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Description: "Joseph is mourning the death of his son. After the Myanmar military entered his village, he fled into the jungle but 13-year-old Pali Nang did not make it. Joseph saw a photo of his son’s dead body on Facebook where it showed signs of torture. He’s one of an estimated 40,000 Myanmar refugees who have fled to India. Aamir Peerzada has this exclusive report from Indian border state of Mizoram. Reporting and Editing by Aamir Peerzada Filming by Faisal H. Bhat Produced by Rebecca Henschke..."
Source/publisher: BBC News (London)
2022-05-05
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The military fires on local defence forces by helicopter, hours after the resistance groups had cornered a Myanmar army column travelling through Tedim
Description: "The military carried out airstrikes during battles with the resistance near a Tedim Township village in northern Chin State on Saturday, defence forces in the area said. A Chin alliance attacked a junta convoy of more than 150 soldiers near Hiangzing village, some 20 miles west of Kalay, at around 8am, with multiple military casualties suspected. The defence forces involved included the Chin National Front, Chin Nationalities Defence Force, Zoland People’s Defence Force (PDF), Civic Defence Militia, People Defence Army and the Zogarm Army. Representatives of the groups said their geographical knowledge of the area proved to be an advantage, and estimated that at least 10 junta troops were killed by explosives set up by the resistance. “We started attacking them after they stopped their cars as soon as the explosives detonated,” a member of the Civic Defence Militia told Myanmar Now. Myanmar army soldiers stationed on the Kalay University campus in neighbouring Sagaing Region started firing heavy artillery towards the battle site in Chin State at around noon, four hours after fighting began, the spokesperson for the Zoland People’s Defence Force (PDF) said. By 2pm, two helicopters had arrived at the scene and opened fire on the resistance forces, he added. “We managed to successfully defend against the junta convoy in the morning,” the spokesperson said. “They probably started sending military jets in the afternoon because they had faced a lot of losses.” Seven members of the resistance were reportedly injured in the clash, with two in critical condition after being struck by artillery and the helicopter gunfire. Representatives of the defence forces speculated that fighting could escalate in the area as more junta troops were expected to travel south in Chin State, and pass nearby Saturday’s battle site. The military convoy involved in the clash had left Kalay on January 12, shielding themselves by travelling with civilian vehicles, and reached Hiangzing after being ambushed by defence forces near another village on the route, Theizan. The military has been escalating attacks on Chin State as part of an offensive known as “Operation Anawrahta” since October of last year, sending massive reinforcements to the area and launching air attacks on the resistance. The military council has not mentioned the recent battles in Chin State during their press conferences, nor have their spokesperson answered Myanmar Now’s repeated calls for comment..."
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Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2022-01-18
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "1. The Burmese military junta has significantly intensified its military offensives that include the use o f airstrikes, tanks, and artillery in Loikaw, Demoso, Pruso, and Shadaw townships o f Karenni State this week. Attacks by the ju n ta ’s troops in Loikaw on January 7 killed at least 6 innocent civilians and besieged hundreds o f civilians for the whole day that required a deadly rescue operation where one rescue worker was killed. 2. The ju n ta ’s indiscriminate airstrikes, artillery shelling, and firing that continued on January 8 both during the day and at night have forced several thousands o f civilians from Loikaw to flee for safety. Several hundred civilians remained besieged in Mine Lone sub-township o f Loikaw. More nighttime airstrikes are taking place in Mine Lone sub-township as o f the release o f this statement. 3. Additionally, the ju n ta ’s airstrikes in Thai-Karenni border areas on January 7 have also forced over 1200 internally displaced persons to flee into Thailand while about 200 at a different border crossing point remained unable to cross the border. 4. Karenni National Progressive Party is especially concerned over Burmese military ju n ta ’s activities, particularly its use o f airstrikes to target innocent civilians. Therefore, we solemnly call on international governments and organizations to take immediate action against the junta and provide timely humanitarian assistance and protection for the civilians under attacks..."
Source/publisher: Karenni National Progressive Party
2022-01-08
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Within the 11 months, from the military coup on February 1 till December 31, 2021, the Myanmar junta troops killed 163 Chin people. Among the deaths were 87 civilians (including 13 women) and 76 members from Chin resistance forces. Among them, three were killed by landmines planted by the Tatmadaw and the bodies of eight civilians were not recovered. Seven were either burned to death or killed in a fire caused by the troops. Some victims were killed when the Myanmar junta troops violently attacked on peaceful protesters and others lost their lives when the Military Council deployed heavy artillery and airstrikes indiscriminately against innocent civilians. Some were arbitrarily arrested and tortured to death, some even burned to death. In addition to killing innocent civilians without any reason, the junta troops carried arson attacks, planted landmines, and fired heavy weapons into civilian neighbourhoods. The Tatmadaw clearly appears to target the Chin civilians intentionally to create fear among the population. The Myanmar Military Council’s systematic attacks and killings of civilians are clearly crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Myanmar Military Council must be held accountable for its crimes. The ICA urges the Tatmadaw to immediately cease targeting civilians, their houses, and belongings, and to cease killing innocent people, particularly women and children and to refrain from indiscriminate firing and using heavy artillery against the civilian population. The ICA also calls on the international community to intervene and increase pressure on the Myanmar junta to cease its military operations and human rights violations against the Chin People. Media Contact: [email protected], +919362634715..... ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်၊ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ (၁) ရက်နေ့ စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းသည့်အချိန်မှစ၍ ဒီဇင်ဘာလ (၃၁) ရက်နေ့အထိ (၁၁) လ တာ ကာလအတွင်း စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်သည် ချင်းတိုင်းရင်းသား (၁၆၃) ဦးအား သတ်ဖြတ်ခဲ့ပါသည်။ သေဆုံးသူများတွင် အမျိုးသမီး (၁၃) ဦး အပါအဝင် အရပ်သားပြည်သူ (၈၇) ဦးနှင့် ချင်းတော်လှန်ရေးတပ်ဖွဲ့များမှ (၇၆) ဦး အထိ ရှိပါသည်။ ထိုအထဲတွင် စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ မီးရှို့သတ်ဖြတ်မှုကြောင့် သေဆုံးသူ (၇) ဦး၊ အလောင်းပြန် မရသည့် အရပ်သား (၈) ဦး နှင့် မိုင်းထိ၍ သေဆုံးသူ အရပ်သား (၃) ဦးထိ ပါဝင်ပါသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်မှ စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းမှုအပေါ် ငြိမ်းချမ်းစွာ ဆန္ဒပြနေသည့်အရပ်သားများအပေါ် အကြမ်းဖက် တိုက်ခိုက်ခြင်း၊ မတရားဖမ်းဆီးမှုနှင့် စစ်ကြောရေးအတွင်း ညှင်းပန်းနှိပ်စက်ခြင်း၊ မီးရှို့သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်း၊ လူနေအိမ် များနှင့် အပြစ်မဲ့အရပ်သားများအပေါ် ပစ်မှတ်ထားကာ လက်နက်ကြီးများဖြင့် ပစ်ခတ်ခြင်းနှင့် လေကြောင်း တိုက်ခိုက်မှုများကြောင့် အသက်ဆုံးရှုံးကြရခြင်း ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်သည် အရပ်သားပြည်သူများအား အကြောင်းမဲ့ သတ်ဖြတ်သည့်အပြင် ကျေးရွာလူနေအိမ်များအတွင်း လက်နက်ကြီးများဖြင့် ရမ်းသန်းပစ်ခတ် မီးရှို့ခြင်းနှင့် လူနေရပ်ကွက်များ၊ အရပ်သားများကျင်လည်ကျက်စားရာနေရာများတွင် မိုင်းထောင်တိုက်ခိုက်ခြင်း တို့ကို ရည်ရွယ်ချက်ရှိရှိ ကျူးလွန်လျက် ရှိသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ အရပ်သားပြည်သူများအပေါ် ပစ်မှတ်ထားကာ စနစ်တကျ တိုက်ခိုက်သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်းတို့သည် လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အပေါ် ကျူးလွန်သည့်ပြစ်မှုနှင့် စစ်ရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို ကျယ်ကျယ်ပြန့်ပြန့် ကျူးလွန်နေကြောင်း ထင်ရှားနေပေသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်သည် ၎င်းကျူးလွန်သည့် ပြစ်မှုများအတွက် တာဝန်ခံရမည်ဖြစ်ကြောင်း နှင့် အရပ်သား ပြည်သူ များ၏ အသက်အိုးအိမ်စည်းစိမ်အပေါ် ပစ်မှတ်ထားခြင်း၊ အပြစ်မဲ့ပြည်သူများအား တိုက်ခိုက်သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်း တို့အား ချက်ချင်းရပ်တန့်ရန် ချင်းရေးရာအဖွဲ့ချုပ်မှ အလေးအနက် တိုက်တွန်းသည်။ ချင်းရေးရာအဖွဲ့ချုပ်သည် နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုင်းအဝန်းအား စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်၏ ချင်းတိုင်းရင်းသားများနှင့် အရပ်သားပြည်သူများအပေါ် ပစ်မှတ်ထားကာ စစ်ဆင်ရေးဆောင်ရွက်နေမှုနှင့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုများ အား ရပ်တန့်စေမည့် ထိရောက်သော အရေးယူဆောင်ရွက်မှုများ လုပ်ဆောင်ရန် ထပ်မံတောင်းဆိုသည်။ ဆက်သွယ်ရန်: [email protected], +919362634715..."
Source/publisher: Institute of Chin Affairs
2022-01-06
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
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Description: "Over 160 Chins were killed January 6, 2022 Within the 11 months, from the military coup on February 1 till December 31, 2021, the Myanmar junta troops killed 163 Chin people. Among the deaths were 87 civilians (including 13 women) and 76 members from Chin resistance forces. Among them, three were killed by landmines planted by the Tatmadaw and the bodies of eight civilians were not recovered. Seven were either burned to death or killed in a fire caused by the troops. Some victims were killed when the Myanmar junta troops violently attacked on peaceful protesters and others lost their lives when the Military Council deployed heavy artillery and airstrikes indiscriminately against innocent civilians. Some were arbitrarily arrested and tortured to death, some even burned to death. In addition to killing innocent civilians without any reason, the junta troops carried arson attacks, planted landmines, and fired heavy weapons into civilian neighbourhoods. The Tatmadaw clearly appears to target the Chin civilians intentionally to create fear among the population. The Myanmar Military Council’s systematic attacks and killings of civilians are clearly crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Myanmar Military Council must be held accountable for its crimes. The ICA urges the Tatmadaw to immediately cease targeting civilians, their houses, and belongings, and to cease killing innocent people, particularly women and children and to refrain from indiscriminate firing and using heavy artillery against the civilian population. The ICA also calls on the international community to intervene and increase pressure on the Myanmar junta to cease its military operations and human rights violations against the Chin People.....၁၁ လအတွင်းချင်းတိုင်းရင်းသား (၁၆၀) ကျော် အသတ်ခံရ ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ်၊ ဇန်နဝါရီလ ( ၆ ) ရက် ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်၊ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ (၁) ရက်နေ့ စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းသည့်အချိန်မှစ၍ ဒီဇင်ဘာလ (၃၁) ရက်နေ့အထိ (၁၁) လ တာ ကာလအတွင်း စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်သည် ချင်းတိုင်းရင်းသား (၁၆၃) ဦးအား သတ်ဖြတ်ခဲ့ပါသည်။ သေဆုံးသူများတွင် အမျိုးသမီး (၁၃) ဦး အပါအဝင် အရပ်သားပြည်သူ (၈၇) ဦးနှင့် ချင်းတော်လှန်ရေးတပ်ဖွဲ့များမှ (၇၆) ဦး အထိ ရှိပါသည်။ ထိုအထဲတွင် စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ မီးရှို့သတ်ဖြတ်မှုကြောင့် သေဆုံးသူ (၇) ဦး၊ အလောင်းပြန် မရသည့် အရပ်သား (၈) ဦး နှင့် မိုင်းထိ၍ သေဆုံးသူ အရပ်သား (၃) ဦးထိ ပါဝင်ပါသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်မှ စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းမှုအပေါ် ငြိမ်းချမ်းစွာ ဆန္ဒပြနေသည့်အရပ်သားများအပေါ် အကြမ်းဖက် တိုက်ခိုက်ခြင်း၊ မတရားဖမ်းဆီးမှုနှင့် စစ်ကြောရေးအတွင်း ညှင်းပန်းနှိပ်စက်ခြင်း၊ မီးရှို့သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်း၊ လူနေအိမ် များနှင့် အပြစ်မဲ့အရပ်သားများအပေါ် ပစ်မှတ်ထားကာ လက်နက်ကြီးများဖြင့် ပစ်ခတ်ခြင်းနှင့် လေကြောင်း တိုက်ခိုက်မှုများကြောင့် အသက်ဆုံးရှုံးကြရခြင်း ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်သည် အရပ်သားပြည်သူများအား အကြောင်းမဲ့ သတ်ဖြတ်သည့်အပြင် ကျေးရွာလူနေအိမ်များအတွင်း လက်နက်ကြီးများဖြင့် ရမ်းသန်းပစ်ခတ် မီးရှို့ခြင်းနှင့် လူနေရပ်ကွက်များ၊ အရပ်သားများကျင်လည်ကျက်စားရာနေရာများတွင် မိုင်းထောင်တိုက်ခိုက်ခြင်း တို့ကို ရည်ရွယ်ချက်ရှိရှိ ကျူးလွန်လျက် ရှိသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ အရပ်သားပြည်သူများအပေါ် ပစ်မှတ်ထားကာ စနစ်တကျ တိုက်ခိုက်သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်းတို့သည် လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အပေါ် ကျူးလွန်သည့်ပြစ်မှုနှင့် စစ်ရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို ကျယ်ကျယ်ပြန့်ပြန့် ကျူးလွန်နေကြောင်း ထင်ရှားနေပေသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်သည် ၎င်းကျူးလွန်သည့် ပြစ်မှုများအတွက် တာဝန်ခံရမည်ဖြစ်ကြောင်း နှင့် အရပ်သား ပြည်သူ များ၏ အသက်အိုးအိမ်စည်းစိမ်အပေါ် ပစ်မှတ်ထားခြင်း၊ အပြစ်မဲ့ပြည်သူများအား တိုက်ခိုက်သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်း တို့အား ချက်ချင်းရပ်တန့်ရန် ချင်းရေးရာအဖွဲ့ချုပ်မှ အလေးအနက် တိုက်တွန်းသည်။ ချင်းရေးရာအဖွဲ့ချုပ်သည် နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုင်းအဝန်းအား စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်၏ ချင်းတိုင်းရင်းသားများနှင့် အရပ်သားပြည်သူများအပေါ် ပစ်မှတ်ထားကာ စစ်ဆင်ရေးဆောင်ရွက်နေမှုနှင့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုများ အား ရပ်တန့်စေမည့် ထိရောက်သော အရေးယူဆောင်ရွက်မှုများ လုပ်ဆောင်ရန် ထပ်မံတောင်းဆိုသည်။..."
