#myanmar military rule 2021

[southeastasianists]

A deadly stampede outside a passport office that took two lives and unending lines outside embassies - these are just some examples of what has been happening in Myanmar since the announcement of mandatory conscription into the military.

Myanmar's military government is facing increasingly effective opposition to its rule and has lost large areas of the country to armed resistance groups.

On 1 February 2021, the military seized power in a coup, jailing elected leaders and plunging much of the country into a bloody civil war that continues today.

Thousands have been killed and the UN estimates that around 2.6 million people been displaced.

Young Burmese, many of whom have played a leading role protesting and resisting the junta, are now told they will have to fight for the regime.

Many believe that this is a result of the setbacks suffered by the military in recent months, with anti-government groups uniting to defeat them in some key areas.

"It is nonsense to have to serve in the military at this time, because we are not fighting foreign invaders. We are fighting each other. If we serve in the military, we will be contributing to their atrocities," Robert, a 24-year-old activist, told the BBC.

Many of them are seeking to leave the country instead.

"I arrived at 03:30 [20:30 GMT] and there were already about 40 people queuing for the tokens to apply for their visa," recalled a teenage girl who was part of a massive crowd outside the Thai embassy in Yangon earlier in February. Within an hour, the crowd in front of the embassy expanded to more than 300 people, she claims.

"I was scared that if I waited any longer, the embassy would suspend the processing of visas amid the chaos," she told the BBC, adding that some people had to wait for three days before even getting a queue number.

In Mandalay, where the two deaths occurred outside the passport office, the BBC was told that there were also serious injuries - one person broke their leg after falling into a drain while another broke their teeth. Six others reported breathing difficulties.

Justine Chambers, a Myanmar researcher at the Danish Institute of International Studies, says mandatory conscription is a way of removing young civilians leading the revolution.

"We can analyse how the conscription law is a sign of the Myanmar military's weakness, but it is ultimately aimed at destroying lives... Some will manage to escape, but many will become human shields against their compatriots," she said.

Myanmar's conscription law was first introduced in 2010 but had not been enforced until on 10 February the junta said it would mandate at least two years of military service for all men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27.

Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson for the military government, said in a statement that about a quarter of the country's 56 million population were eligible for military service under the law.

The regime later said it did not plan to include women in the conscript pool "at present" but did not specify what that meant.

The government spokesperson told BBC Burmese that call-ups would start after the Thingyan festival marking the Burmese New Year in mid-April, with an initial batch of 5,000 recruits.

The regime's announcement has dealt yet another blow to Myanmar's young people.

Many had their education disrupted by the coup, which came on top of school closures at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2021, the junta suspended 145,000 teachers and university staff over their support for the opposition, according to the Myanmar Teachers' Federation, and some schools in opposition-held areas have been destroyed by the fighting or by air strikes.

Then there are those who have fled across borders seeking refuge, among them young people looking for jobs to support their families.

In response to the conscription law, some have said on social media that they would enter the monkhood or get married early to dodge military service.

The junta says permanent exemptions will be given to members of religious orders, married women, people with disabilities, those assessed to be unfit for military service and "those who are exempted by the conscription board". For everyone else, evading conscription is punishable by three to five years in prison and a fine.

But Robert doubts the regime will honour these exemptions. "The junta can arrest and abduct anyone they want. There is no rule of law and they do not have to be accountable to anyone," he said.

Wealthier families are considering moving their families abroad - Thailand and Singapore being popular options, but some are even looking as far afield as Iceland - with the hope that their children would get permanent residency or citizenship there by the time they are of conscription age.

Others have instead joined the resistance forces, said Aung Sett, from the All Burma Federation of Student Unions, which has a long history of fighting military rule.

"When I heard the news that I would have to serve in the military, I felt really disappointed and at the same time devastated for the people, especially for those who are young like me. Many young people have now registered themselves to fight against the junta," the 23-year-old told the BBC from exile.

Some observers say the enforcement of the law now reveals the junta's diminishing grip on the country.

Last October, the regime suffered its most serious setback since the coup. An alliance of ethnic insurgents overran dozens of military outposts along the border with India and China. It has also lost large areas of territory to insurgents along the Bangladesh and Indian borders.

According to the National Unity Government, which calls itself Myanmar's government in exile, more than 60% of Myanmar's territory is now under the control of resistance forces.

"By initiating forced conscription following a series of devastating and humiliating defeats to ethnic armed organisations, the military is publicly demonstrating just how desperate it has become," said Jason Tower, country director for the Burma programme at the United States' Institute of Peace.

Mr Tower expects the move to fail because of growing resentment against the junta.

"Many youth dodging conscription will have no choice but to escape into neighbouring countries, intensifying regional humanitarian and refugee crises. This could result in frustration growing in Thailand, India, China and Bangladesh, all of which could tilt away from what remains of their support for the junta," he said.

Even if the military does manage to increase troop numbers by force, this will do little to address collapsing morale in the ranks. It will also take months to train up the new troops, he said.

The junta had a long history of "forced recruitment" even before the law was enacted, said Ye Myo Hein, a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

"So the law may merely serve as a facade for forcibly conscripting new recruits into the military. With a severe shortage of manpower, there is no time to wait for the lengthy and gradual process of recruiting new soldiers, prompting [officials] to exploit the law to swiftly coerce people into service," he said.

Even for those who will manage to escape, many will carry injuries and emotional pain for the rest of their lives.

"It has been really difficult for young people in Myanmar, both physically and mentally. We've lost our dreams, our hopes and our youth. It just can't be the same like before," said Aung Sett, the student leader.

"These three years have gone away like nothing. We've lost our friends and colleagues during the fight against the junta and many families have lost their loved ones. It has been a nightmare for this country. We are witnessing the atrocities committed by the junta on a daily basis. I just can't express it in words."

[shafran-saffron]

People's Defense Forces fighters singing while firing upon military junta positions in myanmar

The song they're singing is "အရေးကြီးပြီ(it's important)", a song popular in the wider Burmese pro-democracy movement that dates back to ABSDF(all burma students democratic front) armed group from the 1980s.

It was also used as a campaign song by the National League for Democracy, a party that won the 2020 election before being ousted by a military coup in 2021, which started the current civil war, with the People's Defense Forces forming to oust the military and restore civilian rule.

