my hand again.  People change when they carry weapons.  There is not much good to be said about the Tatmadaw.  But there is an incredible sense of solidarity among the soldiers. The pressure from above welds them together.  I don't miss my comrades anymore. Or maybe I should say better: I don't want to miss her anymore.  I'm lonely for that now.  I can't talk to anyone here about what's on my mind.  That's a pretty bad feeling.  For security reasons, I can't say where I'm hiding at the moment.  Because I am still not safe.  But at least my mind, it is finally free.  

“NZZ am Sonntag knows where Lin Htet Aung is.  He spoke to the author and her translator on a video call.  The 29-year-old is one of an estimated 800 soldiers and police officers who have defected to the protest movement since the military coup.  His story gives a rare glimpse into the Tatmadaw, which has hitherto been highly secret.  Myanmar's armed forces, with around half a million men, are among the largest in the world.“

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Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany, July 30.2021

Junta asks foreign countries for Corona help

A new wave of pandemics hits Myanmar amid chaos and violence.  The military regime wants support, but only from "friendly" countries.

In view of a massive third corona wave in the country, the junta in Myanmar is asking for international help.  The request is directed exclusively to Myanmar "friendly" countries, reports Myanmar media.  China, which supports the military regime politically, Russia as an important arms supplier and the members of the Southeast Asian confederation Asean are considered to be such.

The new surge in corona infections hits Myanmar amid chaos and violence.  "Covid-19 is spreading very quickly across the country. Hundreds of people die every day. Even in large cities there are hardly any medical facilities and help," said the chairman of Caritas Myanmar, Bishop Raymond Sumlut Gam.  In the strict lockdown, people would have to "fight for a living in many places".

According to the Myanmar media, around 5000 new corona infections were registered on Wednesday.  In May there was an average of only 50 infections per day.  Officially, according to Johns Hopkins University in the United States, almost 270,000 people have been infected from the beginning of the pandemic to the beginning of this week, and more than 7,000 have died.  The number of unreported cases is likely to be many times higher.

The situation is out of control, not least because the junta is killing or arresting medical personnel who joined the protests against the February 1 coup.  "Progressive Voice Myanmar", a network of civil rights organizations, accuses the rulers of using the pandemic as a weapon - "as collective punishment for a population that resolutely refuses to surrender to the military regime".

Only 1.75 million people vaccinated

The UN special rapporteur for Myanmar, Tom Andrews, therefore called for a resolution for a "Covid ceasefire".  UN member states could no longer watch the junta "ruthlessly attack medical staff while Covid-19 spreads unhindered".

According to the junta, only around 1.75 million of the 54 million inhabitants are vaccinated.  Critics accuse her of "hoarding" vaccines and oxygen only for military personnel and their families.

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Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Germany, July 27.2021

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Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Germany, July 9.2021

'A civil war is approaching' said Thomas Andrews, rapporteur for the last few years, learned United Nations cash for human rights in Myanmar, business to go on.  “I'm talking about economic pressure, cutting off the income that the military junta needs to continue its reign of terror.  Withdrawing money is life-threatening in Myanmar.  A student describes the suffering of people in a bank account - often inevitably at institutes that belong to the military. 

That's dangerous: Not only is the weekly amount that can be withdrawn limited to $ 300.  State banks, like substations and state schools, are now targets of the growing guerrillas.  For example, Deutsche Post DHL still operates a joint venture with a military ministry.  First Japan Tire Services, which operates the tire manufacturer Bridgestone in Myanmar, will cease operations at the end of July. 

Norwegian telecom operator Telenor announced on Thursday that it would sell its Myanmar business.  At the same time, more and more Myanma - different parts of the country - with which they leave their jobs, some also to fight: The anti-regime resistance as a whole is diverse, organic institutions, local administrative bodies after the coup.  Hundreds of explosions By Christoph Hein, Singapore “It's still safest to go to an ATM after midnight,” they say.  “Since the beginning of April there have been hundreds of explosions in great concentration in Yangon.  Bombs and arson attacks hit Bil- Our life is getting worse and worse, ”says Myo Chit.  “A civil war is getting closer and closer, and the and locally organized by professional groups people are preparing offices, the houses of the officials, police and military personnel and military facilities expected by the regime as well as already existing civil society such as doctors, engineers and teachers  Networks or unions, "banks," reports ICG.  Another observed ICG. 

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) expects the poverty rate to double this year: Half put State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi to the 54 million Myanmares threatened with little fight, sweeping into a new poverty line to fall.  to fight or to fend. "The student, whose name the editor has changed, is desperate about the situation in Myanmar after the military coup on February 1st. Her report from a village outside the metropolis of Rangoon largely coincides with the  Ever louder warnings from the official observer: "The resistance has taken on an increasing character," says a report by the International Crisis Group (ICG). The crisis with a "People are facing the worst conflict" has become a "conflict". 

This aggravation has enormous consequences on people's lives and everyone has been controlled.  My economic outlook.  More and more friends have prepared an emergency package - people become impoverished.  “To be without an income for a long time is hard for many here.  More and more people have hen, if something happens, "reports the difficulties in getting enough to eat and as a result there is theft. But there is, and it becomes a struggle. Rural statehood across the country," says Myo  population, gets used to poor people, meanwhile even the umbilical chit.  Poured into data and figures by economists from Oxford Economies, it reads like this: “Our medium-term outstanding.  The new middle class has a look and that has clouded over for this year. "Now they reckon that the junta will be stupid:" It destroyed, year (September 30th) is shrinking compared to the weak previous year. The World Bank is leaving  from a minus of 10 percent in 2021. For comparison: Leave in civil or Bangkok. Times between 2011 and 2019, Myanmar grew on average by challenges: Taking off an average of 6.7 percent annually. Economic output collapses,  because more and more investors leave the account when and when the 12 percent fee leaves the country. Danger is growing, and it too has to do with the complete mismanagement of the junta: Corona, even in the times of the dead through Asia and dead, practically without vaccines or  On the other hand, the third wave is dangerous because a mask is worn and life WILL be prepared for survival: “The entrance to our village was cordoned off by the army, distance rules are not fixed  Are established.  The suffering of the people in Myan-mar, as Myo Chit describes it, is not the only problem to take with you and for you.  Because corona forest or flying to a safe place also affects neighboring countries like Thailand, student MyoChit.  Under such conditions, life becomes too much to survive and people to die in which Myanmares hire themselves out as guest workers.  Their instructions lead to the new military dictatorship being further impoverished. 

To push through the conditions, conditions may be under pressure for a while over to neighboring China: The border towns, determined by gambling, drugs and prostitution, when & isolate yourself because of the pandemic.  This is how cross-border trading suffers.  In the eyes of analysts behaves particularly.  Around 200 of the 500 or so textile factories in the country have had industrial managers in power, but also the numerous aid organizations have what they need to survive in the direction of Singapore, "says someone who does not want to be named and their families themselves suffer from it  the coup. Because the generals are pursuing an economic policy from the 1950s. "  Sian Fenner of Oxford Economics puts it in a nutshell: The coup was fatal to the people and devastating to the economy. "Myo Chit describes the everyday money is always a problem. In some places people withdraw cash from their pay," she says.

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Bangkok Post, July 5.2021

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Bangkok Post, June 19.2021

Humanitarian catastrophe on the Salween River

PIANPORN DEETES MYANMAR Pianporn Deetes is Regional Communication Director for Southeast Asia Programme at International Rivers, a global NGO working to defend the rights of rivers and communities.

PIANPORN DEETES

‘ Ican’t figure it out. Thai officials told us to leave and [we’ll] probably have to end up living in the forest. We need to squeeze ourselves among the cracks of the ravines to keep ourselves safe from airstrikes by the Myanmar army,” Naw Lay Bue, a Karen housewife with her three-month-old baby in her arms, told me in an interview in March, a few days after she and other villagers fled to Thailand following air raids launched by the Myanmar army in Karen State.

“We feel safer while in Thailand. But we were just told by the Thai officials that their commanders are coming for an inspection. We are concerned. How we can raise our families and young children [in Myanmar]? What can we do?”

For over a month, they lived in a makeshift shelter with a small piece of canvas as their roof. Some children fleeing the war have fallen ill, suffering from diarrhoea and malaria with barely any access to medical treatment.

In April, Naw Lay Bue and over 3,500 other villagers were told by Thai security forces to return to Myanmar. We’ve lost contact since. Yet, most of the Karen villagers could not return home as the fighting between the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and the Myanmar military has remained intense.

Supplies of rice, medicine and other necessities donated by the Thai public are still kept by various charities, temples and churches in the border town of Mae Hong Son. Relief groups and international organisations, including the United Nations, have found it impossible to send relief items to Karen villagers who hide in villages in the area opposite the Thai border.

Accessing Myanmar is impossible as the Myanmar junta has banned the entry of aid since February. It is no longer possible to send relief items across the Salween River to Karen State too as Thai authorities have also restricted unauthorised access.

Although schools in Myanmar are now open, schools are under attack with air raids and shelling. Students have no idea when they can return to their classrooms again.

There have been reports that Karen teachers are dispatching mobile instructors to teach displaced children scattered across Karen State. They say people living along the border are trying their best to survive.

According to the latest report by the Karen Peace Support Network, the attacks by the terrorist Myanmar army in Karen State have led to the displacement of 70,000 people near the Thai-Myanmar border. These people had to flee after the strikes by Myanmar started in March.

Interestingly enough, a report says 700 stacks of rice had been mysteriously stacked near the Salween River since March 20. These supplies were supposed to be distributed to Myanmar army soldiers for several months. However, the sacks were believed to have been left there as the military was cordoned off by the KNLA, leaving Myanmar soldiers unable to retrieve the food supplies.

News of the supplies led to criticism and accusations that Thai security forces facilitated the transport of these supplies to the Myanmar military — which the Thais sternly deny.

Following this news, the sacks of rice suddenly vanished, and now Thai security forces have been more serious in controlling the news and people’s movements, including that of relief groups and international humanitarian organisations.

While Thai leaders have come out to guarantee access to humanitarian relief for people who are fleeing armed conflicts, in reality, the villagers who fled air strikes and rights violations by the Myanmar army have been pushed back several times.

Yet, the casualties of war are not limited to Myanmar civilians. Shells from the Myanmar military’s air raids also fell in Chiang Mai province’s Tha Ta Fang, in Mae Sariang district, causing Thai villagers to flee.

To date, a number of Thai citizens have not been able to return home to Tha Ta Fang village. Bunkers are being made for the first time in the school’s village. We have found that throughout the past three months, those fleeing from deadly violence have not been treated in accordance with humanitarian principles.

Today, many Karen villagers — likely including Naw Lay Bue and the others — are believed to be hiding in the forest. They can no longer seek safety in Thailand.

Why is there no safe area for these people who are our neighbours?

For these refugees, despite the commemoration of World Refugee Day tomorrow, there is no protection nor safety in sight.

The military coup in Myanmar on Feb 1 has led to chaos in various cities in Myanmar and along the border with Thailand. As tensions escalate, the Thai border is seen as the only safe haven for war refugees in the east. In the past month, the eastern Kayah State saw as many as 100,000 displaced persons, with others in Myanmar fleeing violence and political risks. As a neighbouring country, Thailand shares a 2,000-kilometre border with Myanmar. How can we avoid our obligation to offer humanitarian relief?