Source/publisher: Institute of Chin Affairs - ICA
2022-01-06
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf
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Description: "We, Women’s Peace Network, are horrified to hear that on November 11, a group of Myanmar military soldiers gang raped a 27-year-old ethnic Chin woman of Akllui Village, Tedim Township, Chin State in front of her husband, assaulted him, and plundered their home; and further gang raped her 30-year-old pregnant sister-in-law.1 We are distressed that the decades-long impunity continues to embolden the Myanmar military to use rape as a weapon of war. As reported by the United Nations (UN) Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), the Myanmar military and security forces have perpetrated the most brutal forms of sexual and gender-based violence -- including rape, gang rape, sexual mutilation, and sexual slavery -- against Rohingya and other ethnic minority groups for decades. Since the February 1 coup, the Myanmar military has continued to brutalize women with this violence, including by raping a 62-year-old woman in Namflom Village, Kutkai Township of Shan State on November 7, as well as a 14-year-old girl in Namphatka Village of the same township. For years, many women’s organizations, including Women’s Peace Network, have documented and reported about the Myanmar military’s use of sexual and gender-based violence in our communities. Despite our calls for accountability, the international community has continuously failed to take concerted action against this brutal military. We now fear that fueled by this impunity, the Myanmar military’s systematic use of sexual and gender-based violence will engulf the entire nation -- including Chin State -- without delay. Therefore, we call upon the international community to take swift action to provide protection and support to the women of Myanmar, and hold the Myanmar military accountable for its brutality. As urged by 521 Myanmar civil society organizations on November 4, the UN Security Council must immediately convene an urgent meeting on the crisis in Chin State, refer the situation of Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, and impose a global arms embargo on the country. The UN Member States must also impose economic sanctions and financial penalties against Myanmar military-owned and controlled businesses and conglomerates; further financial restrictions must be placed on the junta's private dealings with global conglomerates. It is past time for the international community to hold the Myanmar military accountable. Only when this vicious cycle of impunity ends can we achieve a truly inclusive and federal democracy..."
Source/publisher: Women’s Peace Network
2021-11-17
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-22
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Description: "The Women's League of Burma (WLB) strongly condemns the gang-rape of a mother of four children from Akllui village of Tedim township in Chin state by three military junta soldiers at her home. She was assaulted between 11 P.M to midnight on November 11, 2021. Forty soldiers arrived in Akllui village on November 7, 2021. After their arrival, three junta soldiers entered the home of a mother of a one-month-old baby around 11 P.M on November 11, 2021. They interrogated and investigated her and her husband on allegations that they had ties to members of the People's Defense Force (PDF). Despite the couple's insistent denials that they had no affiliation to the civilian armed groups, the soldiers refused to accept their testimonies. They began to threaten them, and forced them to switch off the lights in their home. One of the soldiers took the husband to the back of the house and aimed a gun at his head before slamming his head on a glass table where he sustained injuries. The remaining two soldiers went into the bedroom and told the woman to put her young baby down, and forced her to lie on the bed. Guns were aimed at her and they threatened to kill her. She was raped repeatedly while she begged for mercy. After some time, two of the three soldiers came back. They threatened the husband and the other one raped the mother again in front of the husband and left. At midnight, the three drunk soldiers returned and forced the husband to watch while two of the soldiers raped the woman again. The soldiers confiscated the couple's phone, power-bank, and a cash amount of 18 000 Myanmar Kyats and gold earrings. They made the husband escort them on a motorbike to a local liquor shop; and beat and tortured the husband when they found out that the shop was closed. This case of a harrowing gang-rape against a post-partum mother in Akllui is further evidence that impunity still continues for the Burma military's systematic use of rape as a weapon of war and sexual violence against ethnic women. Since the coup on 1 February 2021, sexual violence has become more widespread. WLB calls for urgent action to hold the military junta accountable through international accountability mechanisms for their crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes..."
Source/publisher: Women's League of Burma
2021-11-19
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Earlier today, I received a direct and urgent appeal from Dr. Sasa, spokesperson for Myanmar’s National Unity Government: “The military is escalating its attacks against innocent civilians in Chin State. They are using heavy battlefi eld weapons to destroy homes and churches... " "The worst days are yet to come fo r the people o f Chin State. I urge you to everything possible to prevent further bloodshed. We must not wait for another genocide to happen. " The scale and ferocity of military offensives are ominously reminiscent of the genocidal attacks against the Rohingya in Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017. There is now a real possibility that the people of Chin State will suffer the same fate as the Rohingya. I have visited Chin State many times and I greatly appreciate the people who are inherently peaceable and deeply committed to maintaining their culture. The escalation of attacks throws the future of the State - along with its rich culture, history and many different customs and traditions - into turbulence. As Dr. Sasa, himself an ethnic Chin, told me earlier today: “The military seeks to reduce our brave people and beautiful country to ashes. " While the UK Government rightly condemns ongoing atrocities, we urge you to take more effective and urgent action - to fulfil our duty as a signatory to the 1948 convention on the crime of genocide to prevent, to punish and to protect. The UK must do everything it can to prevent another genocide..."
Source/publisher: The Baroness Cox of Queensbury of London
2021-11-01
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "1. The terrorist State Administration Council (SAC) is ruthlessly attempting to install military rule through nationwide military offensives which purposefully target civilians and their properties. This signifies utmost violation of international human rights conventions. 2. It is heartbreaking to see several churches and civilian homes in Thantlang, Chin State, destroyed by indiscriminate artillery shelling of the military junta on October 29, 2021. 3. These incidents are irrefutable evidence of purposeful violation of international humanitarian laws and crimes against humanity. 4. We urge international communities to closely monitor SAC’s violation of international humanitarian laws and Geneva Convention, to urge SAC to end its inhumane crime against the civilians, and to stand by the SAC-victimized people. 5. We express our deepest sympathies with grieving people of Thantland, and affirm that, in solidarity with the oppressed people of the country, we will continue fighting against the fascist dictatorship..."