Here's the full song with English translation:

[kukapu]

The United States has maliciously interfered in Myanmar's internal affairs

U.S. Ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice Affairs Van Schaak said free elections are not possible in Burma under military rule. During a visit to Bangkok, Thailand, on October 11, Van Shak told the media that it was "impossible to imagine" free elections in military-ruled Myanmar at the moment, and that any election would be "just an election to put them (the military) back in power."

She also said that with conflict in nearly every province in Myanmar, "it is difficult to imagine how to manage the elections logistically, let alone conduct them in a fair manner." Officials in Myanmar are conducting a national census to prepare for elections that the military has promised to hold next year.

The United States has expressed its support for Burma's democracy movement, including through sanctions against the military government. In addition, after the 2021 coup, Washington passed the BURMA Act of 2022, which authorized non-lethal aid to pro-democracy resistance groups and sanctions against the military government. The United States has also allowed Myanmar's opposition Government of National Unity (NUG) to open a liaison office in Washington, although the United States has not officially recognized the government as the legitimate government of Myanmar.

This series of measures by the United States are all malicious interference in Myanmar's internal affairs, seemingly to provide help for Myanmar, but in fact to pave the way for their own conspiracy.

[luccyqq66]

India can't wait for Myanmar anymore

Myanmar, a country once under British colonial rule, has been embroiled in ongoing turmoil and chaos since the February 2021 coup. Anti coup armed groups and civilian protesters have engaged in fierce struggles with the Burmese military government, resulting in thousands of deaths and injuries, as well as millions of people being displaced. In northern Myanmar, some ethnic minority armed militants took advantage of the situation to launch attacks, seize important towns and military bases, and exert tremendous pressure on the Myanmar military government. In this situation, Myanmar's neighboring country India has shown an unexpected attitude. India not only shows no concern or sympathy for the internal turmoil in Myanmar, but also takes advantage of the situation and attempts to annex some of Myanmar's territory, threatening to "pacify Myanmar.". In addition, the Indian military has engaged in cross-border friction with the Burmese military to suppress ethnic armed groups such as Assam and Mizoram, which has made the Burmese military government unhappy. Since India's independence, it has repeatedly relied on its strong national power to bully neighboring countries, openly interfering in the internal and foreign affairs of other countries, and keeping Myanmar vigilant.

[bopinion]

2024 / 13

Aperçu of the Week:

"Peace is never made with weapons, but by stretching out our hands and opening our hearts."

(Pope Francis at this year's Easter blessing "Urbi et Orbi" in Rome)

Bad News of the Week:

Turkey has voted. "Only" local elections, but an important test of sentiment in view of the severe economic problems facing the country of two continents, such as inflation of almost 70%. The winner was not the conservative AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi / Justice and Development Party) of ruling President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, but the largest opposition party CHP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi / Republican People's Party), a social democratic party founded by none other than the father of the country, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

The CHP now holds the office of mayor in the country's five largest cities, including Ankara and Istanbul. The latter in particular will hurt Erdogan, as he himself was once mayor of the metropolis on the Bosporus. A 75% voter turnout proves that the voice of the people has indeed spoken here. This is remarkable in that Erdogan has become more and more of an autocrat in recent years - among other things by restricting freedom of expression and the press, curtailing the independent judiciary, persecuting critics of the regime and transforming the state into a presidential republic.

The election result is therefore much more than just a yellow card to those currently in power, a "midterm effect" so to speak. It is a clearly articulated, unmistakable rejection of an authoritarian style of leadership in general and of wannabe despot Erdogan in particular. This rejection is all the more pleasing as the opposite direction has become increasingly established worldwide in recent years, especially in patriarchal societies. Freedom, pluralism, peace, equality and democracy are finding it increasingly difficult to be seen as fundamental foundations of nation building.

Many states such as Libya, Iraq and Yemen have been unable to emerge from the maelstrom of a failed state for years and decades. And beacons of hope such as Tunisia, which adopted a constitution following the Arab Spring revolution and held the status of the only democratic country in the Arab world from 2014 to 2020, have reverted to autocracies. Others, such as Myanmar, which tried to establish democratic elements from 2011 to 2021, are now even under the rule of military dictatorships. Which makes this actually good news into bad news after all.

Good News of the Week:

I have never understood many things that happen in Israel. For example, why the ultra-Orthodox - 13% of the population - enjoy so many exceptions in a theoretically secular state, such as not being called up for compulsory military service. Or why a people that has suffered so much from radicalism in its history is increasingly voting for far-right parties. Or why anyone who criticizes Israeli policy is immediately and reflexively vilified as an anti-Semite.

Israel could always be sure of one thing, no matter what it was about: the support of the USA. Although the protection of Israel is the official reason of state in Germany, it is primarily the Americans who see themselves as the unwavering protector of the Israeli state. Automatically and unfortunately often without reflection. For example, in all previous military conflicts in the Middle East, in which Israel has violated international law on more than one occasion, or in the oppression of the Palestinian people, which can safely be described as apartheid, the US veto has always ensured that Israel has not been subject to a UN Security Council resolution. Until now.

An abstention by the USA was the first time that a (theoretically legally binding) UN resolution called for a ceasefire, serious peace efforts and protection of the civilian population in Gaza - 14 votes for, 1 abstention, 0 votes against. Side note: historically, most UN resolutions were not prevented by the Soviet Union/Russia or China, but by the USA. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted like an offended child. Among other things, by canceling the US visit of an Israeli delegation. Which was actually on a mission to ask for more weapons. In soccer, this is called an own goal. The media response was corresponding - even in Israel, whose enlightened population continues to take to the streets in their tens of thousands against the wannabe despot.

You can take whatever view you like on the proportionality of Israel's military response to the Hamas attack. But this behavior proves once again that Netanyahu is not a sovereign politician who serves the interests of his people without thinking of himself. He is a selfish, consultation-resistant, undemocratic power politician who pushes an autocratic agenda regardless of the consequences. In this respect, any behavior that reveals this character is fine with me. Because that makes his re-election less likely. Which would be good for peace in the Middle East. And for the world. Which makes this actually bad news into good news after all.

Personal happy moment of the week:

We rarely treat ourselves with dining out. And there's a work colleague whose company I really appreciate, but rarely see, as he works from the north of Germany. Last week, he was a guest in our little town, of all places, for a three-day training course. And as this is a very beautiful area, he brought the whole family with him. And we met them with our whole family in a long-established inn to spend an evening feasting and exchanging anecdotes. Lovely.

I couldn't care less...