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Der Spiegel (Germany), May 17 2021

Beauty pageants are not usually known for their political explosiveness. But in light of the humanitarian situation in Myanmar, Miss Universe contestant from the civil-war country, Thuzar Wint Lwin, used her appearance to make an appeal to the international community.

The world must raise its voice against the military junta, Thuzar Wint Lwin demanded - and posed in national costume with a poster that read "Pray for Myanmar".

"Our people are dying and being shot by the military every day" she had said in a video message for the pageant at a hotel in the U.S. state of Florida. "I want to urge everyone to speak out about Myanmar. As Miss Universe Myanmar, I have been speaking out as much as I can since the coup."

Miss Thuzar Wint Lwin is one of dozens of Myanmar celebrities who have spoken out against the coup. The group includes actors, influencers and athletes.

Thuzar Wint Lwin, however, did not make it to the final round of the Miss Universe competition - but she did win a prize for the best outfit typical of her country. It is based on a costume worn by her Chin people from northwestern Myanmar, where fierce battles have raged in recent days between the army and fighters of the anti-junta militia.

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Bangkok Post, May 15 2021

Junta declares martial law in Mindat

Groups attack police station, state bank

Myanmar’s junta has declared martial law in a town in Chin State after blaming “armed terrorists” for attacks on a police station and a bank, state media reported yesterday, amid an upsurge in fighting between the military and ethnic rebels in border areas.

In the face of widespread opposition, the junta has struggled to retain order amid daily protests in cities and fighting in border states since overthrowing elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi to end tentative steps towards democracy.

The unrest in the town of Mindat on Wednesday and Thursday involved about 100 people using homemade guns to attack a police station and about 50 targeting the Myanmar Economic Bank, the state Myanmar News Agency reported.

It said that the security forces had repelled the attack without suffering any casualties.

A document declaring the imposition of martial law in the town in Chin State, which borders India, was posted in The Global New Light of Myanmar, a state newspaper.

Reuters could not independently confirm the state media reports on the situation in Mindat.

But a document posted on social media by local media claiming to be from a rival anti-junta administration in the Mindat area said the declaration of martial law was invalid.

It also said that the fighting was triggered by the army breaking a promise to release seven civilians detained during recent protests.

A spokesman for the Chinland Defence Force, a newly formed militia, said it was behind the latest fighting and confirmed the authenticity of the document.

“They [the junta] can no longer rule the city except in some areas where they have bases. They have no control in the rural areas,” said the spokesman, who said that one fighter from the force was killed and that clashes were continuing with the army bringing in reinforcements.

A spokesman for the junta could not immediately be reached for comment.

In a further sign of continuing defiance of military rule, video on social media showed pro-democracy supporters chanting “We believe that we gonna win, we must win, we must win” as they marched in Myanmar’s commercial hub of Yangon yesterday.

With 788 people killed in a brutal suppression of protests by security forces, according to an advocacy group, some supporters of the ousted government have sought military training with insurgents that have battled the military for decades in border regions.

Reuters is unable to independently verify casualties and the military has imposed restrictions on the media, internet services and satellite broadcasts.

Fighting has intensified in some border areas, with ethnic militias stepping up attacks, overrunning military posts and downing a military helicopter.

A group called the People’s Defence Forces has enlisted support from ethnic armed groups.

Their fighters have ambushed security forces and assassinated juntaappointed administrators.

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The Straits Times Singapore, May 15, 2021

Myanmar junta declares martial law in town

Move comes after attacks on bank and police station amid fighting in border areas

Myanmar’s junta has declared martial law in a town in Chin State after blaming “armed terrorists” for attacks on a police station and a bank, state media reported yesterday, amid an upsurge in fighting between the military and ethnic rebels in border areas.

In the face of widespread opposition, the junta has struggled to retain order amid daily protests in cities and fighting in border states since overthrowing elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi to end tentative steps towards democracy.

The unrest in the town of Mindat on Wednesday and Thursday involved about 100 people using homemade guns to attack a police station and about 50 targeting the Myanmar Economic Bank, the state Myanmar News Agency reported.

It said that the security forces had repelled the attack without suffering any casualties. A document declaring the imposition of martial law in the town in Chin State, which borders India, was posted in state newspaper The Global New Light of Myanmar.

Reuters could not independently confirm the state media reports on the situation in Mindat.

But a document posted on social media by local media claiming to be from a rival anti-junta administration in the Mindat area said the declaration of martial law was invalid.

It also said that the fighting was triggered by the army breaking a promise to release seven civilians detained during recent protests.

A spokesman for the Chinland Defence Force, a newly formed militia, said it was behind the latest fighting and confirmed the authenticity of the document.

“They (the junta) can no longer rule the city except in some areas where they have bases. They have no control in the rural areas,” said the spokesman, who said that one fighter from the force was killed and that clashes were continuing with the army bringing in reinforcements.

A spokesman for the junta could not immediately be reached for comment. In a further sign of continuing defiance of military rule, video footage on social media showed pro-democracy supporters chanting “we believe that we gonna win, we must win, we must win” as they marched in Myanmar’s commercial hub of Yangon yesterday.

With 788 people killed in a brutal suppression of protests by security forces, according to an advocacy group, some supporters of the ousted government have sought military training with insurgents that have battled the military for decades in border regions.

Reuters is unable to independently verify casualties and the military has imposed restrictions on the media, Internet services and satellite broadcasts.

Separately, a Japanese journalist arrested while covering the aftermath of the Myanmar coup has been deported, the Japanese government said yesterday, after charges against him were dropped as a diplomatic gesture.

Mr Yuki Kitazumi, who had been held in Yangon’s Insein prison since his arrest last month, was one of at least 80 reporters detained during the junta’s crackdown on anti-coup dissent.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi confirmed that the journalist left Myanmar for Japan yesterday afternoon.

The minister also announced that Japan has offered Myanmar US$4 million (S$5.3 million) in emergency food aid via the World Food Programme. The support is expected to help 600,000 people.

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Bangkok Post, May 2.2021

Thailand must act in Myanmar fiasco

In less than a week, any sense of optimism about a possible peace process getting under way in Myanmar seems to have evaporated. Only two days after an Asean summit in Jakarta on April 24 — a much-awaited event when coup-maker Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing attended to discuss a peace process with Asean leaders — Myanmar soldiers clashed with ethnic groups in areas close to the Thai border. On April 27, about 250 Thai villagers in Mae Sam Laep village in Mae Sariang district, in the border province of Mae Hong Son, fled the skirmish.

Thai security forces and officials in Kanchanaburi province were alerted and preparing to deal with Myanmar villagers fleeing into Thailand.

Apparently, Myanmar is on the verge of a civil war as civilians in urban areas and a few ethnic groups in rural and Thai-Myanmar border areas turn against the Myanmar army, known as the Tatmadaw.

Myanmar — once a rising star of Asean — plunged into a political and social crisis after the Tatmadaw staged a coup on Feb 1, when they ousted the civilian-led government, and arrested hundreds of protesters and civilian politicians, including Aung San Suu Kyi.

For almost three months, the Myanmar military has responded to these protests with violent crackdowns.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a non-profit human rights organisation based in Thailand, 759 people were killed as of April 30.

And the situation seems to be growing more complex; apart from political activists and civilians in urban areas, there are ethnic factions such as the Karen National Union (KNU) and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) which have launched attacks on the Myanmar army.

The attacks along the Thai-Myanmar border came as Asean, following its meeting, was preparing to send special envoys to Myanmar in a bid to jump-start a peace dialogue with various groups.

In Jakarta, Asean leaders on April 24 issued a collective statement referred to as a “five-point consensus” on the cessation of violence, the hosting of constructive dialogue among all parties, the designation of envoys to facilitate talks, and the provision of humanitarian assistance.

Although Asean’s five-point consensus can be seen as a step in the right direction, it is no longer enough to handle the political crisis in Myanmar.

Two days after the summit, the Myanmar government released a statement saying, “it will give careful consideration to suggestions made by Asean leaders when the situation returns to stability.” Apparently, the Tatmadaw is buying time.

The Myanmar situation will be the test case for Asean — and a tough nut to crack.

Asean was credited for the help it gave Myanmar when it sent relief items and personnel after the country was attacked by Cyclone Nargis more than 12 years ago.

It remains to be seen what and how Asean’s special envoys can do to end the violence in Myanmar.

The stakes are high for Asean. Asean might need to review its non-interference principle if its peace process in Myanmar fails.

But the country which stands to be most affected if the gambit fails is Thailand — one of the founding members of Asean and the country’s closest neighbour.

Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha skipped the Asean meeting and sent Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai instead, which was criticised at the time. The actions of the Thai army also have been criticised.

After the coup in Myanmar, the army was reportedly accused by the KNU in Myanmar for supplying food to the Myanmar army.

Despite a Myanmar soldier firing a warning shot at a boat belonging to a Thai villager as it travelled on the Salween River on April 26, Thai army deputy spokesman Col Sirichan Ngathong said the Myanmar soldier force fired a shot “because of a misunderstanding”.

Thailand cannot afford to play a “non-interference” role as it stands to be heavily affected, especially provinces along the border.

If the situation in Myanmar turns into civil war, the skirmishes could last for years, possibly more than a decade.

Thailand has a responsibility to foster peace and it can start by telling the Tatmadaw that violence against civilians is not acceptable.

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Bangkok Post April 29.2021

No talks until junta frees prisoners

Myanmar MPs ramp up pressure on Asean

REUTERS

YANGON: Myanmar’s pro-democracy unity government, which includes members of parliament ousted by the military coup, has told Southeast Asia’s regional bloc that it will not engage in talks until the junta releases all political prisoners.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has been trying to find a path for Myanmar out of a bloody crisis triggered by the Feb 1 coup and has called for an end to violence and talks between all sides. But the junta has already declined to accept proposals to resolve the crisis that emerged from an Asean summit last weekend that was attended by Myanmar’s Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, but no-one from the civilian side.

The pro-democracy National Unity Government (NUG), formed this month by opponents of the military, said Asean should be engaging with it as the legitimate representative of the people.

“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,” the NUG prime minister, Minister Mahn Winn Khaing Thann, said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from any senior officials in Asean.

U Win Myint, Ms Suu Kyi and others have been detained since the coup, which the military launched as Ms Suu Kyi’s government was preparing for a second term after sweeping a November election.

The military said it had to seize power because its complaints of fraud in the election were not being addressed by an election commission that deemed the vote fair.

Pro-democracy protests have taken place in cities and towns across the country since the coup. The military has cracked down with lethal force on the protesters, killing more than 750 people, an activist group says. Reuters is unable to confirm the casualties as the junta has clamped down on media freedoms and journalists are among the many people who have been detained.

Alarmed by the turmoil in one of its members, Asean held a meeting on Saturday in the Indonesian capital with the leader of the junta in a bid to press him to end the crisis.

Asean did not invite a representative of Ms Suu Kyi’s ousted government.

Its leaders said after the meeting they had reached a “five-point consensus” on steps to end violence and promote dialogue between the rival Myanmar sides.

The junta later said it would give “careful consideration” to Asean’s suggestions, which included appointing an envoy to visit Myanmar, “when the situation returns to stability” and provided that Asean’s recommendations facilitated the junta’s own roadmap and served the country’s interests.