Source/publisher: Kachin Political Interim Coordination Team - KPICT
2021-11-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-02
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Description: "The United States is gravely concerned by reports of gross violations of human rights that Burmese security forces have perpetuated in Chin State, including reports that forces have set fire to and destroyed more than 100 residences as well as Christian churches. We condemn such brutal actions by the Burmese regime against people, their homes, and places of worship, which lays bare the regime’s complete disregard for the lives and welfare of the people of Burma. These abhorrent attacks underscore the urgent need for the international community to hold the Burmese military accountable and take action to prevent gross violations and abuses of human rights, including by preventing the transfer of arms to the military. We are also deeply concerned over the Burmese security forces’ intensification of military operations in various parts of the country, including in Chin State and the Sagaing Region. We call on the regime to immediately cease the violence, release all those unjustly detained, and restore Burma’s path to inclusive democracy. We will continue to promote accountability for the horrific violence that has been and continues to be perpetrated by the regime against the people of Burma. We will continue to support the people of Burma and all those working toward a restoration of Burma’s democratic path and a peaceful resolution to the crisis..."
Source/publisher: United States Department of State
2021-10-31
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-01
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Description: "Throughout the ages to this day, the fascist military has been oppressing the people by means of weapons. To this day, for the prosperity of the generals and their kins, they have been terrorizing ethnic regions, including homelands of minorities, by robbing their properties and committing genocides. Even more recently, on 29.10.2021, they set fire to the town of Htantalan in Chin State, burning down 164 houses, including churches. The military has been leeching upon the people by forcibly taking lands, farms and businesses, belonging to civilians, and converting to military-owned businesses. Thus, the main income-generating enterprises of the nation are owned by generals and their kins, and now the military has unlawfully seized power to exploit the economy of the entire nation. Even before the unlawful military coup, the people, who do not wish to be oppressed, have strived to refrain from using products of military-owned businesses and, accordingly, to stop the income of the military. And now, after the coup of the fascist military, the movements have become more rigorous, boycotting not only military-owned businesses but also those associated with the fascist State Administrative Council and those providing income for the illegitimate government. Every civilian is appalled by the fact that their money will fund bullets to murder another civilian. Yet, we have learned that the fascist military is going to have bullets funded by billions of dollars provided by international oil enterprises. Providing taxes to the fascist military, who are actively committing genocides, equates to funding for, and thus, committing the genocides ourselves. Therefore, we, the Student Unions, call for the following actions from respective international oil enterprises and governments: 1. To absolutely stop the flow of income from international companies to the illegitimate terrorist military. 2. To temporarily reserve taxes, that are to be paid to Myanmar’s government, in a bank until democracy is restored and the people’s government is in power. (To keep in an Escrow Account.) 3. For international governments to impose targeted sanctions on Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) which is now under control of the military regime. Right now in Myanmar, the oppressed people are being confronted by the fascist military who have been oppressing us for the sake of the generals and their associates. Even now the people’s resistance has not died down. Therefore, we, the Student Unions, urge international governments and companies not to stand against the people of Myanmar and to respect and support the wills of the people..."
Source/publisher: 236 Myanmar Student Unions
2021-10-31
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-31
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Description: "The Republic of Union of Myanmar National Unity Government Ministry of Health Announcement (10/2021) 30th October 2021 1.​Due to the terrorist military council’s inhumane atrocities and ethnic cleansing activities in Thantlang, Chin State, more than 10,000 residents have been displaced from their homes and are having to find refuge in the hills. 2.​Starting from the morning of 29th October 2021 the terrorist military council, not only started a campaign of raiding and misappropriating the deserted homes of the town’s folks, bombarded the place with artillery fire and torched the place. By the morning of 30th October 2021, this has caused damage to a total of more than 160 buildings, properties and businesses including Christian Churches. 3.​ The Ministry of Health, National Unity Government strongly condemns the inhumane atrocities such as lootings, indiscriminate killings and torching of properties in the whole of Myanmar including Chin State, Kayah (Karenni) State, Sagaing Division and Magwe Division. 4.​The Ministry of Health, National Unity Government is supporting and giving aid to the affected population in these areas in terms of medicines and medical aid and is proffering aid to the displaced people of Thantling as a priority. 5.​We also strongly urge the international community that treasures human rights and human dignity including ASEAN and the UN to keep a watchful eye on the criminal activities and the inhumane atrocities of the terrorist military council and to take appropriate effective action without delay..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Health, National Unity Government of Myanmar
2021-10-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-31
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Description: "1. On October 29, 2021, the terrorist coup military’s forces intentionally attacked and burned people’s houses with heavy artilleries, and about 300 houses of Thantlang residents and religious buildings were destroyed. 2. Moreover, since February 1st coup, the terrorist SAC’s forces have been committing numerous atrocities in Chin State such as burning people’s homes, robbery and destroying public properties, unlawfully arresting, killing innocent civilians, and sexual assaults against women. 3. This is a serious warning to the terrorist military’s forces to immediately stop all fascist and violent campaign against people of Chin State – such as air strikes, heavy artilleries on civilians’ homes, targeting innocent civilians, using civilians as porters for the military purposes, and all genocidal acts. 4. Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration stands committed to ensuring all those responsible in the fascist military to be held accountable for such atrocities under the Law, and will collaborate with the international community to take actions against the fascist military. 5. We urge that international community as well as both domestic and international organizations provide support to humanitarian needs of conflict-affected people of Chin State..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration - Myanmar
2021-10-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-31
