ND Burma
ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.
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- Myanmar junta bombs Rohingya Muslim village killing 41, rescuers say
- Myanmar’s junta cuts filmmaker’s life sentence to 15 years as part of wider amnesty
- Close The Sky
- International condemnation of the escalating humanitarian crisis and rights violations in Myanmar
- Women in Karenni State face increasing levels of violence
Village in Sagaing Region resistance stronghold ‘reduced to ashes’ by Myanmar military
/in NewsSome 95 of the 130 homes in Kha War Thei village in Kyunhla Township are destroyed in an all-day arson attack by junta troops
Some 200 junta soldiers set fire to nearly the entire village of Kha War Thei in southern Kyunhla Township on Monday, according to local sources.
The troops arrived at the site, located 20 miles south of Kyunhla town in Sagaing Region, at around 10am after having previously been stationed at the Thaphan Seik Dam.
Just 35 houses out of Kha War Thei’s 130 residences survived the fire, according to a member of the village’s anti-junta defence team. He added that there were believed to be no civilian casualties in the attack as residents had fled.
“[The soldiers] torched the village even though there were no battles in the area. They didn’t stop until the evening and almost the entire village was destroyed,” he said, adding that his own home was among those lost.
Some of the soldiers involved in the assault stayed overnight in Kha War Thei before departing, while others left for neighbouring Taze Township on Monday evening.
Displaced residents—who at the time of reporting were sheltering in the nearby forests—have been reluctant to return to what is left of the village, fearing that the military might return.
“The military appears to be conducting ‘clearance’ operations in the area,” the village defence team member told Myanmar Now. “We are barely able to recognise our village now, as it was basically reduced to ashes.”
The leader of the defence team said that anti-junta forces in the resistance stronghold of Kyunhla would not be deterred by recent attacks.
“I have not lost my faith in the revolution. We are going to keep going,” he said.
The next day, more junta soldiers raided and torched homes in Kyauk Taing village, Kanbalu Township, located next to Kyunhla, local sources said.
Last week, some 500 homes in Khin-U Township were also reported to have been burned down by Myanmar army troops.
The military council has not commented on its operations in Sagaing Region, and frequently denies responsibility for such attacks.
Myanmar Now News
Detailed Analysis on War Crimes of Military Council at A Nang Pa
/in Briefing Papers, ND-Burma's ReportsOn October 23, 2022 at Burmese standard time on 8:40 pm, around 80 people were killed and more than 50 were injured, including many civilians, during the air strike by bombing of fighter jets from military while people were celebrating 62nd anniversary of forming the Kachin Independence Organization at A Nang Pa in KIA 9th brigade area which was more than 2 miles from Kansee village in Hpakant town. Among dead and injured were famous Kachin singers, invited business owners, civilians and officers and ordinary soldiers from KIA 9th brigade including brigade commander, mentioned in the local news. For the worse, the terrorist military blocked the injured people to be sent for treatment to Hpakant town, obviously ignoring human rights and blocking humanitarian assistance.
Moreover, Hpakant residents told Federal Journal, that military even threatened those who escaped from life threatening situation and came to Hpakant hospital and clinic, that they would be charged by illegal association act 17/1. “The act of military council targeting not only the ethnic Kachin people but also the civilian population, is systematically committing war crimes, the crimes against humanity and especially the case of mass murder, and it is not forgivable according to international law and also from the human rights point of view.” pointed out Moon Nay Li, the spokesperson from Kachin Women Association- Thailand, a member organization of Women’s League of Burma, mentioned in the Federal Journal.
On the attack at A Nang Pa area, Vice Chairman of Kachin Independence Council, Lt. General Gunmaw mentioned on his social media page, ““A Nang Pa is not a KIA camp. It’s just a small camp of shop-line where travelers take a break. The KIO Central Committee even did not consider those who had helped and supported successive Burmese governments as enemies. However, now the military council treated the people who came to A Nang Pa as enemies. Though young people are told at every opportunity not to make irreparable mistakes in life, it is the adults who make these mistakes. I am sending prayers for all those who lost their lives in A Nang Pa to get to heaven. I also send prayers to the injured. My condolences to all the family. The sorrow and tears of all will become priceless investments.” Similarly, in the last point of 7 points statement of KIO said, “such a tragic event will be accelerated into a revolutionary force that will push against the dictatorial military council”.