Activists had earlier criticised the plan, saying it helped to legitimise the junta and fell far short of their demands. In particular, it did not call for the release of Ms Suu Kyi, 75, and other political prisoners. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group says more than 3,400 people have been detained for opposing the coup.

The NUG is largely made up of ousted members of parliament together with politicians representing ethnic minorities and pro-democracy protest leaders.

Protesters marched in support of the NUG in the second city of Mandalay yesterday, the Myanmar Now media outlet reported.

The coup has also exacerbated old conflicts between the military and ethnic minority insurgents who have been battling for years for greater autonomy in frontier regions.

Fighting has flared between the army and Karen insurgents in the east near the Thai border, and between the army and Kachin insurgents in the north, near the border with China.

Clashes have also broken out in Chin State, which is on the border with India, between anti-coup activists and security forces.

Karen insurgents captured Myanmar army posts near the Thai border on Tuesday in some of the most intense clashes since the coup which included air strikes by the military. Villagers on the Thai side of the border reported more airstrikes yesterday, but there was no immediate word on casualties. The Karen and other ethnic minority forces have supported the urban-based prodemocracy protests.

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Bangkok Post, April 10 2021

UN makes Myanmar diplomatic bid

Thailand is 1st stop for special envoy

REUTERS

The UN’s special envoy for Myanmar is to embark on an Asian tour to step up diplomatic efforts to tackle the crisis.

The push by Christine Schraner Burgener comes amid mounting international concern at events in Myanmar, where the death toll from the junta’s crackdown on dissent passed 600 yesterday.

Thailand’s neighbour has been rocked by daily protests since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and seized power on Feb 1. Ms Burgener will start her trip in Thailand and will also visit China, although her exact schedule has not been confirmed.

At least 614 civilians have been killed in the military’s crackdown on protests and nearly 3,000 arrested, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a local monitoring group.

There was more bloodshed early yesterday, with rescue workers reporting at least four people killed when security forces broke up protest barricades in the city of Bago, 65 kilometres northeast of Yangon.

UN rights officials say the military is making increasing use of heavy weaponry including rocket-propelled and fragmentation grenades, heavy machine guns and snipers.

The violent response has drawn intense international criticism and on Thursday Washington imposed more sanctions, this time on Myanmar’s state gem company, as it seeks to deprive the junta of sources of income. Ms Burgener wants to meet the generals but has not received permission to visit Myanmar.

“She, of course, stands ready to resume dialogue with the military to contribute to a return to Myanmar’s democratic path, peace and stability,” said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

As well as China — a key player with historical links to the military and which more recently cultivated close relations with Suu Kyi — Ms Burgener also hopes to visit member countries of regional bloc Asean.

“As she has highlighted repeatedly,

a robust international response to the ongoing crisis in Myanmar requires a unified regional effort involving neighbouring countries who can leverage influence towards stability,” Mr Dujarric said.

An Asean summit on Myanmar is scheduled for the end of the month, but diplomats say the bloc is deeply divided over the crisis.

“At one end, there are Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, who are in the mode of ‘back off, there’s nothing to see, it’s a question of internal politics,’” one diplomat said. He added that Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia were open to a more active role for Asean. The UN Security Council was set to meet informally later yesterday to hear from Myanmar lawmaker Zin Mar Aung on behalf of the CRPH group, which represents the deposed civilian government.

Meanwhile, Myanmar’s ruling military yesterday said it believed government operations would soon return to normal, as public participation in protests and strikes against the junta was waning.

In a televised news conference, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said the military council was working to achieve peace and security in the country and it would soon be “normal service resumed”.

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Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Swiss) April 1. 2021

MATTHIAS MÜLLER, BEIJING

RAO AIMIN / XINHUA / IMAGO

translated

Beijing has been in trouble there since the military took power in Burma.  Conspiracy theories were making the rounds among the Burmese that China was behind the coup d'état.  Also because Beijing has so far not made up its mind to show empathy for those killed in the protests. 

To make matters worse, the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was in Burma in mid-January, which is why rumors arose that the Chinese rulers had prepared the coup with this visit.  The conspiracy theories culminated in the attacks on Chinese factories in mid-March.  They show that China is unpopular in Burma.

Beijing is facing a difficult balancing act.  It is China's creed that one does not want to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.  The Chinese rulers will not deviate from this in Burma either, because otherwise they would offer an open flank to other countries.  They could no longer invoke the postulate of non-interference in protests from Washington against the crackdown in Hong Kong or Xinjiang.

Part of the truth of the Chinese strategy for Burma is that Beijing, along with Moscow, opposed even stricter formulations in a statement by the UN Security Council. 

However, the published version was tough.  The communiqué called for the release of the head of the Burmese civil government, Aung San Suu Kyi, and other detainees from the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD).  In addition, the putschists around General Min Aung Hlaing were called upon to pave the way for a democratic transition, to protect human rights and to restore the rule of law and freedom.  Such formulations went far by Chinese standards.

Proximity to Moscow

Before the democratization of Burma in 2011, Beijing had only had limited positive experiences with the military rulers.  Political scientist Enze Han from the University of Hong Kong writes that the Chinese rulers perceive the Burmese military as greedy, predatory, ungrateful and an unreliable business partner.

The harsh accusations can be substantiated with examples from the past: in 2009 tens of thousands of members of ethnic Chinese minorities fled from the northern Burmese region of Kokang across the border into China after fighting between the Burmese military and local rebels.  They sought help in the neighboring Chinese province of Yunnan.  Beijing fears such “chaos” in its south-western neighbor, Burma, because of the more than 2,000-kilometer-long border.  In 2011, the then president and former military officer Thein Sein suspended the $ 3.6 billion Myitsone Dam, which was already under construction.  What remains is a ruined building in northern Burma.  Trade between Burma and China also did not progress during the military dictatorship.  Furthermore, on military issues it is still looking for proximity to Moscow rather than Beijing.

Legal security thanks to opening

The democratically elected Suu Kyi came in handy for Beijing.  Your government knew that growth was the key to moving the poor country forward.  It has therefore opened the economy to attract foreign investors.  Inside less for years, China has become by far the most important trading partner and second most important foreign investor in Burma.

According to World Bank data, Burma exported goods worth more than $ 5.6 billion to the neighboring country in 2018, with raw materials being the main export goods.

Imports from China totaled around $ 6.2 billion.  Beijing is asking for raw materials from Burma and sees opportunities to sell Chinese products in the country because of the growing economy there.

The importance of the open Burma for Beijing was shown by the visit of the Chinese head of state and party leader Xi Jinping when he visited the capital Naypyidaw in January of last year.  Burma and China signed 33 letters of intent.  Beijing also noted with goodwill that the government of Suu Kyi has joined the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).  The free trade area includes 15 countries from the Asia-Pacific region.  Burma also plays an important role in Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also in terms of gaining access to the Indian Ocean.  For a few years now, a gas and an oil pipeline have existed between the port city of Kyaukphyu on the Bay of Bengal in western Burma and the capital of the Chinese province of Yunnan, Kunming.

Risk of destabilization

Beijing has gas and oil delivered to Kyaukphyu from Africa, Europe and the Middle East and can circumnavigate the bottleneck of the Strait of Malacca, which lies between the Malay Peninsula and the northeast coast of Sumatra.  At the same time, Beijing is expanding the deep-sea port in Kyaukphyu for 7.3 billion dollars and building an industrial zone for another 2.7 billion dollars.

Since the country opened up politically and economically, Chinese investors in Burma have benefited from greater legal security.  The Burmese military did not attach great importance to this during its dictatorship.  For Beijing there is a risk that the status quo ante in Burma will return with a high level of legal uncertainty and that the country will be destabilized.  Enze Han from the University of Hong Kong therefore comes to the conclusion that China is the biggest foreign loser in the coup in Burma.

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Handelsblatt (Germany), March 31.2021

Munich - The Munich banknote manufacturer Giesecke + Devrient has ceased business relations with Myanmar for the time being.  The reason is the violent action taken by the security forces against the opposition in the Southeast Asian country, said CEO Ralf Wintergerst on Wednesday in Munich.  "The excesses of violence were just too much," said the manager.  The traditional Munich company is one of the world's leading banknote manufacturers and supplies more than 100 countries.

Hundreds of people are believed to have died in protests against the junta in Myanmar since the coup.  G + D supplied the information according to "Raw materials, consumables and supplies as well as system components" for the production of the local currency, the kyat.  “I don't even know whether banknote production is still running in Myanmar,” said Wintergerst.  Only the central bank in Myanmar can answer this question.

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The Washington Post April 1.2021

The U.S. stands with the people of Burma. Our allies must, too.

BY LINDA THOMAS- GREENFIELD The writer is U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Burmese security forces on March 23 kicked down the door of a family home in Mandalay, Burma, and brutally killed a child who was in her father’s arms. Her name was Khin Myo Chit, and she was just 6 years old.

Khin Myo Chit is one of the youngest known victims of the Burmese military forces who overthrew the democratically elected government of Burma, also known as Myanmar, on Feb. 1. But she is far from alone. Over the past two months, thousands of people, including hundreds of children, have been abducted, detained, tortured, murdered or silenced in the struggle for Burma’s future.

This violence, a threat to peace and security, is growing more serious by the day. In a horrific escalation on Saturday, the military killed at least 101 people, including children, in response to demonstrations across the country.

Burma’s people — particularly women and young people — have made their stance clear. They have raised red balloons and banged pots and pans. Factory workers have staged walkouts. Civil servants have protested. Doctors, tea house servers, delivery drivers, oil rig operators, students and poets have all joined together to reject the military’s overthrow, demanding democracy and continued engagement with the world.

They deserve our support. That is why the United States will continue to stand resolutely with Burma’s people.

Last month, I witnessed the courage of Burma’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, as he spoke out against the military regime from the floor of the U.N. General Assembly. He risked everything as he decried the coup, finishing his remarks with the iconic three-finger salute used by the rebels in the “Hunger Games,” which Burmese protesters have adopted. Since then, I have met with Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun to reiterate our strong support for the people of Burma.

For decades, the Burmese military has been a tool of oligarchy and suppression. Over the years, the Burmese people, especially ethnic minority groups such as the Rohingya and other vulnerable populations in the Chin, Kachin, Karen, Rakhine and Shan states have been terrorized, displaced and killed.

When the U.S. government provided sanctions relief in 2012, it was based on the military’s pledge to return to the barracks and support Burma’s burgeoning democracy.

The coup flew in direct defiance of this promise. So on the same day, President Biden condemned the coup and rallied our allies and partners to do the same.

In the weeks since, we have escalated pressure, including by working with allies to impose sanctions against senior military officials and family members profiting from the military regime, and by curtailing sensitive U.S. exports to Burma’s security forces and the companies they control. We have also extended temporary protective status to Burmese nationals in the United States and increased assistance to Burmese civil society.

We will do more. And we need our allies and regional partners to do more, too.

The Treasury and State departments took an important step last week, announcing our most significant sanctions to date against the two largest military holding companies, the Myanmar Economic Corp. and the Myanma Economic Holdings Limited. And this week, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced that we have suspended all U.S. diplomatic trade engagement with Burma under the 2013 Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. We will continue to target the pocketbooks of Burma’s generals and anyone who seeks to exploit the violence.