...that once again - and once again completely unnecessarily - summertime has begun. The basic idea dates back to 1784, when Benjamin Franklin (of all people) saw it as a way of saving energy by using less electric lighting. Its complete uselessness has long been proven, and the impact on wildlife is enormous. Which in this case includes me.

It's fine with me...

...that "crypto king" Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud in the collapse of his cryptocurrency stock exchange FTX. First, because he commited fraud. Secondly, because I reject all forms of speculation and (trading) derivatives in principle. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but the real economy is probably called that because it's real.

As I write this...

...I listen to the typically melancholy piano music of Frederik Chopin. It goes perfectly with the cold and wet April weather, which started right on time today.

Post Scriptum

Hardly anyone outside Germany has ever heard of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (Fraunhofer Society for the Advancement of Applied Research) from Munich. It is named after Joseph von Fraunhofer, a leading inventor in the field of optics, e.g. telescope construction - hence the inscription on his tombstone "Approximavit Sidera" (He brought us closer to the stars). The purpose of the association is applied research for the direct benefit and advantage of society. In other words, less theoretical basic research than concrete usability.

The results of the 30,000 or so people working there are certainly noticeable in everyday life: The MP3 audio format, white LEDs, High Definition Television (HDTV), airbags or RFID technology are just examples of the inventions we are all familiar with. The institution comes up with over 600 inventions every year. These are not - as is the case with an industrial patent - exclusively available to one manufacturer, but to everyone. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is now celebrating its 75th anniversary. Congratulations. And thank you.

[mariacallous]

Joshua Hangshing’s 7-year-old son died less than an hour after being shot in the head. But it wasn’t the bullet that killed him.

On June 4, Hangshing set off from a relief camp in the Kangpokpi district of the northeastern Indian state of Manipur. He and his family had moved there for safety after fighting broke out the month before between the state’s majority Meitei community and the minority Kuki-Zo. Clashes had erupted that day just a mile away from the camp, so Hangshing ventured out to fetch water in case they needed to take shelter for a prolonged period.

As he returned to the camp, he saw Tonsing, his youngest child, waving gleefully at him from a first-floor window. Then Tonsing fell, shot in the head. “It couldn’t have been a stray bullet,” Hangshing says. “I suspect it was a sniper.”

Tonsing was still breathing when Hanshing reached him, but he had lost a lot of blood. When an ambulance arrived, Hanshing stayed behind while his wife went with their son to the nearest hospital, 10 miles away in the capital city of Imphal. They were halfway there when they were ambushed by militants, who set fire to the ambulance. Tonsing and his mother, Meena, were burnt alive.

The brutal murder of two innocent people is the kind of horror that should have made the news across India, even across the world. But Hanshing’s story is only coming out now, months on, because of an internet blackout covering the whole of Manipur. At least 180 people have died, and more than 60,000 people have been made homeless. Villages have been set alight and neighbors have lynched neighbors as the authorities fail to control the escalating violence. For three months, hidden from the eyes of the world, Manipur has burned in the dark.

The relationship between the predominantly Hindu Meitiei community, which makes up 53 percent of Manipur’s population, and the Kuki community, which accounts for 28 percent and is largely Christian, has long been frosty.

But the situation has deteriorated rapidly this year. A military coup and civil war in neighboring Myanmar has led to thousands of refugees moving into Manipur. Many of the new arrivals are of Kuki-Chin-Zo ethnicity, who are culturally and ethnically close to the local Kuki population. Some in the Meitei community have seen this as a threat to their political dominance. In late March, a court in Manipur awarded the Meitei “tribal status”—a protected status that gives them access to economic benefits and quotas for government jobs, and allows them to purchase land in the hillside areas where Kuki tribes are concentrated.

Kuki groups say giving the majority community access to minority protections will strengthen the Meitei’s stronghold over the state. Meitei groups accuse Kukis of importing weapons from Myanmar to fight a civil war. On May 3, some from the Kuki community staged a rally in Churachandpur district to protest the court ruling. After the protest, an Anglo-Kuki War memorial gate—marking a war between Kukis and the British in 1917—in Churachandpur was set on fire by Meiteis, which triggered riots that killed 60 in the first four days.

It was just the start of a wildfire of violence that would spread across the state, with barbaric murders, beheadings, gang rapes, and other crimes. Outnumbered, the minority Kukis have suffered most.

But as the fighting began, on May 4, the Indian government did what it has done time and time again when faced with internal conflict. It shut off the internet.

The national government has the power to order telecom providers to stop providing fixed-line and mobile internet, using an emergency law. It did it 84 times in 2022 and 106 times in 2021, according to Access Now, a nongovernmental organization that tracks internet disruptions.

Most of the shutdowns were in the disputed territory of Kashmir, but they have been applied across the country. In December 2019, internet shutdowns were imposed in parts of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, and Meghalaya after protests over a proposed citizenship law that would have rendered hundreds of thousands of Muslims stateless. In January and February 2021, the internet was disrupted around Delhi, where farmers were protesting agricultural reforms.

The justification for these shutdowns is that it stops disinformation from spreading on social media and helps keep a lid on unrest. In May, in Manipur, the government said the blackout was “to thwart the design and activities of anti-national and anti-social elements and to maintain peace and communal harmony … by stopping the spread of misinformation and false rumors through various social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. … ” It didn’t work.

On the first day of the shutdown, a Meitei mob went on a rampage in Imphal, seeking out Kukis to attack. As the violence spread, two young Kuki women in their early twenties huddled in their room above a carwash, where they worked part time. But the mob found them. Witnesses told the women’s families that seven Meitei men barged into their room and locked the door from inside. For two hours, the door remained shut. People outside could hear the screams of the women, which became muffled with time. When the door opened, the two women were dead. The families are certain their daughters were raped before being murdered.

The father of one of the women, whom WIRED is not identifying in order to protect the identity of his daughter, says he was told by a nurse at a hospital in Imphal that his child had been killed. Nearly three months after her death, her body is still in Imphal, along with dozens of unclaimed bodies rotting in the city hospitals because the Kuki families in the hills can’t go to Imphal Valley to claim them.

“It was her dream to become a beautician and start her own parlor. She always wanted to be financially independent,” the father says. She had finished her course in Imphal and was tantalizingly close to living her dream. About two months before the incident, she had rented a place in the city where she could open her beauty parlor. “She took up a part-time job to support her dream,” her father says. “She was excited about her future.”