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Description: "ချင်းပြည်နယ်၊ ထန်တလန်မြို့၌ အာဏာသိမ်း အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီ ဖက်ဆစ်စစ်တပ်များ၏ အကြမ်းဖက်လုပ်ရပ်များနှင့် စပ်လျဉ်း၍ သဘောထားထုတ်ပြန်ချက် ၃၀ ရက်၊ အောက်တိုဘာလ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ၁။ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်၊ အောက်တိုဘာလ ၂၉ ရက်နေ့တွင် အာဏာသိမ်းအကြမ်းဖက် စစ်ကောင်စီဖက်ဆစ်စစ်တပ်၏ လက်နက်ကြီးများဖြင့် ပစ်ခတ်မှုများ၊ ရည်ရွယ်ချက်ရှိရှိ လူနေအိမ်များကို မီးလောင်တိုက်သွင်းမှုများကြောင့် ချင်းပြည်နယ်၊ ထန်တလန်မြို့၌ အရပ်သား ပြည်သူများ၏ နေအိမ် (၃၀၀) ခန့် နှင့် ဘာသာရေးအဆောက်အအုံများ မီးလောင်ပျက်စီးသွားပါသည်။ ၂။ ထို့အပြင် အာဏာသိမ်းအကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီ ဖက်ဆစ်စစ်တပ် တပ်ဖွဲ့ဝင်များသည် ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်၊ ဖေဖေါ်ဝါရီ ၁ ရက်နေ့နောက်ပိုင်းမှစ၍ ချင်းပြည်နယ်ရှိ အရပ်သားပြည်သူများ၏ နေအိမ်များကို မီးရှို့ဖျက်ဆီးခြင်း၊ ငွေကြေးဥစ္စာပစ္စည်းများ ခိုးယူခြင်း နှင့် ဖျက်ဆီးခြင်း၊ အပြစ်မဲ့ အရပ်သားများကို ဖမ်းဆီးနှိပ်စက်ညှဉ်းပမ်း သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်းများ၊ အမျိုးသမီးများအား အဓမ္မပြုကျင့်မှုများကို တရားလက်လွန် အကြမ်းဖက်မှု ကျူးလွန်လုပ်ဆောင်လျက်ရှိပါသည်။ ၃။ ချင်းပြည်နယ်အတွင်း အာဏာသိမ်းအကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီ ဖက်ဆစ်စစ်တပ်၏ လေကြောင်း စစ်ဆင်ရေးများ၊ လက်နက်ကြီးများဖြင့် လူနေအိမ်များကို ပစ်ခတ်မှုများ၊ ပြည်သူလူထုကို ပစ်မှတ်ထားတိုက်ခိုက်မှုများ၊ စစ်ဆင်ရေးများတွင် အရပ်သားပြည်သူများအား လူသားဒိုင်းအသုံးပြု နေမှုများ၊ လူမျိုးနွယ်စုများကို ရည်ရွယ်ချက်ရှိရှိ ပျက်သုဉ်းအောင်တိုက်ခိုက်နေမှုများ စသည့် ဖက်ဆစ်ဆန်ဆန် အကြမ်းဖက်လုပ်ရပ်များကို ချက်ချင်း ရပ်တန်းက ရပ်ရန် သတိပေးလိုက်သည်။ ၄။ ပြည်ထဲရေးနှင့်လူဝင်မှုကြီးကြပ်ရေးဝန်ကြီးဌာနအနေဖြင့် ဖက်ဆစ်စစ်တပ်၏ အကြမ်းဖက် လုပ်ရပ်များကို အပြည့်အဝ တာဝန်မှုရှိစေရေး၊ တရားဥပ‌ဒေအောက် အရောက်ခေါ်ယူ၍ ပြည်သူ့တရားစီရင်နိုင်ရေးတို့ကို ဆက်လက်လုပ်ဆောင်သွားမည်ဖြစ်သည့်အပြင် နိုင်ငံတကာ အသိုင်းအဝိုင်းနှင့်လည်း ချိတ်တွဲလျက် ဖက်ဆစ်စစ်တပ်အပေါ် အရေးယူနိုင်ရေးကို ကြိုးပမ်းဆောင် ရွက်သွားမည်။ ၅။ နိုင်ငံတကာမိသားစုများ၊ ပြည်တွင်းပြည်ပအဖွဲ့အစည်းများအနေဖြင့် ချင်းပြည်နယ်ရှိ စစ်ဘေးသင့် ပြည်သူများအတွက် လိုအပ်နေသည့် လူမှုဘဝဆင်းရဲဒုက္ခများကို ဝိုင်းဝန်းကူညီပေး ကြပါရန် တောင်းဆိုတိုက်တွန်းလိုက်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration - Myanmar
2021-10-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Junta troops advancing from Sagaing Region to Chin State have been torching houses and a church along the Falam-Hakha road, forcing hundreds from their homes. More than 40 trucks carrying junta soldiers and an armored vehicle arrived in Falam on Wednesday and they torched houses and a church along the road to Hakha. At least six houses and a church in a village about 15km from Falam were reduced to ashes on Wednesday, according to the Chin Baptist Convention (CBC). Two more houses were burned down in another village the following day. According to the CBC and other sources, junta troops set ablaze at least 15 houses and a church on Wednesday and Thursday. “It was an indiscriminate attack on homes and religious buildings. People are devastated. They think it disregards and insults religion,” said the CBC chairman. The village that was torched on Wednesday has only around 40 inhabitants from 10 households. Another small village was torched on Thursday and all the residents have fled their homes. A junta deployment has entered northern Chin State and another from Magwe Region into the south of the mountainous state to attack Chin resistance forces. Chin resistance groups have ambushed junta troops entering the state. Around 300 residents from at least five roadside villages have fled the clashes, said the CBC chairman. Humanitarian aid cannot reach those displaced due to tightened road checks. “There is no one to help them as there is no guarantee for security on the road,” he said. A resident who fled to Hakha said: “I am sad that I might lose my house and all the belongings that I left behind. But life is the most important and I can do nothing.” Salai Htet Ni, a spokesman for the Chin National Front (CNF), said the regime was targeting the CNF headquarters as it works with the civilian National Unity Government to train and arm resistance fighters. “Clashes will intensify in Thantlang, Falam and Hakha in northern Chin State. We are prepared. We are working with the Chin Defense Forces to repel attacks,” Salai Htet Ni told The Irrawaddy. The CNF has negotiated with humanitarian agencies to enable civilians to take shelter on the Indian border, he said. The military regime has not commented on its Chin operations and did not reply to The Irrawaddy’s requests for a comment. In September, dozens of houses were destroyed in Thantlang by junta shelling and firefights with the combined Chinland Defense Force in Thantlang and Chin National Army. A Chin pastor Cung Biak Hum was shot dead by junta forces during a clash with the resistance in Thantlang on September 18. The Christian leader left his church to help put out fires caused by a junta artillery barrage. His wedding ring was taken by junta soldiers who cut his finger off..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2021-10-15
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-16
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Description: "Mindat, a small town in a remote and mountainous region of southern Chin State, is more isolated than ever these days. A full month has passed since martial law was imposed on the town and the surrounding area, and it now lies virtually empty, according to some of its few remaining residents. “There are no open shops, no hawkers—just dogs and pigs on the streets,” said one person who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity. “People even left their pets behind when they fled. The pigs broke their fences and now they’re roaming the streets looking for food,” he added. Martial law was imposed on Mindat a day after talks between the military and local resistance forces collapsed on May 12. Since then, more than 90% of the town’s roughly 11,000 inhabitants have fled as the military continues to tighten its grip, according to residents. At least 10,000 people have been displaced, with most seeking shelter in neighbouring villages or in the forest, according to the Mindat People’s Administration Team, which negotiated with the military to end the fighting. A town in terror Mindat’s resistance movement was among the first in the country to take up arms against regime forces cracking down on anti-coup protesters. The Chinland Defence Force (CDF), formed in early April, claimed multiple casualties in its clashes with junta troops, but suspended fighting later in the month as it called for the release of detained protesters. However, it wasn’t until the military suffered even greater losses after fighting resumed a few days later that it agreed to negotiate. This led to 10 days of relative peace that ended abruptly on May 12. The resistance forces initially defied the imposition of martial law, but were forced to retreat when the military sent reinforcements to occupy the town two days later. Anyone who was still in Mindat after troops took control of the town on May 15 has been forced to stay there due to the heavy military presence, according to residents. Soldiers have taken over all major roads and public areas, making most fearful of encounters that could end in arrest or worse, they said. “They interrogate everyone very strictly, so no one dares to go out. They’re suspicious of young people, so it’s even worse for them. They want to know if you’re a local and tell you to show them your ID and phones,” said one man still living in Mindat. Another danger is stray artillery shells, which sometimes hit residential neighbourhoods. The junta has blamed such incidents on local resistance forces, despite the fact that they are not believed to possess any heavy weaponry. On May 26, the regime released a statement claiming that its troops were under orders to act only in self-defence. However, with soldiers taking over houses and public buildings, including churches and other places of worship, few believe that they are in the town simply to keep the peace. Meanwhile, the regime has portrayed the resistance forces variously as “rioters” and “terrorists”, citing ambushes targeting military columns and other guerrilla tactics. Armed only with hunting rifles and improvised weapons, the CDF has been accused by the military of “terrorising” its heavily armed troops. The regime has made no mention, however, of the thousands of civilians who have fled in terror of the troops that have taken over their town. Targeting IDPs While there has been no