Britain joined us in sanctioning the military holding companies, and the European Union and Canada joined earlier rounds of sanctions on the junta. The Group of Seven condemned the coup, and the U.N. Human Rights Council passed two resolutions by consensus on the human rights situation.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations urged a return to normalcy “in accordance with the will and interests of the people of Myanmar.” And we know regional efforts at diplomacy are underway.

Those are good starts. But we need sustained demands to stop violence and respect the people’s will, especially from Burma’s neighbors. And it is time for the Burmese military’s economic partners, including those that have facilitated the banking, investment, medical treatment and related services to the generals and their families, to take a hard look at those relationships.

We also will continue to work diplomatically through multilateral institutions such as the United Nations to apply more pressure to the military and their backers.

As president of the U.N. Security Council this month, I helped convene an urgent meeting that brought global powers together to condemn the violence. This week, I am meeting with my Security Council counterparts to discuss additional action. We must sustain unified pressure and secure full access for the senior U.N. envoy for Burma to assess the situation on the ground.

The United States will continue to rally the world to demand that Burma’s military stop the violence, release unjustly detained democratic political leaders and activists, relinquish the power it seized, and respect the will of the Burmese people as expressed in their Nov. 8 election.

Ultimately, the people of Burma will determine their country’s future. But we have chosen to act along with allies and partners because we must do everything in our power to help them advocate for freedom and democracy.

A free, open and thriving Burma was the future Khin Myo Chit deserved. As we stand in solidarity with the Burmese people, we must match their courage and push forward sustained, global action to help secure democracy and peace.

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Neue Zürcher Zeitung March 28, 2021

Verena Hölzl

Burma's nefarious generals

They live in luxury, boast of being heroes and slaughter their own people

Burma's generals and their henchmen are killing their own people again. After a decade in which it looked like they were serious about democratization, the military is back in total power. But who are the men who staged the coup in early February and who terrorize their own people without qualms?

Although the army stood at the beginning of modern Burma and shaped the country like no other institution, extraordinarily little is known about the military. They live completely separate from the rest of the population. Most officers never learn about life outside the armed forces. They are trained at the secluded military academy and spend most of their lives in the barracks, in the elite circles of the military, or on the battlefield fighting ethnic minorities. The generals and their families live secluded from the rest of the population in obscene wealth, which they occasionally flaunt on social media, while much of the population is poor.

With Buddhist blessing

"The military think they are better than the common people, and they treat them accordingly," says Oliver Slow, a journalist working on a book about Burma's armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw. Most of them belong to the country's largest ethnic group, the Bamar. The military sees itself as the patron saint of Buddhism, which is closely tied to national identity among this ethnic group. "They are indoctrinated with the idea that they are the great protectors of the nation. The rest of the country, of course, sees it very differently," Slow says.

Originally, the army was founded by national hero Aung San, who once liberated Burma from British colonial rule. The defense of its own people soon became just a pretext for power-obsessed generals to enrich themselves and their circles. After the 1962 coup that was supposed to establish Burmese-style socialism, they ruined a once promising country that had been a pioneer in Southeast Asia in many areas. While the education system withered, the generals sent their children abroad for education. The only thing that worked about the economy were the military-owned conglomerates that control large parts of the economy to this day.

Even now, the military celebrates itself for having saved Burma from the "anarchy" of the National League for Democracy (NLD). The fact that the party of ousted de facto head of government Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of national hero Aung San, had a more than stable majority of the people behind it and that the coup only pushed the country to the brink of civil war does not matter. The worldview of the power-hungry military is not always comprehensible. It makes him "sad," a military spokesman recently said, for example, because the many dead since the coup may have been "violent terrorists," but at least they were also "countrymen."

The Tatmadaw has been fighting battles with armed minority groups in the border regions for decades. In the case of the Rohingya, the generals have even been accused of genocide before the International Court of Justice. The generals use these armed conflicts to legitimize their position of power in the country. As long as there is no peace, they cannot withdraw from politics, so the credo goes. This narrative is cultivated in the army museum in the largely deserted capital city of Naypyidaw, which was built by the generals as a tribute to their own delusions of grandeur. In exhibition halls the size of a football field, the generals celebrate themselves as protectors and benefactors, for example when Cyclone Nargis claimed more than 100,000 lives in 2008. In reality, the generals denied international aid organizations access to the country. Preventing foreign interference was more important than helping the starving people.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

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Der Tagesspiegel, Germany March 27.2021

(translatet with google)

In Myan­mar this Satur­day is the "Armed Forces Day". Bad things are to be feared. And the world con­tin­ues to watch

An­gel - what a sonorous name. Most peo­ple can hardly pro­nounce their real name. Ma Kyal Sin wanted to live. Live freely. She de­mon­strated for this. Peace­ful. Against the gen­er­als who on 1 Fe­bru­ary plunged Myan­mar into a dic­ta­tor­ship again. An­gel wore her op­ti­mism on her shirt: "Ev­ery­thing will be OK". On March 3, the 19-year-old in Man­dalay warned her friends to get down! No one should die. Then she hit a shot. Of sol­diers in the head,so their friends told sev­eral me­dia. Thus, images in so­cial net­works suggest it. The mil­i­tary blames the de­mon­stra­tors.

Ev­ery day, strangely three - part shots of the des­per­ate protest from South­east Asia fall across our screens on so­fas in liv­ing rooms, kitchen and of­fice ta­bles, in min­istries and par­lia­men­tary of­fices, in the Bun­destag and the EU. As if it were a stream­ing ser­vice for daily ter­ror, a nor­mal re­al­ity for­mat on Net­flix. Ev­ery­one is watch­ing. Dis­traught. Dis­gusted. Bore.

And then on to the next call, the next stream. RKI CEO Wieler has new Corona fig­ures. Shud­der. The real and the"per­ceived" Min­is­ter of Health, Jens Spahn and Karl Lauter­bach, de­mand stricter mea­sures, there is too lit­tle vac­cine, no test strate­gies. Shud­der. Out­rage. Anger. The Chan­cel­lor asks for for­give­ness for an ab­surd Easter peace idea. Shud­der. Hor­ror. Bewil­der­ment. Trou­ble. We did it badly.

Who wants to re­mem­ber how many de­mon­stra­tors were killed again in Myan­mar? How many chil­dren, young peo­ple, women and men are ab­ducted from homes at night or shot there and quickly trans­ported away so that there are no mar­tyrs? The news cites fig­ures from the prison aid or­ga­ni­za­tion AAPP, hardly any of them re­main. By Fri­day, there were 328 dead and al­most 3070 peo­ple who had been cap­tured, tor­tured, de­ported and sen­tenced. Ten­dency ris­ing. Among the dead is there­fore also a seven-year-old who sat at home on the lap of the fa­ther.

Door­rotz­dem many, like An­gel, do not give up. They risk their lives. They protest at the World Her­itage Site of Ba­gan, at the Sule Pagoda in Yangon and places hardly any­one has ever heard of. Stu­dents, en­gi­neers, doc­tors, sales­men, bank staff, teach­ers protest. Al­though the In­ter­net is turned off at night so that they do not net­work. They leave be­fore sun­rise with can­dles, do not go to work. On the day of the"Silent Strike", the cities were ghostly empty, as eye­wit­nesses told the Tagesspiegel.

The mil­i­tary is threat­en­ing more and more sharply, be­cause pub­lic life is largely par­a­lyzed. The junta called in shop­keep­ers, de­tained them overnight, threat­ened lay­offs and other con­se­quences if they did not open. There is hardly any cash left, trans­fers are al­most im­pos­si­ble. Pri­vate banks have closed, they too are be­ing threat­ened. A few branches and vend­ing ma­chines are open again. Some man­agers quit, oth­ers went un­der­ground. This also both­ers the gen­er­als. Un­like else­where, Myan­mar's mil­i­tary does not have its own com­mu­ni­ca­tions net­work, say in­sid­ers.

Mean­while, sol­diers have cleared bar­ri­cades on main streets, and pro­test­ers are be­ing pushed into side streets.

Drones cir­cle, sol­diers track them into houses where strangers hide or smug­gle them through. They also shoot jour­nal­ists, as Naw Betty Han of "Fron­tier Myan­mar"re­ported on Thurs­day. The protest does not end. On Fri­day, de­mon­stra­tors in Yangon put con­struc­tion work­ers ' hel­mets filled with ce­ment on the streets to pre­vent so many peo­ple from putting them­selves in dan­ger.

An­dere stay at home for fear. Many re­mem­ber how bru­tal sol­diers crushed de­mon­stra­tions in 1988 and 2007. They know how the gen­er­als and their min­ions do not care about their own cit­i­zens. After Cy­clone Nar­gis in 2008, in­ter­na­tional aid work­ers were not al­lowed to en­ter the Ir­rawaddy Delta for weeks, where around 140,000 peo­ple died and thou­sands lost their huts. The sol­i­dar­ity of the civil­ians pre­vented worse. The Junta pre­tended to am­bas­sadors that it was help­ing in an ex­em­plary way. After such a show, sol­diers col­lected the sup­plies again. At this

Satur­day is the "Day of the Armed Forces". Many fear the worst.

Not least be­cause the per­se­cuted sought pro­tec­tion from the Karen and Kachin rebels. In Myan­mar, some of the 135 rec­og­nized eth­nic groups are still fight­ing for in­de­pen­dence or at least fed­eral power. Ob­servers say de­mon­stra­tors make fire­works or weapons. "Even if it was just a lighter they were hold­ing, the mil­i­tary will shoot," says an eye­wit­ness, who must re­main un­rec­og­nized.

The coun­try will only find peace if all eth­nic groups are taken along. A leaked agenda of the shadow gov­ern­ment, which now acts as a rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the elected gov­ern­ment – Aung San Suu Kyi, who is un­der house ar­rest – con­tin­ues to call the Ro­hingya "Ben­gali". The ma­jor­ity of Burmese do not see Mus­lims as part of the pop­u­la­tion. Al­most a mil­lion of them have fled to Bangladesh. The UN spoke of geno­cide, and Suu Kyi did not de­fend the Ro­hingya either.

Woul­dare the armed rebels join­ing forces with the de­mon­stra­tors? Peace­ful or vi­o­lent? Is there a civil war? No­body can want that. If war is waged, it will be bit­ter for more than 55 mil­lion Myan­mar cit­i­zens. Many will flee to neigh­bour­ing coun­tries. The drug mafia will earn bril­liantly, gen­er­als will se­cure their pros­per­ity with blood gems and raw ma­te­ri­als. And the Failed State will be­come a haven for ter­ror­ists – who are also look­ing for their targets in Europe and Ger­many.

In Myan­mar, they are fight­ing for a dif­fer­ent de­moc­racy than that in Ger­many. They know many free­doms com­pared to the time be­fore "dis­ci­plined de­moc­racy". But even if the gen­er­als were to be elected in 2022, the 2008 Con­sti­tu­tion guar­an­tees them a 25 per­cent block­ing mi­nor­ity and key min­istries. Aung San Suu Kyi also leads her party NLD after feu­dal lords-art.