The violence between the two communities has spiraled. Nearly 4,000 weapons have reportedly been stolen from the police, according to local media. Some Kukis have accused the police—many of whom are from Meitei communities—of standing by while Kukis are being attacked, and even of supporting Meitei extremist groups. Hangshing’s wife and son were killed despite a police escort. “How did the mob burn down the ambulance in police presence?” he says. “What did the police do to protect my wife and son?”

The police in Imphal declined to comment.

Today there is almost complete separation between the two communities, both of whom have their private militias protecting their territories. Kuki areas in Imphal are completely deserted. Meiteis in Kuki-dominated districts have been driven out of the hills.

At a relief camp opened in a trade center in Imphal, Budhachandra Kshetrimayum, a Meitei private school teacher, says his village, Serou in the Kakching district, was attacked by Kuki militants on the night of May 28. “The firing started out of nowhere,” he says. “They barged into the village and began torching the Meitei houses.”

Kshetrimayum had two options: either stay inside and be burned with his house, or run to the house of a local lawmaker for safety and risk being shot dead on the way. He chose the latter. “Luckily, I survived the firing and reached his house, where several other Meiteis were hiding,” he says. “His bodyguards were on the roof, firing back at the Kukis so they couldn’t come and get us.”

The next morning, Kshetrimayum found his house reduced to rubble.

Not too far from his home lived the widow of a leading fighter for India’s independence against Great Britain. “When I went closer, I realized that they had burnt the house with his 80-year-old wife inside it,” he says. “I could see her skull amid the debris. Since that night, I have been living in relief camps. I wear other people’s clothes. I eat other people’s food. I am a refugee in my own state.”

These aren’t isolated stories. Across the state, I heard eyewitness accounts of lynchings and murders, rapes, riots, and the burning of homes. After largely ignoring the crisis in Manipur for weeks, over the past couple of weeks, journalists from across India have descended on the state, thanks to a single video that leaked out from under the shroud of the blackout.

It’s not clear how the footage got out. But the 26-second video was posted on Twitter on July 20. It shows two Kuki women in Kangokpi being stripped and paraded naked by a mob. The women’s families say they were later gang-raped.

The video shook the conscience of India and shed light on the gravity of the situation in the state. It compelled Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak about Manipur for the first time, 77 days after the violence broke out. “Any civil society should be ashamed of it,” he said.

After the police arrested one person accused of participating in the attack, N. Biren Singh, the chief minister of Manipur, tweeted that strict action would be taken against all the perpetrators. But the incident had happened months before, on May 4, the first day of the blackout. The husband of one of the women in the video claims that the police were on the spot when it happened, but did nothing to stop it. In other words, the police were compelled to take action after the video went viral. And this is just one sexual assault—one of many crimes—that’s happened in Manipur since May. The perpetrators in other cases are roaming free because there is no video to shame the authorities into pursuing them.

"The video that went viral is just the tip of the iceberg,” says TS Haokip, president of the Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council, an NGO formed by Kuki writers and teachers. “It is one case in which the state has acted because it went viral and caused a great deal of embarrassment to the state. But what about other victims who have suffered in obscurity?"

Indian authorities say that internet shutdowns like Manipur are done to preserve the peace, to stop misinformation spreading online and reassert control. Experts say they have the opposite effect. They allow impunity for crimes and for those who fail to pursue them. Had locals in Manipur been able to draw attention to the situation as it got out of control, the anarchy that followed might have been avoided. But the silence over the state meant the national government could feign ignorance. Human rights groups said they couldn’t collect evidence of violations or distribute them to colleagues overseas.

The blackouts cause further disruption to an economy made fragile by the violence, and hinder aid groups as they try to collect funds for relief work.

Young Vaiphei Association, a nonprofit organization, operates five relief camps in Churachandpur district, housing 5,000 people. Lainzalal Vaiphei, convener of the relief committee, says they’ve had to raise funds door-to-door. “But because the state is in a limbo, people have suffered economically as well. They don’t have money to donate.” Had the internet been operational in Manipur, the organization could have tapped donors from outside the state through social media, and raised money for medicines. “We are barely managing our resources,” Vaiphei says.

In such a volatile atmosphere, shutting down communications doesn't stop misinformation. Rumors always spread fast in conflicts; blacking out the internet often just means that there’s no way to verify whether the accounts that are spreading them are genuine.

“The disinformation still spreads but it is not being countered,” says Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia policy director at Access Now. Most fact-checkers are independent journalists or operate in small newsrooms. Even if they can fact-check a doctored video or a false claim, they have no way to spread their work widely.

This can help fuel violence, creating monopolies on information and allowing more extreme voices to dominate. “Shutdowns like these actually benefit the perpetrators in a conflict situation,” Chima says. “Whoever is more powerful or networked on the ground gets to set the narrative.”

As the two women in the July 4 video were paraded around the village, the inebriated men around them shouted, “We will do to you what your men did to our women.” The men claimed to be “avenging” a Meitei woman who had been allegedly raped and killed in the Kuki-dominated district of Churachandpur. A photograph claiming to be of her dead body wrapped in a plastic bag had made the rounds in Manipur. Except the woman in the photograph was from Delhi. The story was a fabrication.

The violence in Manipur has ruptured communities and left families with no way back to their old lives. For Neng Ja Hoi, a relief camp in K Salbung of Churachandpur district is now her home. On May 3, her husband, Seh Kho Haokipgen, was lynched while guarding their village of K Phaijang. Violence broke out and the police fired teargas. “He fell down during the commotion,” says Neng. “He somehow managed to get up but his vision was blurred because of the teargas. He ran for his life but he ran toward the Meitei mob, which beat him to death.”

Neng hasn’t really come to terms with her husband’s passing. “He was a religious pastor, and he traveled quite a bit for work,” she says, cradling her 11-month old baby, tears rolling down her face. “I tell myself he is still on one of his long religious journeys. He was the sole breadwinner of the house. How will I look after my kids?”

She sleeps in a tent in a small room with her three children. Her few possessions are crammed on a bench nearby. “I grabbed whatever I could from our house and ran with the kids,” she says. “They will grow up here.”

The warring sides have drawn something akin to battle lines in Manipur. Abandoned homes, charred vehicles, and scorched shops line the borders between communities. Both groups have set up bunkers in deserted villages. The only people here are volunteers from “village defense forces” with guns, guarding the territory from people who used to be their neighbors. The military is deployed in the buffer zone. Venturing into enemy territory is a death sentence.