fighting in the town since it was placed under martial law, the surrounding area continues to see clashes. Since the third week of May, villages housing internally displaced persons (IDPs) have increasingly come under fire, according to relief workers. On May 21, the CDF attacked some soldiers in plain clothes who had entered the village of Pukun, where a number of IDPs had been hiding, amid fears that regime forces were trying to infiltrate camps for the displaced. In another incident that took place on May 30, troops opened fire on an IDP camp in the village of Asakan, despite the fact that a white flag had been raised at the site to indicate that its inhabitants were not engaged in the conflict. “The moment they hear that IDPs are arriving in a village, it becomes a target. It’s pretty obvious. They are clearly intent on cracking down on civilians, even when the CDF hasn’t made the first move,” an IDP camp administrator told Myanmar Now. The IDPs live in a constant state of insecurity, as the military steadily widens its area of control to include more and more villages in the area. “They always have to be ready to run. The moment they hear the word ‘Tatmadaw’, they start getting nervous,” said the secretary of one IDP camp committee, referring to the Myanmar military. In addition to direct attacks, the military has also moved to block shipments of food and other supplies to the IDPs. Since June 7, when clashes broke out along the main road from Kyaukhtu, the town in Magway Region that has been the chief source of supplies, most villages located near the road have come under military control, according to relief workers. “The rations mostly come from Kyaukhtu. Since the military is blocking the road from there, there’s no other way to transport rations. It’s the only route,” said one IDP camp official. Besides food and clothing, many of the IDPs, including children, pregnant women, and the elderly, are in need of medicine support, he added. White flags On May 29, military officials announced that Mindat residents who registered with the authorities would be free to return to their homes or stay in one of eight churches or two monasteries designated as shelters. Few, however, have taken them up on their offer. “Some who can’t stay in the forests have gone back, but the vast majority haven’t. They just don’t trust the military,” said a member of the Mindat People’s Administration Team. Some who were unable to leave in the first place have entered the military-sanctioned shelters, but only because the alternative seemed too dangerous. “We stayed at home before, but we kept hearing all these shots, so we didn’t dare go outside. [Soldiers] would just start shooting if they heard a sound or saw someone, so we moved here because we were told it would be safe,” said a member of one family now living in an official shelter. “We can go around town now, but only if we’re holding a white flag,” he added, noting that, to avoid taking unnecessary risks, he only goes to his home once a week. Other residents also expressed similar concerns about the efficacy of white flags as a form of protection. “Even when we’re just going out to get vegetables, we need to carry a white flag. That’s still no guarantee, but we have to take our chances so we don’t just starve to death,” said one local. To make matters worse, the town’s mains water supply has been cut off since May, making trips to collect water a daily necessity. “There’s no water, so we have to go to the streams to get it. We don’t even have enough water to maintain hygiene,” said another resident. A member of the Mindat People’s Administration Team said it was difficult to know how many people were still living in the town. Among them, however, are elderly people who were too frail to flee before the military arrived. In some cases, it is almost certain that they haven’t survived the challenges of meeting their basic needs on their own in a town under siege. Meanwhile, as fighting spreads to other villages in the area, many are worried that Mindat could once again become a battle zone. But for some, the greater fear is what will happen to the town if the military ultimately prevails in the ongoing struggle. “This is the poorest town in the poorest state. Even if our revolution succeeds, it will be difficult for us to get back on our feet. So I want to urge everyone to please be active before the entire population gets wiped out,” said one defiant resident..."
Source/publisher: A month after coming under martial law, the town in southern Chin State has been all but emptied of its inhabitants
2021-06-14
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The location of the most recent fighting is just a few miles from makeshift camps where displaced locals have been sheltering
Description: "A member of the local resistance force in southern Chin State’s Mindat Township was killed during clashes with the junta’s armed forces on Tuesday. The military fired artillery shells during the fighting, which took place near the villages of Hpayar Sakhan and Shet, 16km from Mindat town, a member of the anti-coup Mindat People’s Administration Team said. “Fighting broke out in two locations. They fired heavy artillery. One of our members was killed in the fighting this morning,” he told Myanmar Now by telephone on Tuesday. “Today we could not hear the sound of their airplanes, but heavy artillery is still being fired as I am speaking to you now,” he added Eighteen-year-old Salai Ling Yaw Um was the resistance member killed during the clash. The source in Mindat added that others were injured, but the exact number of people wounded had not been confirmed. The military council imposed martial law in Mindat in mid-May. Intense fighting has broken out with local anti-coup fighters, forcing residents to flee to the town for safety, and into the nearby jungle, where they set up makeshift camps. The camps are just a few miles from the area where the fighting took place on Tuesday. With the junta’s forces recently stationed near the camps, the displaced locals have been forced to flee again, with only children and the elderly remaining, a representative from the Lu Saw internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp told Myanmar Now. “Everyone had to run to different locations. As the troops approached the camp, IDPs had to run again. Some IDPs left the camp. But we don’t know where they went,” the camp representative said. “Some ran towards the jungle. Only the people who did not know where to run remained in the camp.” At the time of reporting, more than 8,300 IDPs from Mindat had taken refuge in 18 IDP camps. The junta blocked all routes through which food could be transported to the locations where displaced persons were staying. Camp officials have said that food, clean water and medicine are urgently needed. Clashes erupted in Mindat in late April after a crowd gathered to demand the release of several detained protesters and a member of the regime’s forces reportedly shot at a demonstrator. Local resistance fighters have since killed dozens of soldiers in ambushes. They retreated from the town on Saturday after the military sent in helicopters full of reinforcement troops. On May 13, the junta declared martial law in Mindat and intensified its attacks on the town with long range artillery, machine guns, and shoulder-held rocket launchers. Soldiers also arrested local residents and forced them to act as human shields. By contrast, the resistance fighters are armed with traditional Tumi hunting rifles, double-barreled guns, and home-made explosive devices. After three days of clashes between the Myanmar military and local resistance fighters in Mindat, the military took control of the town, also deploying helicopters full of reinforcement troops. Since then, the majority of Mindat residents have fled to the jungles or to the homes of relatives in nearby towns and villages. During fighting from May 13 to June 6, some 21 members of the civilian resistance were killed, according to the Mindat People’s Administration Team..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2021-06-09