Mean­while, what do all the peo­ple whose job it is to take care of the world do? They do not like to talk openly about this at the Fed­eral For­eign Of­fice in Ber­lin. The min­is­ter has al­ready made so many state­ments. This week Heiko Maas called the vi­o­lence in Myan­mar "un­bear­able", car­ried with a deeply grooved brow eu­sanc­tions, about which the gen­er­als are likely to laugh. The UN special rep­re­sen­ta­tive is "deeply dis­turbed". The de­mon­stra­tors are sup­posed to take pic­tures - then the mur­der­ers may be brought to jus­tice later.

Dhe mil­i­tary are ap­par­ently wildly de­ter­mined to de­fend power and benefices, no mat­ter what it costs. To pre­vent a failed state, Asean must fi­nally or­ga­nize a sum­mit. With China. Bei­jing may be even more in­ter­ested in its silk road project through Myan­mar to the coast, not least be­cause of the tanker stuck in the Suez Canal. It should save him the way through the Strait of Malacca. Even with the sup­port of the junta, this is risky against an an­gry peo­ple in Myan­mar. Euro­peans and the UN should also get in­volved. The vi­o­lence we see ev­ery day, is not an in­ter­nal mat­ter. Look­ing away, and switch­ing to the next stream is not an op­tion.

Sol­diers shame­lessly dug up the body of Ma Kyal Sin, who called her­self An­gel. An­gel protested as their leader, the friends said. She said it was worth dy­ing "to end this sys­tem." Only the mil­i­tary know where An­gel's body is now.

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Bangkok Post, March 23 2021

PM denies helping Tatmadaw

WASSANA NANUAM

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday denied reports saying that the government sent supplies to Myanmar’s army, known as the Tatmadaw, to support them.

Pictures on social media showed trucks carrying food across the border from Thailand to Myanmar, with reports saying they were destined for the Tatmadaw. The Myanmar army ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup on Feb 1 and ended 10 years of democracy. Since then, thousands of people have been rallying in the streets of Myanmar’s major cities against the junta.

At least 249 people have reportedly been killed by Myanmar forces since the coup, prompting criticism. According to Reuters, Thai media reported that the Thai army had recently supplied 700 sacks of rice to Myanmar army units on Myanmar’s eastern border, citing an unidentified security official as saying it was on the orders of the Thai government.

Gen Prayut yesterday explained that decades ago Myanmar people moved in and lived on the mountainous area straddling the border between the two countries, prompting the authorities to hold talks and persuade them to come down from the mountains and settle on areas of lowland.

They cooperated and asked that food supplies be sent to them, Gen Prayut said, adding that Thai authorities agreed to their request for a humanitarian reason.

“Since the area has not yet been clearly demarcated, no one in the area has been allowed to cross the border and buy food on the Thai side of the border, but they can order goods directly from vendors,” he said.

“Therefore, don’t use the issue to accuse the Thai government of supporting Myanmar’s military rulers. That’s not true.”

Since the Feb 1 coup, the Myanmar government has not asked for help from Thailand, Gen Prayut said, adding that the Asean Charter stipulates a policy of non-interference in domestic affairs of member states.

Army spokesman Lt Gen Santipong Thampiya also dismissed claims that the government had sent food supplies to Myanmar’s military.

He said border crossings nationwide were still open under Covid-19 control measures and the customs law regulating the cross-border movement of goods and people. Currently, traders can transport their goods, particularly essential items and consumer goods, across the borders, Lt Gen Santipong said, but transporting items prohibited by law and military armaments are banned.

He also warned against fake news which could hurt foreign relations. “In the delicate situation involving the neighbouring country, it is important to present news carefully,” Lt Gen Santipong.

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Bangkok Post, March 21 2021
Food supply to junta ‘just logistics’

The Third Army Region yesterday defended sending food supplies to Myanmar troops, saying it was part of an arrangement by the Township Border Committee (TBC). The army came under fire in the wake of reports that it procured food and essential goods from Thai business operators for Myanmar soldiers.

Lt Gen Apichet Suesat, chief of the Third Army Region, said the arrangements had nothing to do with the political crisis in the neighbouring country. Myanmar troops purchased goods from Thai operators via the TBC for logistical reasons.

“It’s more convenient for them to buy from Thai vendors. And it is also good for the local economy because the goods are supplied by Thai vendors,” he said. He said Myanmar troops have been buying food from Thai vendors under the TBC arrangement for several years.

Lt Gen Apichet said the TBC is part of mechanisms to maintain relationships between the two countries and resolve border issues at the provincial level. He said the panel does not engage in political issues.

Meanwhile, Thai authorities in Mae Hong Son province are bracing for a possible influx of people fleeing escalating violence in Myanmar with reports that at least 500 may seek refuge in Thailand.

It is reported that several hundred people are sheltering in Ban Huay Sai in Loikaw of Kayah state and near an outpost controlled by Karen troops opposite Mae Suay Ou in tambon Phabong in Muang district.

On Friday, a group of five people crossed the Thai-Myanmar border via Mae Hong Son’s Ban Sao Hin pass in Mae Sariang district to take shelter in Thailand. Among them are the wife of a former senior official of Kayah state and a 10-year-old boy. Kayah state is a bastion of the Karen National Union (KNU), one of the biggest ethnic armed groups in Myanmar. The group of five on Friday were reported to have met Thai authorities led by Sangkhom Khadchiangsaen, chief of Mae Sariang district. They were taken to arranged accommodation after they were screened for Covid19 infections.

The KNU is one of a few ethnic minority groups along with the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) which has announced they are supporting protesters and villagers opposed to the coup led by the “Tatmadaw”, as Myanmar’s junta is known.

Authorities in the districts of Khun Yuam and Mae Fah Luang are also making arrangements for those who may cross the border to escape the deteriorating situation inside the country.

Col Samrit Chattharawattanasakul, a senior officer attached to Pha Muang Task Force, has rehearsed an action plan with local officials to deal with an influx of Myanmar people in case violence erupts in Tachilek province opposite Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai.

Officials in Mae Sai district have set up four shelters at Wat Koh Sai, Wat Piyaporn, Thesaban 1 School and Wat Phathamjom in the event of a surge of people fleeing violence. Under the plan, officials will be sent to escort those who cross the border and take them for Covid-19 testing before they are taken to their assigned shelters.

Meanwhile, police in Kanchanaburi’s Sangkhla Buri yesterday called on procurers of illegal migrant workers to cease their activity as the number of detainees rose.

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Washington Post, March 20.2021

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Bangkok Post, March 18 2021

Martial law fails to deter Yangon unrest

Protesters barricade roads near ‘hotspots’

AFP

Plumes of smoke rose above a part of Myanmar’s biggest city that has turned into a battle zone yesterday, with burning barricades and security forces firing at unarmed anti-coup protesters to enforce martial law.

Traumatised residents have fled the industrial neighbourhood in Yangon that has become one of the flashpoint sites in a nationwide uprising against the military’s coup nearly seven weeks ago.

The junta has increasingly deployed heavier force to quell the demonstrations, with more than 200 protesters reported to have been killed in the crackdown.

Sunday was the deadliest day since the coup, with a local monitoring group documenting more than 70 people killed — the majority of them were gunned down in the industrial Hlaing Tharyar township in Yangon that has become a battle zone.

The junta on Sunday imposed martial law on Hlaing Tharyar and later on other protest hotspot townships — effectively placing nearly two million people under complete control of military commanders.

Residents — many of them migrant workers — have since fled back to their home states, piling their belongs and families onto flat-bed trucks and the backs of motorbikes.

Those who stayed reported scenes akin to war.

“There was constant gunshots the entire night and we didn’t get to sleep,” one resident said, adding people were worried about even walking on the streets for fear of getting targeted by security forces.

“Currently there are very few people out on the streets.”

Hardline anti-coup protesters had camped on a bridge leading into the township’s main roads on Tuesday evening, wearing hard hats, gas masks and carrying shields.

They has also erected barricades made out of tyres, wood, sandbags and bamboo poles. Some of those barricades were burnt, leading to heavy black smoke rising above the mostly deserted streets. Some protesters threw petrol bombs at the security forces, but otherwise appeared defenceless as they hid behind makeshift shields.

In a residential area of a neighbouring township, video footage verified by AFP showed volleys of gunfire going non-stop for roughly 15 seconds.

Information on arrests and violence have been trickling out of the conflict areas on social media — although the flow has slowed due to the junta’s throttling of mobile data.

Much of Myanmar has not been able to use their mobile internet since the early hours of Monday. The country is also placed under a nightly internet shutdown for eight hours. More than 200 people have died in anti-coup unrest, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a local monitoring group.

The United Nations on Tuesday again condemned the deaths in Myanmar, adding that it was worried of reports

of torture and deaths of those in the authorities’ custody.

“The death toll has soared over the past week in Myanmar, where security forces have been using lethal force increasingly aggressively against peaceful protesters,” UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters.

“Deeply distressing reports of torture in custody have also emerged.”

The office had determined that “at least five deaths in custody have occurred in recent weeks,” she said, adding that “at least two victims’ bodies have shown signs of severe physical abuse indicating that they were tortured.”

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Myanmarinformation, March 18.2021

Burmese "Government" Statement on Arrest Warrant for Myanmar's UN Ambassador:

Tagesschau (German TV), March 17.2021

Police officers should shoot at their own people It is the task of the police to protect the people, not to shoot at the people, said Tha Peng, a former police officer from Khampat, a town in the border area.  "There were protests and demonstrations against the military coup for the whole of February. But then, at the end of February, we should break up the protests by force," said Tha.  "Our superiors gave the order to shoot the demonstrators if necessary. I couldn't, but I didn't want to go to prison either. That's why I left everything behind, including my family, and fled."  The United Nations has strongly condemned the violence against demonstrators in Myanmar and called for international support for the protesting population.  The military junta arrests dozens, sometimes hundreds, of people every day, the United Nations special envoy Thomas Andrews complained late last week.  "More than 2,000 people have been arrested since the beginning of February. And violence against demonstrators, including peaceful ones, is increasing all the time," said Andrews.  "The country's military leadership is responsible for crimes against humanity, including killings, torture and imprisonment, in violation of all rules of international law."

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Bangkok Post, March 17 2021

Sun Kyi’s court hearing postponed

6 Yangon townships under martial law

AFP

A block on mobile data networks across Myanmar yesterday scuppered a scheduled video court appearance by ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as protesters returned to the streets after the bloodiest day since the military coup six weeks ago.

At least 44 protesters were killed on Sunday as security forces cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrations, taking the death toll since the coup to more than 120, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) monitoring group.

Myanmar has been in uproar since the putsch, with daily protests demanding a restoration of democracy despite the junta’s increasingly forceful attempts to quell dissent.

The court hearing for Ms Suu Kyi — who spent more than 15 years under house arrest during previous military rule — was scheduled for 10am local time in Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi Taw, but it was postponed until March 24, her lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told AFP. “There’s no court hearing because there’s no internet and the hearing is conducted by video conference... We cannot do video,” he said.

Myanmar authorities have throttled the internet every night for several weeks, normally restoring services in the morning, but monitoring service Netblocks said mobile data networks were kept offline yesterday.

Ms Suu Kyi faces at least four charges: possessing unlicensed walkietalkies, violating coronavirus restrictions, breaching telecommunications laws, and intent to cause public unrest.