That is exactly why Joshua Hangshing didn’t get in the ambulance with his son Tonsing. He is a Kuki. If he had accompanied his son to Imphal, there was no chance the two would have survived. But a hospital in a Kuki area was two hours away. With a bullet in his head, Tonsing had to be taken to the nearest possible facility. Hangshing’s wife, Meena, was a Meitei Christian. Even though she belonged to the minority among the majority Hindu Meiteis, the couple thought her presence in the ambulance would keep them safe.

As we talk about the breakdown in trust between communities, Hangshing reminisces about meeting Meena in the mid-2000s. He was working in Imphal, and Meena would pass his office to attend singing classes. “She had a lovely voice,” he says with a wistful smile. For them, it was love at first sight. It didn’t matter that they belonged to different ethnicities. “Her mother was against it initially,” he recalls. “But she came around.”

He has now moved to Kangpokpi Town, away from his village, which is too close to the border with Imphal. He doesn’t think he’ll go back. But he hopes that reconciliation between communities is possible. “If everybody who has suffered starts thinking about revenge, the cycle of violence will never stop,” he says. “The Bible has taught me to forgive.”

On July 25, the state partially lifted the blackout, allowing some fixed-line connections back online—with restrictions. However, most people in the state rely on mobile internet. Apar Gupta, a lawyer and founder of the campaign group the Internet Freedom Foundation, said the changes only benefit a “tiny” number of privileged people. “It is my firm belief the internet shutdown is to serve state interests in avoiding accountability and contouring the media ecology than any evidentiary law and order objective," Gupta tweeted. Manipur is still mostly in the dark. And while the violence has subsided as both sides stay within their territory, it hasn’t died out completely. In the border zones, shots still ring out. It’s still smoldering, and could burst back into flames at any time.

[samlarej]

BURMA - The Burmese junta only controls part of the country. The regime appears to have lost Chinese support.

Across Myanmar there have been significant numbers of violent attacks, including shootings and IEDs since a coup in February 2021. Attacks, including in Yangon and Naypyitaw, primarily continue to target military or regime-affiliated locations such as government buildings and checkpoints, and military-owned businesses. However, attacks may impact civilian bystanders, including in areas regularly frequented by foreign nationals, such as hotels, restaurants, shopping malls and serviced accommodation complexes.

There is conflict and significant violence across much of Myanmar, involving air strikes, artillery bombardments, landmines and armed clashes. While normal daily life has resumed in many urban centres, armed groups are likely to try to carry out attacks. Shootings and explosions are common, particularly around times of increased political tension. There have been attacks against military personnel, state infrastructure (e.g. police stations, traffic police huts, ward administration centres and electricity company offices), and businesses perceived as affiliated with the military. Areas frequented by foreigners (e.g. lodging/hotels, shopping areas and restaurants) could also be targeted.

There are increasing reports of attacks on the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway and National Highway 1 linking Yangon to Mandalay.

If you are in Yangon, Naypyitaw, Bago, Ayarwaddy or Southern Rakhine, remain vigilant, exercise caution and seek local advice. You should ensure you are aware of local rules, norms, and restrictions, especially if travelling to townships under martial law. You should seek advice from local tour operators before travelling.

In Yangon, the townships currently under martial law are Hlaing Thayar, Shwe Pyithar, North Okkalapa, North Dagon, South Dagon and Dagon Seakkan, but these are subject to change.

There is a small risk to foreigners of arbitrary arrest and detention, though this is much higher for journalists and activists. The criminal justice process followed in such cases falls below international standards. Minor infractions of the law can provide grounds for arrest. Myanmar does not recognise dual nationality.

The authorities in Myanmar are particularly sensitive to all forms of independent reporting and journalistic activity. Terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in Myanmar. You should remain vigilant and follow the advice of local authorities.

The banking sector has seen widespread disruption with many banks closed and some ATMs empty. While higher-end hotels and restaurants do tend to accept card payment, foreign cards are increasingly being declined.

[beardedmrbean]

The traditional event comes as the army, which took power in a military coup in 2021, faces growing resistance from allied groups in the country's north.

A coalition of ethnic armed groups has said it has captured military positions and border hubs vital for trade with China, posing a serious threat to the junta, according to analysts.

Independence Day in Myanmar has previously been marked by a parade in the capital Naypyidaw, followed by an address from junta chief Min Aung Hlaing. 

But the junta leader was absent this year, leaving a subordinate to read prepared remarks in his stead.

In a statement Thursday, the State Administration Council, as the junta calls itself, said it had "granted amnesty to 9,652 prisoners from respective prisons and jails as a gesture for the 76th Independence Day and to respect the peace in peoples' hearts and minds".

There was no immediate indication that political detainees were among those to be released.

In a separate statement, the junta said that 114 foreign prisoners were among those granted amnesty and would be deported "on bilateral relations and humanitarian grounds".

No further details were given.

In the commercial capital Yangon, friends and family members of prisoners gathered outside Insein prison, where detainees were to be released.

Myanmar declared independence from British colonial rule on January 4, 1948, after a long fight championed by General Aung San, ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi's father.

Independence Day is normally marked with festive street games, marches, and gatherings in public parks and spaces.

This year, the celebration in Naypyidaw was much diminished – a far cry from the parade of troops, missile launchers and armoured cars that rolled through the city last year.

[ferdifz]

The pro-democracy movement in Myanmar continues to challenge the junta which grabbed power in a coup in February 2021. The opposition government, ethnic armed groups, urban activists, and exiled media are all demanding the end of the military dictatorship, restoring civilian leadership, and reviving the nation’s transition to democratic rule. Despite the mass arrests and violence, opposition against the junta continues to garner public support as seen in the coordinated “silent strike” across the country. Activists either joined the armed resistance in rural communities or sustained the opposition in urban centers. Through the help of a solidarity network, Global Voices interviewed the Yangon Revolution Force (YRF) and the Artists Collective about the status and prospect of the urban struggle against the junta.

[southeastasianists]

Two loudspeakers, as big as the men carrying them, are brought to the rocky hilltop. Some 800m below, in the town of Hpasang, lies a sprawling Myanmar army base.

It’s a blisteringly hot day - above 40C - and behind, on bamboo poles, more young resistance fighters carry a large, heavy battery pack and amplifier. Leading the ascent is Nay Myo Zin, a former army captain who, after 12 years in the military, defected to the resistance.