A friend of Ko King who played keyboard and was killed on the night of the attack said, “It’s really sad that a very close childhood innocent friend died. He was a very friendly person, an active participant in youth camp courses in his youth, and a happy person. Now, he has lost his life because of this devilish terrorist army,” revealed his feeling.
A Myitkyina resident Ko (Sumdu), whose name was changed, also said, “This terrorist army has no humane mind. They mark as enemy to whoever they see and kill. They can’t differentiate enemy they need to fight or ordinary people. They are shooting to kill everyone they see. For Myanmar to get peace, there should not be such kind of army,” revealed his point of view.
World Kachin Congress (WKC) also issued a statement condemning this brutal attack by terrorist military council. Similarly, ethnic armed northern brotherhood organizations; Arakan Army (AA), Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Ta-ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) have expressed sorrow and condemnation. And, National Unity Government (NUG) and Committee Representing People’s Hluttaw (CRPH) issued statement urging international community for immediate action. The embassies of United State and European Countries also issued joint statement expressing sorrow and condemnation on A Nang Pa incident. Neighboring countries China and India keep silent.
After the attack at A Nang Pa, at the meeting the Third Committee, which is part of the General Assembly held at the United Nations headquarters in New York, U Kyaw Moe Tun, the current Myanmar Ambassador to UN, and Mr. Thomas Andrews, the UN Special Envoy for Human Rights in Myanmar, presented the incident of the Hpakant music festival, which was a massacre by the military council’s air strike. However, the international response seems to be even slower than the speed of a turtle. An international treaty, the Rome Statute of 1998 stipulates that intentional targeting of civilians, purposeful attack knowing that civilians will die or injured; attacking, bombing or shelling towns, villages, house and building without resistance is a war crime. Even though with this stipulation, the international response and action on Burma is obviously nothing.
Myanmar junta looks to placate ASEAN with prisoner releases
/in NewsThe military’s amnesty is a calculated move to win bloc’s backing for elections next year.
The Myanmar junta’s announcement that it is releasing several high-profile prisoners including a former UK ambassador and an Australian economist, is an attempt to stave off pressure from ASEAN as the military looks to win legitimacy for national elections slated for next year.
On Thursday, the junta, formally called the State Administrative Council, said it was releasing Australian Sean Turnell, Briton Vicky Bowman, Japanese journalist Toru Kubota, U.S.-Burmese national Kyaw Htay Oo and several senior opposition figures. It was part of a prisoner amnesty of 5,774 prisoners, including 712 political prisoners, to mark a national holiday.
Turnell, an academic, was a close economic advisor to deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is now in prison herself – convicted and sentenced on multiple charges for a total of 26 years. Turnell was arrested days after the 1 Feb. 2021 coup, and sentenced to three years. Former ambassador Bowman, who ran an NGO which advocated corporate responsibility, was arrested with her husband Htein Lin, in September 2022. They were each sentenced to one year each on immigration charges. Lin was also released. Toru Kubota was arrested in July 2022 and sentenced to seven years.
The trumped-up charges against Bowman, Turnell, and Kubota indicate that they were effectively used as hostages to prevent their respective governments from endorsing tougher economic sanctions against the junta.
Why Now?
The releases came just days after Indonesian President Joko Widodo assumed the rotating presidency of ASEAN. His predecessor as ASEAN chair, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, had largely advocated an engagement policy with the junta, though he was pressured by ASEAN members to disinvite their political leadership to the summits.
In reality, Cambodia’s “leadership” was a gift to the junta. But a sympathetic chair is no longer a given.
Widodo, commonly known as Jokowi, announced his dissatisfaction with the grouping’s failure to get the junta to abide by the terms of the Five Point Consensus, reached between the junta and ASEAN in April 2021. It was intended to foster a political settlement and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.
A Nov. 13 statement from ASEAN after its leaders met for a summit in Cambodia, called for “concrete, practical and measurable indicators” of progress in implementing the consensus, and the junta has reason to believe that Indonesia will be more forceful in its approach. Jokowi stated that “Indonesia is deeply disappointed the situation in Myanmar is worsening,” and worried that the organization’s dithering was “defining” the Southeast Asian bloc.