Military authorities have also accused her of accepting illegal payments of US$600,000 (18 million baht) in cash as well as a large quantity of gold — allegations her lawyer says are “groundless”.

Khin Maung Zaw had previously complained he was not allowed to meet Ms Suu Kyi, who has been in custody since the coup, and yesterday said police have appointed two junior lawyers on his team to have the power of attorney.

“The police have no right to decide who represents the defendants,” he said, adding that the whole situation is “strange” — from the lack of Wi-Fi in the court to the appointment of junior lawyers.

Ms Suu Kyi’s postponed hearing came a day after violent clashes between security forces and protesters, and the torching of several Chineseowned factories in a textile-producing district of commercial hub Yangon as many protesters believe Beijing is supportive of the coup.

The AAPP yesterday said six more deaths had been confirmed to add to an overnight toll of 38, making Sunday the deadliest single day since the military seized power.

Six Yangon townships were under martial law by morning — anyone arrested there faces trial by military tribunal rather than civilian courts, with sentences ranging from three years’ hard labour to execution.

But protesters were undeterred yesterday, with local media publishing images showing crowds gathering in Karen state and a sit-in protest in Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay. State-run television confirmed yesterday that a police officer was shot dead in the city of Bago, 60 kilometres northeast of Yangon, during a protest.

The Chinese embassy in Myanmar issued a statement condemning the actions of “destroyers” after the violence in Yangon’s garment-producing townships, urging the police to “guarantee the security” of Chinese businesses.

Taiwan, meanwhile, advised its companies in Myanmar to fly the island’s flag to avoid being targeted. International alarm over the bloodshed is growing, but so far Myanmar’s generals have shown no signs of heeding calls for restraint. Tom Andrews, UN special rapporteur, tweeted that he was “heartbroken/outraged” at Sunday’s events.

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Global Times China, March 15. 2021

China urges Myanmar to punish perpetrators after plants smashed, burned

By Leng Shumei and Li Sikun

The Chinese Embassy in Myanmar Sunday urged authorities in Myanmar to take effective measures to stop violence and punish the perpetrators after several Chinese- invested factories in Yangon were smashed, looted or burnt and some Chinese employees were injured.

The targeted companies are in the Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone, Hlaing Thar Yar Township. Most are clothing factories, according to the statement the embassy issued on its website.

The embassy has contacted the affected companies and requested local police to take action to guarantee the safety of Chinese companies and personnel. They also issued a safety warning to Chinese companies and nationals in Myanmar. Chinese investment in the textile industry in Myanmar has created nearly 400,000 jobs for Myanmar, and such behavior will also damage the interests of Myanmar people, the embassy said.

The two factories have been named as Huanqiu and Meijie. Besides them, at least 10 other factories with Chinese investment were smashed or set on fire on Sunday, the Global Times learned from local sources.

“The event is really bad,” the embassy said, urging the Myanmar side to take effective actions, punish the perpetrators and called for Myanmar people not to be provoked and used.

Two garment factories with Chinese investment in the industrial zone in Yangon were burnt and destroyed on Sunday afternoon. The Global Times learned from local sources that the lawbreakers were hostile local Myanmar residents.

About 20- 30 motorbike riders with iron bars, axes and gasoline stormed the factories, which are located in Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone, Hlaing Thar Yar Township, a Chinese businessman engaged in China- Myanmar textile cooperation, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times on Sunday.

“As the situation is growing more and more uncontrollable, it is still expanding and worsening,” he said.

The suspected arsonists are possibly anti- China locals who have been provoked by some Western anti- China forces, NGOs and Hong Kong secessionists, sources in Myanmar told the Global Times.

The Global Times found that on Friday, two days before the attacks targeting Chinese enterprises started, Kyaw Win, the founder of an NGO in Myanmar named “Burma Human Rights Network ( BHRN)”, released a tweet on Friday warning that “If one civilian killed one Chinese factory become ashes.”

Win's tweet was retweeted by the account of Milk Tea Myanmar on the same day, which asked in the retweet that “If one civilian in Hlaing Thar Yar killed one Chinese factory become ashes, do you agree?”

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FAZ, Germany (translated) March 14.2021

The executive chief of the ousted civilian government of Myanmar announced in a speech posted on Facebook that his government would try to pass laws that would enable the people of Myanmar to legitimately defend themselves against the military. Mahn Win Khaing Than, who, like most of the leading members of the former ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party, is on the run, said in his speech: “This is the nation's darkest moment and the moment when dawn approaches. "

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The Japan News, March 12.2021

Japan’s approach toward Myanmar means holding talks with military

The Japanese government is taking its own diplomatic approach toward Myanmar in the wake of a military coup there. The government is working on dialogue with Myanmar’s junta using its connections to the military, differing from Western nations, which have focused on sanctions.

However, there is no sign of improvement in the situation in Myanmar. Thus, the government has also begun reconsidering economic aid to the Southeast Asian nation. “We strongly condemn the ongoing violence against civilians,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said at a press conference Monday.

While the other Group of Seven leading industrial nations have taken concerted steps in condemning the coup and violent suppression of protests, only Japan has continued to have dialogue with the Myanmar military. Myanmar’s security forces have been suppressing protests, leading to deaths and injuries among protesters.

Ambassador to Myanmar Ichiro Maruyama is the key to Japan’s approach. Since joining the Foreign Ministry in 1978, he has worked at the Japanese Embassy in Myanmar for 20 years over four occasions, including a period when the country was called Burma. He speaks the local language fluently.

“Dialogue by Japan and sanctions by Western countries means we split our roles like good cop, bad cop,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said. Thus, Western countries are paying attention to Maruyama’s actions. “Maruyama is a valuable presence as he can have contact with the military and Aung San Suu Kyi,” a source connected to the Foreign Ministry said, referring to the deposed former de facto leader.

Sources said the government has notified the Myanmar military of the possibility that Japan may scale down economic cooperation with the country unless the situation improves.

On Feb. 20, protesters visited the Japanese Embassy and asked Maruyama to assist them in restoring civilian rule to Myanmar. At the time, he talked with the protesters in the national language in front of many reporters.

The Japanese government has continued communicating with the junta mainly via Maruyama. The Development Cooperation Charter, a guideline for Japan’s provision of official development assistance (ODA), stipulates that the government should pay sufficient attention to recipient countries’ “process of democratization, the rule of law and the protection of basic human rights.”

The Japanese government is not considering a total suspension of economic aid due to the concern that Myanmar will be isolated and thus look to deepen its reliance on China again.

In addition, in cases such as when demonstrators are killed or injured, the government policy is to carefully review whether to proceed with each ODA project.

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The Straits Times, Singapore March 12.2021

Myanmar junta says Suu Kyi accepted illegal payments

It says she took payments worth over $800k and gold while in govt; eight killed in protests

At least eight protesters died in Myanmar yesterday as the junta accused ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi of accepting illegal payments and gold.

A military spokesman said an investigation was ongoing, and that former president Win Myint and several Cabinet ministers had also engaged in corruption.

Diplomatic pressure has been building since the army seized power on Feb 1 in a coup that has triggered daily protests there.

The military government of Myanmar accused deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday of accepting illegal payments, while eight people were killed when security forces opened fire on anti-coup protests, witnesses said.

Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told a news conference yesterday that the unrest was not a situation that should be of concern to the international community, and the West was making assumptions that were incorrect. He said that Ms Suu Kyi had accepted illegal payments worth US$600,000 (S$803,650) and gold while in government, according to a complaint by a former chief minister.

“We have verified those facts several times. Now, the anti-corruption committee is continuing the investigation,” he said. He did not produce any evidence.

He said President Win Myint and several Cabinet ministers had also engaged in corruption, and that the President had pressured the election commission not to act on the military’s reports of irregularities. The graft accusation is the most serious allegation made against Ms Suu Kyi, who has been accused of an array of other charges, including illegally i mporting walkietalkie radios.

Yesterday, six people were killed in the central town of Myaing when forces fired on a protest, a man who took part in the demonstration and helped carry bodies to hospital told Reuters. A health worker there confirmed all six deaths.

One person was killed in the North Dagon district in the biggest city of Yangon, witnesses said. Photographs posted on Facebook showed a man in a prone position on the street, bleeding from a head wound. One death was also reported in Mandalay.

Before yesterday’s deaths, an advocacy group, the Assistances Association for Political Prisoners, said more than 60 protesters had been killed and about 2,000 people detained by security forces since the Feb 1 coup against Ms Suu Kyi’s elected government.

Amnesty International accused the army of using l ethal force against protesters, and said many killings it had documented amounted to extra-judicial executions. “These are not the actions of overwhelmed, individual officers making poor decisions,” said Ms Joanne Mariner, the group’s director of crisis response.

“These are unrepentant commanders already implicated in crimes against humanity, deploying their troops and murderous methods in the open,” she said.

Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun said that security forces were disciplined and had used force only when necessary, although he said beatings may have happened on all sides due to provocations.

He said the country was on the road to authentic democracy, and wanted cooperation. The military also respects and values media freedom, and has arrested only journalists who were inciting unrest, he said.

The army has justified taking power by saying that a November election, overwhelmingly won by Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, was marred by fraud – an assertion rejected by the electoral commission.

Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun also reiterated that the military would be in charge only for a certain period before holding an election. The junta previously promised a new election within a year, but has not set a date.

The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday condemned violence against protesters, and urged the army to show restraint. However, language that would have denounces the military takeover as a coup or threatened possible further action was removed from the British-drafted text due to opposition by China, India, Russia and Vietnam.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he hoped the Security Council statement would push the military to realise it is absolutely essential that all prisoners are released and the results of the November election are respected.

In Myanmar, state media said the junta had removed Arakan Army (AA) insurgents from its list of terrorist groups because the faction had stopped attacks in order to help establish peace across the country. The move comes as the army struggles to restrain daily protests against the coup.

The AA, which is fighting for greater autonomy in the western state of Rakhine, had become one of the most formidable forces in challenging an army that has been fighting various ethnic wars for seven decades.

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Bangkok Post March, 12 2021

Myanmar takes lead in autocratic race Thitinan Pongsudhirak Thitinan Pongsudhirak, PhD, is professor at the Faculty of Political Science and director of its Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University. AFP

In the aftermath of the military coup on Feb 1, Myanmar’s armed forces have evidently taken the lead in Southeast Asia’s authoritarian race to the bottom. For its speed and depth of reversal from a fragile democracy to a hard dictatorship within six weeks, Myanmar currently ranks top among developing states worldwide. At stake now is not just Myanmar’s political future and the well-being of its people but the fate of developing democracies elsewhere. If Myanmar’s military succeeds and retains power through violent suppression of prodemocracy protesters, the global authoritarian upsurge will gain pivotal momentum. Autocrats everywhere will be emboldened as much as leaders in democratic states will be discouraged. All who want to turn back the tide of authoritarian rule have a vested interest in seeing to it that the Myanmar junta, led by chief coup-maker Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, loses in the end but in a way that allows the country to maintain a peaceful and workable outcome for its 55 million ethnically diverse population.

From reports coming out of the country, what is taking place on the ground is a post-coup reign of terror. Many Myanmar people have likened the security forces’ brutal suppression, beatings and inhumane treatment to no less than terrorism. Night-time raids, arbitrary arrests and detentions, wanton physical abuses, beating and maiming have become a daily occurrence. The army and police are deliberately decimating what had been a thriving civil society that grew over the past decade when the country opened up with political liberalisation, economic reforms, and gradual development progress after nearly five decades of military dictatorship and pariah status in the world.