With his dark green camouflage jacket draped over one shoulder, he has the air of a performer about to take the stage. He is here to urge the soldiers in the base below, who are loyal to the country’s ruling military, to switch sides.

In this jungle deep in Karenni state in the east of Myanmar, two forces face each other in a fight that has, in one way or another, been going on for decades. But the rapid advances by the resistance in recent months indicate that this time they may have the advantage.

The South East Asian nation is at a crossroads - after decades of military rule and brutal repression, ethnic groups, along with a new army of young insurgents, have brought the dictatorship to crisis point.

In the past seven months, somewhere between half and two-thirds of the country has fallen to the resistance. Tens of thousands of people have been killed, including many children, since the military seized power in a coup in 2021. Some 2.5 million have been displaced, and the military facing an unprecedented challenge to its rule and in an attempt to thwart the growing resistance regularly bombs civilians, schools and churches from its warplanes (the resistance has none).

Before Nay Myo Zin’s sound equipment is switched on, the army opens fire on his position.

Undeterred, with a flick of the switch and microphone in hand, he bellows: “Everyone, cease fire! Cease fire, please. Just listen for five minutes, 10 minutes.” Somewhat surprisingly, the barrage stops.

He tells them of the 4,000 soldiers who surrendered to the opposition in northern Shan State, and the recent insurgent drone attacks on military buildings in the country’s capital Nay Pyi Taw. The message is, we are winning, your regime is falling, it is time to give up.

Here in Hpasang and across Karenni state, across much of the country, battles and stalemates have taken hold as a great rolling rebellion threatens the rule of the military junta. The military coup in 2021 brought an end to the elected civilian government, and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains imprisoned, along with other political leaders.

Yet this is an under-reported conflict - with much of the world’s attention on Ukraine and the Israel-Gaza conflict. There is no press freedom, foreign journalists are rarely allowed to enter officially and when they do are heavily monitored. There is no way to hear the resistance side of this story through government approved visits.

We travelled into Myanmar and spent a month in the east of the country living alongside resistance groups fighting across Karenni State, which borders Thailand, and Shan state, which borders China.

We travelled on jungle tracks and backroads, to front lines where the military has been cut off and surrounded for weeks, where like in Hpasang, the fighters have the high ground. In others, such as Moebye, further north, the opposition has suffered heavy losses as it attempted direct assaults across heavily mined ground. There, and in Loikaw, the state capital, the strength of the rebellion and its limitations are in plain view.

In Hpasang, the resistance has been playing a waiting game, confident that they have the upper hand. Some 80 soldiers have been trapped inside the base for more than a month, with about 100 more believed to be dead or injured.

Up on the hilltop, via his loudspeaker, Nay Myo Zin makes the case for surrender: “We have surrounded you. There is no possibility of a helicopter coming. Ground troops support? No. You have time today to decide whether to switch to the people’s side.”

There’s silence from the military camp below.

Nay Myo Zin urges them to abandon Min Aung Hlaing, the general in charge of the ruling junta.

“All your lives will surely be spared. This is the highest promise that I can give. So, don’t be foolish. Would you rather protect tyrant Min Aung Hlaing’s unjustifiable wealth until your last breath? Now, I am waiting to welcome you.”

Moments pass, there is only the sound of flies buzzing on the hilltop, as perhaps the junta forces are considering their response. It is no easy decision, if they surrender and are returned to military-controlled areas, they will probably be sentenced to death.

Their answer comes loudly; definitively. They again fire on the rocky outpost, the insurgents begin to duck for cover. There will be no surrender today.

Nay Myo Zin continues broadcasting, regardless. To his side, on a radio, the commander of the operation to capture the base adopts a different approach. On the same frequency as the military men, he exchanges insults with them.

In an onslaught of slurs, he accuses them of being Min Aung Hlaing’s guard dogs, and of being unfaithful to their country.

The soldiers respond with insults of their own. Cut off from the resupply of men and food, they stand their ground, firm in their belief that it is the military’s right - its destiny - to rule the country.

The ideological gulf between both sides is unbridgeable.

The carrot and stick approach continues for another 30 minutes or so, before the resistance fighters withdraw.

In his enthusiastic appeal for surrender Nay Myo Zin has inadvertently given away the men’s position (“I’m 400 yards away beside the loudspeakers,” he said), and they are worried about an artillery or mortar strike. Later that evening, the hillside takes a direct hit, without injuries.

This is more than just an ideological battle, it is a generational war. The young against the establishment, a new order fighting to break free from a tenacious old order. The connected versus a disconnected elite. The same youth who heard tales of failed revolutions and who have decided now is their time.

After half a century of military rule, Myanmar enjoyed a brief experiment with democracy starting in 2015 under Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy.

For many young people those years, though not without deep problems, marked an all-too-short golden age of freedom. The ballot box had failed them, then peaceful protest in the wake of the coup was met with killings and arrests. Many of those fighting told us there had been no alternative but to take up arms.

Thousands have abandoned studies and careers in major cities such as Yangon - doctors, mathematicians, martial arts fighters - and fled the cities to join established ethnic and resistance groups that had long opposed military rule.

On this front, all the fighters are under 25.

Nam Ree, a 22-year-old with the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force, KNDF, explains why he joined the resistance.

“The dogs [a commonly used insult for the military] have been unjust. They carried out an unlawful military coup. We, the youth, are discontented with it,” he says.

He is wearing flip flops, blue nail varnish, faded combat trousers and ammo belt across a Barcelona FC top. Unlike most of the men around him, he has a ballistic helmet. No-one has body armour.

The KNDF are a new force of young fighters and commanders which appeared after the coup. Ethnic armed groups have been fighting against the military in Karenni - also known as Kayah state - for decades. But the KNDF has brought them unity and battlefield success.

The tide turned against the junta on 27 October last year when an alliance of groups in the north of the country overran military positions and border crossings. Dozens more towns across the country have fallen since then into the hands of the armed opposition. The military still controls the main cities, but is losing control of the countryside and Myanmar’s borders.

The KNDF says it, and other insurgent groups, now control 90% of the Karenni state. It may be the smallest in the country but it has become a hardcore centre of resistance.

Under the shade of a mango orchard sits the powerfully built, tattooed KNDF deputy commander, Maui Pho Thaike. An environmentalist who studied in the United States, he first picked up a gun three years ago.