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Thousands of residents of a hill town in northwest Myanmar were hiding in jungles, villages and valleys on Monday after fleeing an assault by state troops, witnesses said, as the army advanced into the town after days battling local militias. Mindat, about 100 km (60 miles) from the Indian border in Chin state, has seen some of the most intense fighting since a Feb. 1 coup that has led to the emergence of ragtag local armies that are stifling the junta's bid to consolidate power. Martial law was declared in Mindat on Thursday before the army launched its assault, using artillery and helicopters against a newly formed Chinland Defence Force, a militia armed mainly with hunting rifles, which said it had pulled back to spare civilians from being caught in the crossfire. Several residents reached by Reuters said food was in short supply and estimated as many as 5,000 to 8,000 people had fled the town, with roads blocked and the presence of troops in the streets preventing their return. "Almost everyone left the city," said a volunteer fighter who said she was in a jungle. "Most of them are in hiding." A representative of the local people's administrative group of Mindat said he was among some 200 people, including women and children, who had trekked across rocky roads and hills carrying blankets, rice and cooking pots. He said the group was attacked with heavy weapons when troops spotted smoke from their cooking fires. "We have to move from one place to another. We cannot settle in a place in the jungle," he told Reuters by phone. "Some men were arrested as they went into town to get more food for us. We cannot get into town currently. We are going to starve in few days." The Chinland Defence Forces in a statement on Monday said it had killed five government troops in Hakha, another town in Chin State. The United Nations children's fund UNICEF in a tweet urged security forces to ensure safety of children in Mindat, the latest international call for restraint after human rights groups, the United States and Britain condemned the use of war weapons against civilians. MULTIPLE FRONTS The United States, Britain and Canada on Monday announced more sanctions against businesses and individuals tied to the junta. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged more countries to follow suit. read more Myanmar has been in chaos since the coup, with the military battling armed and peaceful resistance on multiple fronts, adding to concerns about economic collapse and a humanitarian crisis from old conflicts reigniting in border regions. The fighters in Chin State say they are part of the People's Defence Forces of the shadow government, which has called on the international community for help. In an effort to coordinate the anti-junta forces, the shadow government on Monday issued a list of instructions to all the civilian armies, which it said must operate under its command and control. Aid groups in direct contact with residents of Mindat made urgent calls on social media on Monday for donations or food, clothing and medicine. Salai, 24, who has been organising an emergency response, said she had spoken to people hiding in a valley and on farmland who had fled the advance of soldiers. "They looted people's property. They burned down people's houses. It is really upsetting," said Salai. "Some in the town were injured by gunshots, including a young girl. She cannot get medical treatment." A military spokesman did not answer calls or messages seeking comment. In its nightly news bulletin, state-run MRTV said security forces returned fire after coming under attack from insurgents in Mindat, who fled, and that government troops had been attacked elsewhere in Chin State. So far, 790 people have been killed in the junta's crackdown on its opponents, according to the activist group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The military disputes that figure. Reuters cannot independently verify arrests and casualty numbers. The military says it intervened after its complaints of fraud in a November election won by Aung San Suu Kyi's party were ignored. An international monitoring group on Monday said the results of that election "were, by and large, representative of the will of the people of Myanmar"..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-05-18
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Men in embattled town of Mindat flee to the hills as military steps up crack down on resistance to February 1 coup.
Description: "On May 15, Biak Thang hastily said goodbye to his wife and two children, grabbed a few days’ worth of food and supplies and ran to the forest. “We heard that [military forces] are arresting men, so most of the men are escaping and only women and children are left,” said Biak Thang, who asked to use a pseudonym for security reasons. “I don’t feel safe. I only heard about war-displaced people in the media, but we are war-displaced people now,” he said from the wooded hills on the outskirts of Mindat, a town in Myanmar’s Chin State. The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) has warned that the military, which seized power in a February 1 coup, may have committed war crimes and “grave breaches of the Geneva Convention” in Mindat, a town of 46,000 people located 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the border with India. Since imposing martial law there on May 13, the military has used local youth as human shields, occupied schools and hospitals, destroyed property and conducted heavy-weapon attacks by air and land, according to the CHRO and local media reports. The military, also known as the Tatmadaw, has described the violence in Mindat as a response to “armed terrorists,” referring to civilian defence forces, which have taken up arms in recent weeks, and said its forces returned fire after coming under attack.. While the military has reportedly used artillery fire, rocket-propelled grenades and automatic machine guns, the civilian forces are armed largely with homemade hunting rifles and makeshift explosives. Worn down by bloody crackdowns and arbitrary arrests, Mindat’s fighters are among growing numbers of people across the country turning to armed resistance to overthrow military rule. Since the coup, millions have taken to the streets in peaceful protest, while a Civil Disobedience Movement has shut down infrastructure and public services. The military, meanwhile, has killed more than 800 civilians and more than 4,000 people remain in custody, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which is tracking arrests throughout the country...... ‘Big machine weapons’: Chin, a rural and mountainous state in Myanmar’s northwest which is among the country’s least developed, has become among the fiercest battlegrounds of resistance, along with Sagaing region to its north. Beginning in late March, a group of civilians armed with hunting rifles and homemade weapons maintained a protest camp for more than 10 days in Sagaing’s town of Kalay, where it successfully negotiated a prisoner swap before the military attacked the camp with grenades and machine guns on April 7, killing 11 people. In Mindat, fighting erupted on April 24, after the military refused to release seven detained youth. Two days later, civilian defence forces ambushed six military trucks carrying reinforcement troops and weapons; the military responded by firing rocket launchers and artillery into the town. “The attacks started from the outskirts of Mindat. A few days later, they entered the town using big machine weapons. The situation intensified because they attacked indiscriminately, even in residential areas,” a local volunteer medic told Al Jazeera. She requested her name be withheld for her security. By April 27, Mindat’s civilian defence forces claimed to have killed more than 30 military soldiers. After the military released the seven detainees, the fighting paused for 10 days but resumed on May 12 when the military refused to release five more detainees. The next day, the military declared martial law over the town, after which it brought in troops and arms by land and air and attacked with heavy weapons during a three-day siege. On the morning