Myanmar

10 rebel groups in Myanmar throw their support behind anti-coup protesters | VIDEO

Published

2 weeks ago

Sunday, April 4, 2021

10 rebel groups in Myanmar throw their support behind anti-coup protesters | VIDEO | Thaiger

Myanmar’s most prominent ethnic and political rebel groups are throwing their support behind the country’s anti-coup protesters. Yesterday, 10 of the groups convened a conference call to discuss the military leaders killing protesters and citizens. Nearly 600 Burmese citizens have now been killed in the violent crackdown that started after the February 1 coup that ousted the government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Their meeting, and the joint push of the major opposition groups to oppose the military government, is a major setback from any immediate peace in the country. The Tatmadaw, the Burmese military, has sought to quell dissent and protest around the country but is being met with mass protests and civil disobedience campaigns.

Some public servants and staff in the banking sector are refusing to work as silent protests against the military’s violence. And after the military ordered communities around Yangon to clean up their rubbish on streets they were met with a campaign of locals dumping their rubbish at main intersections around the country. The resistance, despite being fractured and mostly unable to communicate because of widespread wi fi shutdowns, are making the country ungovernable.

Last week, the Burmese military declared an April-long ceasefire with the country’s well armed ethnic groups. But they also included caveats in their ceasefire offer that allowed them to keep suppressing anything they call ‘terrorist’ activity, including “lethal force against anti-coup demonstrations”.

Arrest warrants have also issued for 40 popular celebrities and social media influencers as authorities accuse them of spreading misinformation “that could cause mutiny in the armed forces”. Most of them are being sheltered by the major ethnic militia who are opposing the Myanmar military coup.

But the loose coalition of opposing ethnic groups yesterday said the ceasefire must stop any violent action towards protesters. The 10 groups are now signatories to a nationwide ceasefire agreement that was originally brokered by the previous civilian government which attempted to negotiate an end to the ethnic militias’ decades-long armed struggles for greater autonomy.

Here is an assessment of the current situation from The Thaiger…

In a statement from the online meeting, the 10 groups, despite their previous differences, say they “firmly stand with the people who are demanding the end of dictatorship.”

The Karen National Union seized an army base in eastern Karen state, near the Thai/Myanmar border, killing 10 Burmese army officers. Then, between March 27 to 30, the military retaliated with air strikes, forcing thousands of Burmese citizens to flee across the Thai border. The KNU, well organised and armed with an estimated 8,000 soldiers, have been sheltering vocal anti-coup protesters.

Despite the Myanmar army chiefs insisting there was only 1 airstrike there has been multiple video sources indicating multiple attacks.

Now the coup leaders are shutting down Myanmar’s mobile data and wi fi services across the country, imposing internet blackout that have been gradually rolled out since the start of February, in an attempt to throttle the country’s communications.

International media are still trying to get their reports out as the courier their completed reports to border areas for upload to host media organisations.

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News Categories: Myanmar

3 Comments

toby andrews

Sunday, April 4, 2021 at 4:58 pm

The rebels could win if they work together against the Myanmar Army, but will they?
Standing with the protesters does not mean much if they continue to allow the Myanmar army to kill protesters.
The Karens taking an Myanmar Army base and killing ten Myanmar Army officers, show that they will fight back.
Time will tell . . .

Reply
Gosport

Sunday, April 4, 2021 at 9:07 pm

Ten groups won’t unite to fight. Fighting weakens less strong one. The one will be taken out by the other 9 groups. The gambit is clear.

Reply
Roger Bruce

Sunday, April 4, 2021 at 10:02 pm

Myanmar Military have now destroyed Burma
I hope this new effort against them will put an end to this and destroy the military junta
My wish is that these Generals go on trial for war crimes against Humanity and they are all
hanged for the world to see and spit on

Good Luck Burma your people are very brave up against these scum backed by China . Russia and it seems Thailand too

Good Luck Thailand

Reply

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Tim Newton

Tim Newton has lived in Thailand since 2012. An Australian, he has worked in the media, principally radio and TV, for nearly 40 years. He has won the Deutsche Welle Award for best radio talk program, presented 3,900 radio news bulletins in Thailand alone, hosted 450 daily TV news programs, produced 1,800 videos, TV commercials and documentaries and is now the General Manager and writer for The Thaiger. He's reported for CNN, Deutsche Welle TV, CBC, Australia's ABC TV and Australian radio during the 2018 Cave Rescue.

Thailand

Is spraying disinfectant on the Thai-Burmese border effective?

Published

2 days ago

Friday, April 16, 2021

Neill Fronde

Is spraying disinfectant on the Thai-Burmese border effective? | Thaiger

FILE PHOTO: Spraying disinfectant has been effective in the community but controversial in forested refugee camps.

Some controversy exists over the Royal Thai Army attempting to sterilize areas of the Thailand-Myanmar border by spraying disinfectant along the border region. The army sprayed areas set up as a temporary holding facility for many Burmese refugees. The move drew condemnation from critics who claimed the disinfectant was not effective and not worth the expense of implementation. A spokesperson for the Royal Thai Army responded to social media ire justifying the action.

The spraying was done after the Burmese refugees had returned across the border to Myanmar, after fleeing temporarily to escape the escalating humanitarian crisis following the February 1 military coup. After the refugees left, disinfectant was sprayed around the area in compliance with Public Health directives designed to slow the Covid-19 spread and maintain safety. The disinfectant was intended to kill any possibly contagious remaining virus or disease in the area.