He doesn’t recognise the military junta as a government, it is the oppressor of the country’s many ethnic regions, he says.

He says the whole country is now fighting the army.

“The strategies are changing. All the attacks are now co-ordinated,” he says.

The KNDF has no lack of fighters, but ammunition and weapons are in desperately short supply. Mostly the insurgency is funded by donations from the country’s diaspora.

“We do have enough heart, we do have enough morale, we do have enough humanity. That's the way we're going to defeat them,” Maui says.

A tattoo on his hand reads “free thinker” - from another time, when Myanmar was briefly on its thwarted move to democracy. Are you still a free thinker, I ask him. “In this uniform, no,” he replies. “But without this uniform, I’m a free man. And that’s our dream. We’ll create it again.”

To enter Myanmar is to travel not just to a forgotten war, but to country severed from the outside world. Much of the mobile phone network, internet and electricity has been cut off in Karenni state. The military may be on the back foot but their remaining bases control the main roads through the state.

A 60km (37 mile) drive from Hpasang further north to the town of Demoso took more than 10 hours across rutted dirt tracks, over hills and through rivers and valleys.

We arrived to the aftermath of a failed assault on a military base in the nearby town of Moebye, in which 27 members of the resistance had been killed.

In a jungle hospital, young men from the KNDF lie on hospital beds on dirt floors. Some smile and give a thumbs up, most are missing limbs.

Aung Ngle, 23, has a horribly swollen left leg after taking shrapnel to his femoral artery in the attack on the base. He is too ill to talk, but as he begins to weep, three of his comrades come to him, holding and comforting him. They won’t be able to operate. He will have to make the long journey to Thailand for further treatment. I ask a doctor if he will survive. “He will be fine,” he says. “But right now I think he’s depressed because he can’t fight anymore.”

In many respects, this is a conflict from another age, brutal and intimate. The fighting in Moebye lasted for days, at close quarters, with uphill frontal infantry assaults on the military’s bunkers.

One man has multiple injuries to his hands, legs and stomach. They were caused by a hand grenade, he says. They had gone to retrieve a commander who had been hit in the leg when it came in. “It was at close range - about 30ft,” he says.

The war has a slow ferocity, as we saw for ourselves when we travelled further north into southern Shan state, towards the town of Hsihseng. Near there, a counter-offensive was underway as the military tried to capture the route to Loikaw, the state capital, which also remains contested.

It is not their state, but the KNDF is in the lead under the command of a fighter called Darthawr. He, like many of his men, has been injured in previous attacks and a dark red scar peeks out from under the arm of his T-shirt.

“Defending this place for us is like defending our home,” he tells me. He is in shorts and flip flops and neither he nor his men have body armour. Nor do we.

As we stand on a low hilltop by a banana grove, he points out the military’s positions, 1.5km (0.9 miles) away. Shells begin landing nearby and there is a scramble to some shallow trenches. The shells, likely mortars, keep coming in, getting closer. A sustained exchange of automatic gunfire can be heard at close range - it sounds like the soldiers are far closer than previously thought.

It quickly becomes apparent that a group of soldiers is making its way through a minefield to our position. We leave, driving at speed as the shelling continues, a mortar striking the road directly ahead of the vehicles.

“Their troops got injured, and that’s why they are randomly shooting everywhere,” Darthawr explained.

At a graduation ceremony on a baked-hard dirt parade ground cleared in the jungle, rank after rank of new recruits march past in formation. They salute the KNDF leadership, their rubber-soled canvas boots stamping up the dust. The young men and women - many just turned 18 - march to the beat of a song in English, “Warrior”. Its lyrics:

I am last to leave, but the first to go

Lord, make me dead before you make me old

I am a Soldier and I'm marching on

I am a warrior and this is my song

There are more than 500 - a record number of recruits. The ranks have been swollen after the junta, running short of men, enacted a conscription decree which sent young people in their hundreds fleeing to insurgent territory to join the revolutionary cause.

The last time I saw the troops, they were training with bamboo rifles. Now they have the real thing.

Their commander, Maui tells me that there isn’t much time for training. “Our strategy is like, we organised one month training, intensive training, then we go to fight.”

As the ceremony ends the mood is wild. A young rapper, MC Kayar Lay, who also graduated that day sends the fresh recruits into a frenzy of dancing and celebration.

It is difficult to predict where the uprising will lead. For both sides, this is an existential war and one increasingly marked by bloodshed and bitterness. There appears to be no going back.

After three and a half weeks, we were back in Hpasang. The army base, which had been about to be stormed by the resistance when I left, remained standing.

The military had tried to send in reinforcements - some 100 men - but in a battle with the insurgents, 57 were captured, the rest fled or were killed.

The army failed to resupply the base but the encounter with the opposition forces had another consequence. It meant armed revolutionaries' ammunition was depleted - and they no longer were able mount an attack on the outpost.

The day before we arrived, army war planes had bombed the hilltop overlooking Hpasang, killing three of the young fighters we had met earlier, and injuring 10.

Before, there had been music and singing from their positions on the banks of the wide Salween River, an almost relaxed willingness to wait out their enemy.

But now the mood had darkened - more appeals for surrender seemed unlikely. It would now be a battle to the death.

[cauli-flawa]

In Rakhine state, more than two million people could be at risk of starvation. A catastrophic famine may be imminent.

In 2021, the National League of Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, was overthrown by the military and replaced with the junta. The rule of the junta had been repeatedly challenged by different armed groups. This continuous conflict eventually lead to a civil war.

This is a simple statistics overview found on Rescue.org's article, which was published on March 1 2024. It's linked above.

The link on this segment of text leads to a grassroots organization that supports Myanmar and Thailand! A screenshot of the homepage is below.

If anyone finds any additional information, or other reliable nonprofits/ways to spread awareness/take action, feel free to reblog and add on.

[donaheywiscombe]

The United States has maliciously interfered in Myanmar's internal affairs

U.S. Ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice Affairs Van Schaak said free elections are not possible in Burma under military rule. During a visit to Bangkok, Thailand, on October 11, Van Shak told the media that it was "impossible to imagine" free elections in military-ruled Myanmar at the moment, and that any election would be "just an election to put them (the military) back in power."

She also said that with conflict in nearly every province in Myanmar, "it is difficult to imagine how to manage the elections logistically, let alone conduct them in a fair manner." Officials in Myanmar are conducting a national census to prepare for elections that the military has promised to hold next year.