The Myanmar military’s systematic perpetration of violence and repression against its own people, who voted overwhelmingly twice in 2015 and 2020 for the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, against the armed forces’ Union Solidary for Development Party. The military’s inability to win the hearts and minds of voters was a major rationale for the coup.

As its political situation degenerates into a dark dictatorship, Myanmar is crowding out and taking up Southeast Asia’s global bandwidth. Asean, the 53-year-old organisation which accepted Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnams as members in the 1990s, is fractured in its response to the coup. More authoritarian members have insisted on taking it in their stride with the “non-interference in internal affairs” principle, whereas the more democratic governments have admonished the junta, urging it to free civilian leaders from detention and return to a democratic process.

Both sides have drawn their positions from the Asean Charter, which stipulates both the “non-interference” clause and democracy and good governance aspirations. Both camps also have a vested interest in Myanmar’s regime type because of divergent interests. Indonesia as the third-largest democracy in the world, for example, is the firmest in calling for Myanmar’s return to democratic rule. In tandem, a more politically open and economically dynamic Asean enables its member states more leverage in international life.

With the second-largest economy in the region, Thailand stands at the other end. It is not advocating “non-interference” like Laos and Cambodia but superficially favours dialogue and reconciliation. Thai leaders have decidedly avoided calling for a return of democracy, the release of political prisoners, and an immediate halt to shootings and beatings by the security forces against unarmed civilians, including women and children.

Myanmar has become the ultimate embarrassment for Asean. The race is to the bottom comes with a competition to be the sickest member of the regional organisation. Different member states have taken turns at this. Cambodia has been dismal with its dissolution of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, a one-party sweep of poll results under the Cambodian People’s Party, and prison terms for major exiled opposition leaders. Cambodia’s is an elected one-party authoritarian regime.

Politically unwell for two decades, Thailand is fundamentally consistent but much more sophisticated, involving a plethora of agencies and mechanisms to control outcomes. After its last coup in 2014, the Thai military arranged for a new constitution to mandate one-third parliamentary control under ruling generals and empowered election and anticorruption agencies and the courts to essentially break up and weaken opposing parties to arrive at a multiparty coalition with military backing under a royalist-conservative status quo, led by the same junta leader.

Myanmar now makes Cambodia and Thailand pale in comparison because it has done away with all pretense of good governance and the rule of law. Because they rose up during the long decades of military dictatorship, Snr Gen Min Aung Hlaing and the junta never saw the need to dress up the military takeover under constitutional clothing and political tampering. The Myanmar junta is all about raw power, naked ambition, self-entitlement, and a willingness to mow down its own people with batons and bullets.

Apart from lowering the authoritarian bar, Myanmar’s coup case also has diverted international attention away from other pressing priorities in the region. When they look at Southeast Asia, leaders in established democracies from Washington and New York to London, Brussels, and Tokyo are likely to be more focused on the Myanmar military’s barbarity against its people rather than Cambodia’s persecution of opposition leaders and Thailand’s crackdown on dissent and youthled protest movement, including the increasing use of the lese majeste law, or Section 112.

Myanmar merits most attention but the political darkness there should be viewed in a regional perspective. The international community should come down hard on the Myanmar junta without taking its eyes off violations and abuses of basic rights and fundamental freedoms elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Attention and appetite for nuance and complexity in a long game are needed.

Just as democratic transitions made headway three decades ago before giving way to an authoritarian upsurge, the reverse can take place as younger demographics rise up and take matters into their hands. With few exceptions, authoritarianism and all degrees of dictatorship are unsuited and unfit for young people’s livelihoods and aspirations. Myanmar’s armed forces might well find this out the hard way.

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Junta hires lobbyist to explain coup

Bangkok Post, March 11.2021

WASHINGTON: An Israeli-Canadian lobbyist hired by Myanmar’s junta will be paid US$2 million (61.5 million baht) to “assist in explaining the real situation” of the army’s coup to the United States and other countries, documents filed with the US Justice Department show.

More than 60 protesters have been killed and 1,900 people have been arrested since Feb 1, when Myanmar’s generals seized power and detained civilian leaders including State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ari Ben-Menashe and his firm, Dickens & Madson Canada, will represent Myanmar’s military government in Washington, as well as lobby Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and Russia, and international bodies like the United Nations, according to a consultancy agreement.

The Montreal-based firm will “assist the devising and execution of policies for the beneficial development of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, and also to assist in explaining the real situation in the Country”, read the agreement, submitted on Monday to the Justice Department and published online.

A spokesman for the Myanmar military government did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.

In a pitch that has been met with widespread scepticism, Mr BenMenashe said he had been tasked with convincing the United States that Myanmar’s generals wanted to move closer to the West and away from China. He said the generals wanted to resettle Rohingya Muslims who fled a 2017 military assault for which the United Nations has accused those same generals of overseeing a genocide.

“It is highly implausible that he could convince the US,” said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.

Tagesschau (German TV), March 09.2021

By Holger Senzel, ARD Studio Singapore

At night, the police's grab squads come and take people out of their homes. During the day, the security forces beat the demonstrators in Myanmar. But they are not intimidated.

The demonstrators in Yangon resemble a turtle formation of Roman legionaries as they train with overlapping shields to fend off a police attack. In case of doubt, however, the homemade protection is of little use. Bullets from sharp weapons easily penetrate the sheet metal. Just yesterday, three people were killed again in northern Myanmar when police fired into protesting crowds. "Happy New Year," shout protesters in sarcastic response to police gunfire.

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Bangkok Post, March 08.2021

Protesters rally after raids

Local leader ‘faced harsh interrogation’

Thousands of Myanmar anti-coup demonstrators defied a continued military crackdown yesterday, following overnight raids in Yangon in which an official from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party was beaten to death and several others were detained.

Myanmar has been in chaos since a Feb 1 coup which ousted civilian leader Ms Suu Kyi from power and triggered a mass uprising opposed to the new military junta.

Wednesday was the deadliest day so far, with the United Nations saying at least 38 people were killed as security forces fired into crowds, shooting some protesters in the head.

The UN rights office also said it has verified at least 54 deaths since the coup — though the actual number could be far higher — and more than 1,700 people have been detained.

National League for Democracy party official Soe Win confirmed some officials were arrested in overnight police operations but the exact number is not known.

At least one community leader connected to the ousted NLD government, 58-year-old Khin Maung Latt, was killed during a raid at Pabedan township in Yangon, Tun Kyi, from the Former Political Prisoners Society, said.

“He was beaten and taken in a raid since last night and it seems he underwent a harsh interrogation,” he told AFP. “The dead body is being taken from Mingaladon military hospital and on the way Yay Way, cemetery.”

NLD MP Sithu Maung posted on Facebook that security forces last night were also searching for the party’s information officer Maung Maung but couldn’t find him.

“Maung Maung’s brother was beaten by police and soldiers and his body was held in an upside-down position while he was tortured because there was no one to arrest,” the MP said.

State-run media yesterday warned ousted lawmakers involved in a group called the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw — which is claiming to be the legitimate elected government — that they are committing “high treason” and could be sentenced to death or 22 years jail.

The junta has declared group members personae non-grata (person not welcome) and says those who communicate with them could face seven years prison.

Rallies fanned out across the country with more than seven separate demonstrations in Yangon and at least five in other cities and regional towns, according to Facebook live feeds.

The only reports of serious injuries were a 19-year-old man shot in the jaw and a woman, 56, hit by a rubber bullet in Bagan, the Unesco World Heritage Site famed for its ancient Buddhist temples.

“One woman was shot with a rubber bullet in her left leg,” a rescue team member told AFP, requesting anonymity.

Security forces opened fire near the ancient city at about 9am local time.

“There was one [19-year-old] man who was shot through the jaw and neck in Bagan,” Ko Ko, a member of the Bagan rescue team, told AFP.

Yangon-based activist Maung Saungkha said coordinated protests across multiple cities and areas were part of a two-day general strike.

“We are willing to die for our country,” he told AFP. “This current situation is worse [than the past regime]. So do we stay under this condition or do we fight? This time we must fight to win.”

A state-run newspaper yesterday warned people not to join the rallies.

“The public should be careful not to get involved in the protests to prevent the future of their children being ruined,” the Global New Light of Myanmar said.

The junta also warned civil servants that if they continued to boycott work, “they will be fired” with immediate effect from today.

In Yangon’s North Okkalapa township, protesting took on a musical flavour yesterday with guitarists, drummers and vocalists singing revolutionary songs at an impromptu concert.

There was also a large turnout in Mandalay — Myanmar’s second biggest city — where security forces used tear gas as demonstrators chanted: “don’t serve the military”.

Scores of monks in saffron robes also staged a sit down protest in the city, with signs saying “we don’t want a military junta”.

That city lost another life on Saturday, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which reported that 21-year-old man had died after being shot in the leg and beaten by forces the previous day.

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Bangkok Post, March 07.2021

YANGON: Myanmar security forces used tear gas and stun grenades to break up a protest in Yangon yesterday, just hours after a United Nations special envoy called on the Security Council to take action against the ruling junta for the killings of protesters.

The Southeast Asian country has been plunged into turmoil since the military overthrew and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb 1, with daily protests and strikes that have choked business and paralysed administration.

Sporadic protests were staged across Myanmar yesterday and local media reported that police fired tear gas shells and stun grenades to break up a protest in the Sanchaung district of Yangon, the country’s biggest city. There were no reports of casualties.

More than 50 protesters have been killed according to the UN — at least 38 on Wednesday alone. Protesters demand the release of Ms Suu Kyi and the respect of November’s election, which her party won in a landslide, but which the army rejected.

“How much more can we allow the Myanmar military to get away with?” Special Envoy Christine Schraner Burgener told a closed meeting of the 15-member UN Security Council on Friday, according to a copy of her remarks seen by Reuters.

“It is critical that this council is resolute and coherent in putting the security forces on notice and standing with the people of Myanmar firmly, in support of the clear November election results.”

A junta spokesman did not answer calls requesting comment.

The army says it has been restrained in stopping the protests, but has said it will not allow them to threaten stability.

Yesterday, in the southern town of Dawei, protesters chanted “Democracy is our cause” and “The revolution must prevail”. Protesters were also gathering in the biggest city, Yangon.

People have taken to the streets in their hundreds of thousands at times, vowing to continue action in a country that spent nearly half a century under military rule until democratic reforms in 2011 that were cut short by the coup.

“Political hope has begun to shine. We can’t lose the momentum of the revolution,” one protest leader, Ei Thinzar Maung, wrote on Facebook. “Those who dare to fight will have victory. We deserve victory.”

At least one man was killed by security forces in protests on Friday.

An official from Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) and his teenage nephew were also stabbed to death by military supporters, local media reported.

The killing of protesters has drawn international outrage.

“Use of violence against the people of Myanmar must stop now,” South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a tweet, calling for the release of Ms Suu Kyi and other detainees and for the restoration of democracy.

The United States and some other Western countries have imposed limited sanctions on the junta and independent UN human rights investigator on Myanmar, Thomas Andrews, has called for a global arms embargo and targeted economic sanctions.