The spokesperson said the military used existing government equipment they requested from the Ministry of Public Health to efficiently disinfect the area. She asserted that the spraying was not just to help local people, but also to reassure them that it was safe to return to their daily lives in the area, to go to work or do farming, without fear of becoming infected with Covid-19.

While the response online to the spraying disinfectant scheme is still generally negative, it’s worth noting that the same spraying has been used to effectively sterilize 162 schools and 268 other areas since January. The spray is a safety precaution to minimize the spread of Covid-19 and has been used throughout communities in places like bus terminals, marketplaces, temples and other places where people tend to gather.

SOURCE: The Pattaya News

Protests

Red paint in Burmese streets mark 700+ deaths

Published

3 days ago

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Neill Fronde

Red paint in Burmese streets mark 700+ deaths | Thaiger

A note from a protester on the streets of Yangon: “Dear UN, How are you? I hope you are well. As for Myanmar, we are dying.”

Marking over 700 deaths in the Burmese military crackdown, anti-coup protesters in Myanmar are splashing red paint across the streets of Yangon to represent the blood of those killed in the growing crisis. Myanmar has ground to a halt as the military junta attempt to silence opposition to their February 1 takeover with deadly force. 714 deaths have been verified by local monitoring groups, but they warn the actual number may be much higher.

The economy and daily functioning of the country is immobile, the internet has been cut off to many citizens, even Myanmar’s Thingyan New Year festival, similar to Thailand’s Songkran holiday, has been cancelled. Instead of water fights in the street, protesters explained they used the holiday to draw a parallel, splashing red paint “blood” instead to draw attention to the Burmese deaths at the hands of the military.

“The purpose of the “bleeding strike” is to remember the martyrs who died in the struggle for democracy. We should not be happy during this festival time. We have to feel sadness for the martyrs who are bleeding and we must continue to fight this battle in any way we can.”

Simple but powerful signs and notes were found amongst the blood protest with phrases like, “blood has not dried on the streets,” “overthrow the era of fear,” and “hope our military dictatorship fails.” Perhaps most poignant was a note found on red-painted streets reading, “Dear UN, How are you? I hope you are well. As for Myanmar, we are dying.”

The UN fears that a Syrian-style conflict is around the corner for Myanmar, calling on countries to take immediate steps against the military junta, citing possible crimes against humanity. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet draws the Syria comparison, worried a full-blown Burmese civil war could parallel the Syrian war that has led to 400,000 deaths and 6 million refugees. While some countries have enacted sanctions, infighting has delayed meaningful action with the EU claiming Russia and China are blocking possible UN arms embargos.

Meanwhile, the military added many more people to the list of over 260 people including doctors and celebrities they are seeking to arrest for crimes such as spreading dissent or treating injured protesters. 7 protesters in Yangon, 3 in absentia, were sentenced to death for the alleged murder of a suspected informant.

In the northwest of Myanmar, a milk delivery couple were killed by military storming the town of Tamu. And in the Mandalay region, protesters drove motorbikes with red flags supporting imprisoned leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

SOURCE: Channel News Asia

Politics

Myanmar could descend into a civil war comparable to Syria- UN

Published

3 days ago

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Ann Carter

Myanmar could descend into a civil war comparable to Syria- UN | Thaiger

Stock photo of UN via Jurist.org

A top UN official is warning that Myanmar could follow that of Syria in terms of descending into a bloody civil war, unless the violence subsides. Michele Bachelet, the UN high commissioner for human rights is calling on all countries with influence to apply concerted pressure on the ruling military junta to end its campaign of repression and the slaughtering of its people. Bachelet says neighbouring countries are especially being called upon.

She says the military has committed, what amounts to, crimes against humanity, and the human rights violations must be stopped. Ravina Shamdasani, who is Bachelet’s spokeswoman, says the high commissioner feels that a continuation of such crimes could lead to a civil war.

“The high commissioner states that there are clear echoes of Syria in 2011. There too, we saw peaceful protests met with unnecessary and clearly disproportionate force. The state’s brutal, persistent repression of its own people led to some individuals taking up arms, followed by a downward and rapidly expanding spiral of violence all across the country.”

Shamdasani said the country’s armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, attacked civilians last weekend with rocket-propelled grenades and mortar fire, killing at least 82 people. She said credible reports also indicate that people are fighting back by using makeshift or primitive weapons with clashes between the military and ethnic armed groups in Kayn, Shan, and Kachin states are picking up steam.

“As arrests continue, with at least 3,080 people currently detained, there are reports that 23 people have been sentenced to death following secret trials — including 4 protesters and 19 others who were accused of political and criminal offenses. The mass arrests have forced hundreds of people to go into hiding.”

She added that the country’s economic, education and health infrastructure are at the point of collapse, making the situation untenable. She said nations must cut off the supply of arms and finances to the military leadership that allow it to kill and seriously violate its people’s human rights.

Myanmar’s military took over in a coup on February 1, arresting the democratically-elected leader of National League for Democracy and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Since then, other top leaders have been arrested over what the junta says is fraudulent election results, without giving any evidence.

Suu Kyi has not been seen since her arrest, and is now facing even more charges that could see her barred from political office or worse. The junta military has been accused of killing innocent civilians and peaceful protesters since the coup began, censoring the media, and shutting down the internet.

The US, UK, and other nations have imposed sanctions against the military, but to no avail. Neighbouring countries, including Thailand, are expecting an influx of refugees to cross the border, but conflicting reports point towards Thailand turning away such asylum-seekers.

SOURCE: VOA News