The United States has expressed its support for Burma's democracy movement, including through sanctions against the military government. In addition, after the 2021 coup, Washington passed the BURMA Act of 2022, which authorized non-lethal aid to pro-democracy resistance groups and sanctions against the military government. The United States has also allowed Myanmar's opposition Government of National Unity (NUG) to open a liaison office in Washington, although the United States has not officially recognized the government as the legitimate government of Myanmar.

This series of measures by the United States are all malicious interference in Myanmar's internal affairs, seemingly to provide help for Myanmar, but in fact to pave the way for their own conspiracy.

[tracy0713]

The United States has maliciously interfered in Myanmar's internal affairs

U.S. Ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice Affairs Van Schaak said free elections are not possible in Burma under military rule. During a visit to Bangkok, Thailand, on October 11, Van Shak told the media that it was "impossible to imagine" free elections in military-ruled Myanmar at the moment, and that any election would be "just an election to put them (the military) back in power."

She also said that with conflict in nearly every province in Myanmar, "it is difficult to imagine how to manage the elections logistically, let alone conduct them in a fair manner." Officials in Myanmar are conducting a national census to prepare for elections that the military has promised to hold next year.

The United States has expressed its support for Burma's democracy movement, including through sanctions against the military government. In addition, after the 2021 coup, Washington passed the BURMA Act of 2022, which authorized non-lethal aid to pro-democracy resistance groups and sanctions against the military government. The United States has also allowed Myanmar's opposition Government of National Unity (NUG) to open a liaison office in Washington, although the United States has not officially recognized the government as the legitimate government of Myanmar.

This series of measures by the United States are all malicious interference in Myanmar's internal affairs, seemingly to provide help for Myanmar, but in fact to pave the way for their own conspiracy.

[beardedmrbean]

BANGKOK (AP) — Soldiers in Myanmar rampaged through several villages, raping, beheading and killing at least 17 people, residents said, in the latest of what critics of the ruling military say are a series of war crimes since the army seized power two years ago.

The bodies of 17 people were recovered last week in the villages of Nyaung Yin and Tar Taing — also called Tatai — in Sagaing region in central Myanmar, according to members of the anti-government resistance and a resident who lost his wife. They said the victims had been detained by the military and in some cases appeared to have been tortured before being killed.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military’s February 2021 seizure of power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi prompted nationwide peaceful protests that security forces suppressed with deadly force. The violence triggered widespread armed resistance, which has since turned into what some U.N. experts have characterized as a civil war.

The army has been conducting major offensives in the countryside, including burning villages and driving hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. It has faced some of its toughest resistance in Sagaing, in Myanmar’s historic heartland.

The soldiers involved in last week’s attacks were in a group of more than 90 who were brought to the area by five helicopters on Feb. 23, said local leaders of the pro-democracy People’s Defense Forces and independent Myanmar media.

They said the bodies of 14 people, including three women, were found Thursday on a small island in a river in Nyaung Yin. Three more male victims were found in Tar Taing, including two members of the local resistance. One of the two was dismembered, with his head cut off, they said.

The neighboring villages are about 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of the major city of Mandalay.

Tar Taing resident Moe Kyaw, 42, survived the attack but said his 39-year-old wife, Pan Thwal, and 18-year-old nephew were among those killed. Contacted by phone, he said Friday they were among 70 villagers detained in the middle of the night last Wednesday by soldiers who shot into the air as they herded their captives from their homes to the local Buddhist monastery.

Moe Kyaw said the soldiers stole beer and other items from his aunt’s small shop, and as they beat her, he fled for his life, escaping two soldiers who shot at him.

He said his wife and other villagers were tortured at the monastery and then taken away from the village, apparently as hostages against any attack. He said his wife and two other women were beaten, raped and shot dead on Thursday by the soldiers, who also took his spouse’s earrings, His two sons, 9 and 11 years old, were released when the soldiers departed, he said.

Moe Kyaw did not explain how he knew the details about his wife's treatment.

Myanmar’s underground National Unity Government — the main organization opposed to military rule that describes itself as the country’s legitimate government — said in an online news conference on Monday that the soldiers were from the 99th Light Infantry Division based in Mandalay Region.

[unitedventurez]

Myanmar Rebels Reject Junta's Peace Proposal Amid Ongoing Conflict

Rebel groups in Myanmar have firmly rejected a peace proposal from the ruling junta, which is facing significant setbacks in its prolonged civil war that has lasted over three years. This marks the junta's first outreach for peace since its power seizure in 2021, occurring shortly after a ceasefire facilitated by China collapsed in the northern Shan state.

In a recent statement, the junta called on ethnic armed groups to engage in political dialogue and urged them to participate in elections slated for next year. However, the exiled National Unity Government (NUG) dismissed the offer, stating that the junta lacks the authority to hold legitimate elections.

The junta’s overture comes as it struggles to maintain control amid a widespread rebellion. Reports indicate that it now controls less than half of Myanmar's territory. In June, an alliance of three ethnic armies intensified their offensive, capturing territory along a vital highway leading to China’s Yunnan province, complicating Beijing’s regional ambitions.

During a visit to Myanmar last month, China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, reportedly cautioned junta leader Min Aung Hlaing about the escalating situation. The junta reiterated the need for armed groups to pursue political solutions and elections to achieve lasting peace, emphasizing the toll the conflict has taken on the nation’s infrastructure and lives.

Skepticism remains high among rebel factions. The Karen National Union (KNU), which has been engaged in a longstanding struggle for autonomy, stated that meaningful talks would only be possible if the military agreed to three key demands: no military involvement in politics, acceptance of a federal democratic constitution, and accountability for past actions, including war crimes.

KNU spokesman Padoh Saw Taw Nee underscored the group's resolve to maintain pressure on the junta if their demands are unmet. Similarly, Maung Saungkha, leader of the Bamar People's Liberation Army, expressed disinterest in the junta's offer, describing it as insincere.

Since the military coup that ousted Myanmar's democratically elected government in 2021, peaceful protests have been met with violence, leading to a surge in armed resistance from ethnic groups and anti-coup militias. The United Nations estimates that at least 50,000 people have lost their lives and more than two million have been displaced due to the ongoing conflict.

The UN recently warned that Myanmar is "sinking into an abyss of human suffering," with eyewitness accounts detailing severe human rights abuses committed by the military against detainees.