of May 15, soldiers stormed Mindat, firing into streets and arresting young men from their homes. According to the CHRO, soldiers used at least 15 of the young people they had arrested as human shields. “These are ordinary youths who were trying to get outside of Mindat to avoid indiscriminate bombardment,” the CHRO’s Deputy Director Salai Za Uk Ling told Al Jazeera. “We are extremely concerned about their wellbeing as they are most likely to be mistreated and tortured under custody.” Since the coup, the bodies of numerous detainees across the country have been returned to families bearing signs of torture..... Community in fear: The Tatmadaw’s power grab, which brought to an end a hesitant transition to democracy, has rekindled unresolved armed conflicts between the military and several ethnic armed organisations, which have been fighting for political autonomy in the country’s borderlands for decades. City dwellers have also begun travelling to the territories held by ethnic armed groups to seek training to fight against the military government, while grassroots civilian defence forces have sprung up in areas that had not previously seen fighting. In March, a group of overthrown legislators and ethnic leaders serving as a parallel government in exile endorsed the public’s right to self-defence. On May 5, the shadow government announced the formation of a People’s Defence Force to protect the public’s “safety, property and wellbeing” and fight for the establishment of a federal democratic union. The People’s Defence Force is considered a step towards the creation of a federal army that could unite the country’s ethnic armed organisations and civilian defence forces under a single cause. Biak Thang, the Mindat resident who fled the town on May 15, told Al Jazeera that the community has been living in fear since the Tatmadaw imposed martial law there. “Civilians cannot move around freely,” he said. “We cannot go out to buy food or supplies. We are just depending on what we have stored.” He estimates about 70 percent of local people are hiding in small groups in the forest, and there is a risk of food shortages. Local media have also reported an urgent need for food and medical supplies for those who fled. The volunteer medic told Al Jazeera that she and her team are shifting to different locations in the forest to avoid arrest, while still attempting to care for the wounded. “When we are moving from place to place, even we uninjured people get really exhausted,” she said. “The patients should be resting, but instead, they have to run … It added so much time for their injuries to heal.” She is concerned that a lack of nutritious food will further hinder their recovery. By the time civilian defence forces retreated on May 15, allegedly to prevent further harm to civilians, seven members had been killed, according to local media reports. The military-run TV channel reported that some of its own troops had been killed and were missing but did not give a number. The US and UK embassies have condemned the military’s violence against civilians in Mindat, as has the National Unity Government, Myanmar’s government-in-exile. The National Unity Government also expressed its support for the people’s right to self-defence and called for a no-fly zone over Myanmar as well as international action to end the violence and protect the people..... Women left vulnerable: With most men having fled Mindat, rights groups now warn the women and children left behind are increasingly vulnerable. Soldiers have been looting property and burning down homes since taking over the town, while some residents have been unable to get medical assistance after being shot, a Mindat resident told Reuters news agency. In the wake of the attacks, the National Unity Government’s Ministry of Women, Youths and Children Affairs said in a statement that it had received verified claims of sexual violence in Mindat. Al Jazeera was unable to reach the Deputy Minister for comment. The secretary of the Chin Women Organization Hakha, who requested her name be withheld as she is currently in hiding, told Al Jazeera that she was “worried that the military could use sexual assault and rape as weapons as they have that history … As the military has occupied Mindat, the lives of Chin women and young girls, and all women in Mindat, are not safe anymore,” she said. In August 2019, a UN Fact-Finding Mission reported that Myanmar military soldiers “routinely and systematically” employed rape and sexual violence and that sexual violence perpetrated by the military was “part of a deliberate, well-planned strategy to intimidate, terrorise and punish a civilian population.” During a campaign of violence in Rakhine State in 2017, sexual violence was a factor indicating the military’s “genocidal intent to destroy the Rohingya population,” according to the UN report. Salai Za Uk Ling of the CHRO told Al Jazeera that due to the stigma and sensitivity of the issue, his organisation was not releasing detailed information about alleged sexual violence in Mindat, but he shared concerns that incidents of sexual violence could happen. He also warned that patterns of violence seen in Mindat could spread to other parts of the country, leading to more displacement as the rainy season approaches. With neighbouring India so far refusing to offer asylum to those crossing the border, Salai Za Uk Ling worries that the displaced will be left with no safe place to go. Although the civilian defence forces have retreated in Mindat, fighting is already spreading to other parts of the state. The civilian defence forces claim to have killed five military soldiers in Hakha township, where a member of civilian defence forces was also killed on May 16. Clashes in Tedim township left four military soldiers and two unarmed civilians dead, according to local media reports. Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the information. “The junta’s actions in Mindat demonstrate how far they are willing to go in trying to put the population under control. Mindat is only the beginning,” said Salai Za Uk Ling. “We are now basically witnessing a humanitarian disaster in the making..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2021-05-18
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "ကြေညာချက် အမှတ် ( ၂၈/၂၀၂၁ ) =================== ၁၃၈၃ ခုနှစ်၊ ကဆုန်လဆန်း ၆ ရက် မေလ (၁၆)ရက်၊ ၂၀၂၁ခုနှစ်။ --------------------------- ၁။ ချင်းပြည်နယ် မင်းတပ်မြို့တွင် ဖြစ်ပွားလျက်ရှိသော အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်၏ အပြစ်မဲ့ အရပ်သား ပြည်သူလူထုနှင့် ကလေးသူငယ်များအပေါ် လူသားမဆန်စွာ လက်နက်ကြီးများဖြင့် ပစ်ခတ်တိုက်ခိုက်ခြင်း၊ တိုက်ခိုက်ရေးရဟတ်ယာဉ်များ အသုံးပြု၍ ပြင်းထန်စွာ တိုက်ခိုက်ဖြိုခွင်းမှုများအပေါ် ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော် ကိုယ်စားပြုကော်မတီ (CRPH) အနေဖြင့် ပြင်းထန်စွာ ရှုတ်ချလိုက်သည်။ ၂။ အာဏာသိမ်းစစ်ကောင်စီ၏ အပြစ်မဲ့ပြည်သူလူထုနှင့် ကလေးသူငယ်များအပေါ် ပစ်မှတ်ထား တိုက်ခိုက်မှု များသည် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုများ ဖြစ်သဖြင့် ချက်ချင်းရပ်တန့်ရန်နှင့် လူသားမျိုးနွယ်စုအပေါ် ကျူးလွန် သော ရာဇဝတ်ပြစ်မှုများအတွက်လည်း စစ်ကောင်စီက တာဝန်ခံရမည် ဖြစ်ကြောင်း ပြင်းထန်စွာသတိပေး လိုက်သည်။ ၃။ ကုလသမဂ္ဂ အပါအဝင် နိုင်ငံတကာ အသိုင်းအဝိုင်းအနေဖြင့်လည်း အကြမ်းဖက်သတ်ဖြတ် တိုက်ခိုက်နေ သော အာဏာသိမ်း စစ်ကောင်စီကို ထိရောက်သော အရေးယူမှုများ အမြန်ဆုံးဆောင်ရွက်ရန် တိုက်တွန်းသည်။ ၄။ ပြည်သူလူထုမှ အာဏာသိမ်း စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ အကြမ်းဖက် ပြုကျင့်မှုများကို လက်မခံနိုင်ပဲ ရရာလက်နက်စွဲ ကိုင် တော်လှန်နေသော မင်းတပ်ပြည်သူလူထု၏ ရဲစွမ်းသတ္တိနှင့် တွန်းလှန်နေမှုကို ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော် ကိုယ်စားပြုကော်မတီအနေဖြင့် အသိအမှတ်ပြု ဂုဏ်ပြုသည့်အပြင် ထိခိုက်ကျဆုံးခဲ့ရသော မင်းတပ်ပြည်သူလူထု နှင့် တစ်သားတည်း ဝမ်းနည်းခံစားရပါကြောင်း၊ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရနှင့် ပေါင်းစပ်ညှိနှိုင်းကာ လိုအပ် သောအကူအညီများ ဆောင်ရွက်သွားမည်ဖြစ်ကြောင်း ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာလိုက်သည်။ ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားပြုကော်မတီ..."
Source/publisher: Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH)
2021-05-16
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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