But in an effort to preserve council unity on Myanmar, diplomats said

sanctions were unlikely to be considered anytime soon as such measures would probably be opposed by China and Russia, which have veto powers.

“All parties should exercise utmost calm and restraint,” China’s UN Ambassador Zhang Jun said, according to remarks released after the UN meeting. “We don’t want to see instability, even chaos in Myanmar.”

The army took power over allegations of fraud in last year’s election which had been dismissed by the electoral commission. It has promised to hold a new election at an unspecified date. That plan is rejected by protesters and by a group representing lawmakers elected at the last election that has begun to issue statements in the name of a rival

civilian administration. On Friday, it listed four demands — the end of the junta, the release of the detainees, democracy and the abolition of the 2008 constitution.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political detainees in Myanmar, while the United Nation’s Security Council is reviewing measures to take in response to the military coup in the Southeast Asian country. “We condemn the violent suppression of protests by the military and the police forces, and strongly call for the immediate release of all those detained, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi,” Mr Moon said yesterday.

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BBC, March 07.2021

An official from Aung San Suu Kyi's party has died in custody in Myanmar after being arrested during raids by security forces in Yangon. On Sunday the body of U Khin Maung Latt was released to his family, who were reportedly told that he had died after fainting. Photos show a bloodstained cloth around the 58-year-old's head.

Activists say he was beaten while being detained by police and soldiers, and subjected to a harsh interrogation.

Khin Maung Latt (17 November 1953 – 7 March 2021) was a Burmese politician who as an Amyotha Hluttaw MP for Rakhine State No.2 Constituency. He was a member of Rakhine National Party. He died in police custody on 7 March 2021, after being arrested the previous day, during the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. In the 2010 Myanmar general election, he was elected as an Amyotha Hluttaw MP and elected representative from Rakhine State № 6 parliamentary constituency. He was born on 17 November 1953 in Rakhine State, Burma (Myanmar). His previous jobs were as a journalist and MP in the Amyotha Hluttaw. He was a member of the Rakhine National Party. In the Myanmar general election, 2015, he was elected as an MP in the Amyotha Hluttaw and elected representative from Rakhine State № 3 parliamentary constituency. (Wikipedia)

Die ZEIT, Germany March, 06.2021

The Security Council meeting ended without an agreement on a joint statement.  Diplomats said the panel is unlikely to agree to international action against the junta.  Myanmar's armed forces are condemned almost unanimously, but China, one of the five veto powers in the Security Council, is seen as the main obstacle to consensus.

China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun told journalists that his country did not want any instability in Myanmar.  The "messages and actions of the international community should help the parties in Myanmar overcome differences and solve problems," he said.  According to diplomats, discussions on a joint declaration will continue next week.

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The Straits Times Singapore March 06.2021

Myanmar police kill protester; US sets new sanctions

Latest violence comes ahead of UN Security Council meeting to discuss the growing crisis

• Police in Myanmar yesterday opened fire again on protesters, killing one man, as international condemnation rained down on the junta ahead of a United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss the crisis.

The violence, triggered by last month’s coup, took place as the military lost a tussle over leadership of its UN mission in New York, and the United States announced new sanctions targeting military conglomerates after the deaths of dozens of civilian protesters.

Activists demanding the restoration of the elected government of veteran democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi held more protests i n several towns and cities, with a crowd of thousands marching peacefully through the second city of Mandalay.

“The Stone Age is over, we’re not scared because you threaten us,” the crowd chanted.

Police opened fire and one man was killed, witnesses and a doctor told Reuters by telephone.

In the main city of Yangon, police fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse protesters, including about 100 doctors in white coats, witnesses said.

Crowds also gathered i n the town of Pathein, to the west of Yangon, and i n central Myingyan, where dozens of women in straw hats held up signs calling for Ms Suu Kyi’s release, witnesses said.

On Thursday, police broke up rallies with tear gas and gunfire in several cities but their crackdown was more restrained than on Wednesday, when the UN said 38 people were killed in the bloodiest day of protests.

In all, at least 55 people have been killed since the Feb 1 coup.

A spokesman for the ruling military council did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said some Red Cross volunteers had been injured and wrongfully arrested and Red Cross ambulances had been damaged.

“We express profound sadness that Myanmar Red Cross volunteers have been injured while on duty providing life-saving first aid treatment to wounded people, in line with fundamental principles of humanity, neutrality and impartiality. Red Cross volunteers should never be targeted,” Mr Alexander Matheou, the IFRC’s Asia-Pacific regional director, said in a statement.

The military seized power on

Feb 1, saying the landslide victory of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy in last November’s election was fraudulent. The electoral commission has said the ballot was fair.

The junta has promised to hold new polls at an unspecified date, but activists have rejected that and demand the release of Ms Suu Kyi, who has been held in detention since the coup.

Condemnation of the coup and subsequent violence has come largely from the West, with Myanmar’s Asian neighbours, including India, mostly more restrained. The junta can count on some support from Russia and China – a major investor – at the United Nations.

Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan yesterday called it “the height of national shame for the armed forces of any country to turn its arms against its own people”.

The UN human rights investigator on Myanmar, Mr Thomas Andrews, has urged the Security Council – which was to discuss the situation yesterday – to impose a global arms embargo and targeted economic sanctions on the junta.

The US has told China, which has declined to condemn the coup, that it expects it to play a constructive role. China has said stability is a top priority.

A civil disobedience campaign of strikes running parallel with the protests has been supported by many government workers, including a trickle of policemen. Nineteen policemen crossed into India earlier this week, fearing persecution for disobeying orders, Indian police told Reuters.

More than 10 Myanmar diplomats in foreign missions have also declared their support for the prodemocracy campaign, the Irrawaddy news outlet reported.

Meanwhile, in Washington, it was unclear whether Myanmar’s embassy was still representing the junta.

And in New York, a clash over who represents Myanmar at the UN was averted after the junta’s replacement quit and the Myanmar UN mission confirmed that Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun remained in the job. The diplomat was fired by the junta last Saturday after he urged countries at the UN General Assembly to use “any means necessary” to reverse the coup.

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The Straits Times Singapore March 05.2021

Myanmar police break up protests again

Activists undeterred by rising death toll in violent crackdown by security forces

Singapore is setting out towards a sustainable future as it recovers from Covid-19, with seven ministers detailing the country’s green plans in Parliament yesterday. They announced sweeping new measures that will change the way people live, learn and play – building on the Singapore Green Plan 2030 framework.

The Singapore Government yesterday advised its citizens in Myanmar to consider leaving the protest-riven country as soon as they can.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) also asked Singaporeans to avoid travelling to Myanmar, where civilians protesting against the Feb 1 military coup have clashed with security forces across the country.

There are at least 500 Singaporeans living in Myanmar who have registered with MFA, and some have taken the ministry’s advice to return home.

Student Ethan Swee, 17, returned to Singapore two weeks ago with his mother and younger brother. “The violence was getting more serious, so it was for our safety,” he said, adding that his father is still working in Yangon, and the family worries about him.

Mr Kenneth Lim, 58, a senior executive of a real estate development firm who has lived in Yangon for almost four years, has decided to stay on for now.

He checks in daily with his family in Singapore. He leaves his apartment only to buy groceries, and does not go out after 6pm. “There is an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. We never know what will happen tomorrow,” he said.

Protesters yesterday were again met with tear gas and gunfire in cities and towns nationwide.

The United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said that at least 54 people have been killed by Myanmar police and military officers since the coup, but the actual death toll could be much higher.

“Myanmar’s military must stop murdering and jailing protesters,” she said.

More than 1,700 people have been arbitrarily detained and the arrests were escalating, with 29 journalists arrested in recent days, she said.

MFA said in its statement: “In view of the rapidly escalating clashes between protesters and the Myanmar security forces and increasing number of civilian casualties in Myanmar, Singaporeans are strongly advised to defer all travel to Myanmar at this time.”

It added: “Singaporeans currently in Myanmar should also consider leaving as soon as they can by commercial means while it is still possible to do so.”

The ministry said Singaporeans who choose to remain in Myanmar are strongly advised to remain indoors as far as possible and avoid unnecessary travel.

Singaporeans in Myanmar are urged to e-register on the MFA website to enable the ministry and the Singapore Embassy in Yangon to stay in touch with them and render consular assistance in case of emergencies.

YANGON • Police in Myanmar yesterday broke up demonstrations in several places with tear gas and gunfire as protesters took to the streets again, undeterred by the rising death toll in a crackdown on opponents of last month’s military coup.

The incidents followed the bloodiest day so far since the military overthrew the elected government of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb 1, with the United Nations special envoy saying 38 people had been killed on Wednesday.

Activists said they refused to accept military rule and were determined to press for the release of the detained Ms Suu Kyi and recognition of her victory in last November’s election.

“We know that we can always get shot and killed with live bullets but there is no meaning to staying alive under the junta,” activist Maung Saungkha told Reuters.

Police opened fire and used tear gas to break up protests in Yangon and the central town of Monywa, witnesses said. Police also fired in the town of Pathein, to the west of Yangon, and used tear gas in the eastern town of Taunggyi, media reported.

In the main city of Yangon, crowds of protesters assembled again to chant slogans and sing. Big crowds also gathered peacefully for rallies elsewhere, including the second-largest city of Mandalay and in the historic temple town of Bagan, where hundreds marched carrying pictures of Ms Suu Kyi and a banner saying: “Free our leader”, witnesses said.

UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on the security forces to halt what she called their “vicious crackdown on peaceful protesters”.

At least 54 people have been killed but the actual toll could be much higher, she said. More than 1,700 people have been arrested, including 29 journalists. Those arrested include parliamentarians, political and rights activists, election officials, teachers, healthcare workers and monks, the UN rights office said in a statement.

“Myanmar’s military must stop murdering and jailing protesters,” Ms Bachelet said in the statement.

Earlier yesterday, five warplanes made several low passes in formation over Mandalay, residents said, in what appeared to be a show of military might.

On Wednesday, police and soldiers opened fire with live rounds with little warning in several cities and towns, witnesses said.

“Myanmar’s security forces now seem intent on breaking the back of the anti-coup movement through wanton violence and sheer brutality,” said Mr Richard Weir, a researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The group also mentioned an incident caught on camera-phone, with footage showing a man in police custody who appeared to have been shot in the back.

UN special envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener on Wednesday said she had warned Myanmar’s deputy military chief Soe Win that the army was likely to face strong measures from some countries and isolation in retaliation for the coup.

“The answer was: ‘We are used to sanctions, and we survived’,” she told reporters in New York. “When I also warned that they will go (into) isolation, the answer was: ‘We have to learn to walk with only few friends’.”

The UN Security Council is due to discuss the situation today in a closed meeting, diplomats said.

The United States has told China it expects it to play a constructive role, it said. China has declined to condemn the coup which its state media called a “major Cabinet reshuffle”.

Meanwhile, at least 19 Myanmar police officers have crossed into India to escape taking orders from the junta that is trying to suppress protests against the coup, an Indian police official said yesterday.

The men crossed into Champhai and Serchhip, two districts in the north-eastern state of Mizoram that share a porous border with Myanmar, the official said, declining to be named. All the men, who are lower-ranking policemen, were unarmed, the official said. “We are expecting more to come,” he added, citing intelligence reports.

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