While one might be skeptical that Indonesia may take a substantially harder line on the junta, would the generals in Naypyidaw be willing to take the risk? Foreign policy has never been a high priority for the Indonesian president, but having successfully hosted what could have been a very contentious G-20 summit and now assuming the presidency of ASEAN, Jokowi may be looking towards his legacy. His time in office will end in 2024.
But it was more than the ASEAN meeting that accounts for the timing.
On Nov. 14, Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah announced that said that Malaysia would not support the junta’s planned elections in 2023, as it would be “biased” and rejected by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy, which won overwhelmingly in the November 2020 polls, the shadow National Unity Government or other stakeholders.
“The pro-democracy group that won the previous election won big but before they could convene Parliament, the junta took over power,” Saifuddin said. “Therefore, it is completely illogical for Malaysia and ASEAN to support the election.”
The junta has every reason to fear that Indonesia may follow suit, paving the way for other ASEAN states, such as the Philippines and Singapore, to share that position.
The proposed election in Myanmar in 2023 will be shambolic, for a host of reasons. The junta has established a proportional representationsystem it believes that will be in its favor, arrested hundreds of NLD members of parliament and activists, gerrymandered districts, moved to ban parties, and controlled the media. It is also moving to establish a national identity card system that would be required for voting, but likely unavailable to much of the electorate. The junta also controls the Union Election Commission and the judiciary.
Various ethnic resistance organizations have already stated that no electoral activities will be allowed in their territory. The shadow government that emerged after the coup, the NUG, will probably lead a nationwide boycott of the elections, further diminishing the credibility of the vote.
Yet, while the junta is confident that they can rig a vote in their favor, they are much less confident that the international community will accept it. Coup leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing really believes that elections would allow him, Thai style, to cling to power and legitimize his regime.
While he can count on China, Russia and India, along with Japan and South Korea, to endorse any elections, giving the regime a fig leaf of legitimacy and allowing business as usual to resume, the key to international acceptance will be the stance of ASEAN.
The U.S. and the West have always said that ASEAN has to be the lead to any political resolution to the crisis in Myanmar. So it’s essential for the junta to try to preempt the bloc from rejecting the election’s results, before they’ve even happened.
The junta’s theory of victory
Despite considerable battlefield losses against Ethnic Resistance Organizations and People’s Defense Forces that have taken up arms since the coup, and a multi-front civil war, the junta has a theory of victory. The NUG’s center of gravity is their alliances and working relationships with the various ethnic armed organizations who also provide the NUG’s network of militias with arms and training. So they continue to dangle autonomy agreements and revenue sharing with any ethnic resistance organization that will show up in Naypyidaw.
The SAC also knows that time is on their side. Despite their gross economic mismanagement, they still have more resources than the NUG, they have access to weapons and arms, and can borrow money from abroad.
The junta simply has to hang on, and not lose any more territory before the elections slated for next August. Indeed, they are poised to begin their dry season offensive, trying to retake as much territory as possible and use their air power to bomb the ethnic resistance forces in the hopes that they quit the NUG and enter into peace talks.
And that’s why the release of Turnell, Bowman and others is so important. It will be interpreted by many in ASEAN and the international community as a goodwill gesture by the junta that will allow states that were starting to call for greater isolation of the junta to accept continued engagement.
For the junta, it all comes down to next year’s elections. It worked for the Thai junta that seized power in 2014, and was able within a few years to go from pariah to a normalized state, all while politically emasculating the opposition.
For Min Aung Hlaing, Bowman, Turnell, Kubota, and others are tokens to be exchanged for international endorsement. And they have many more to play, including the Lady herself — as Aung San Suu Kyi is known in Myanmar — as they maneuver to hold onto power. This is no humanitarian gesture, but a cynical and calculated ploy for international legitimacy.
RFA News
Australian economist, former UK ambassador among thousands freed in Myanmar amnesty
/in NewsThe surprise announcement comes as the country’s military junta continues to face pressure both at home and abroad
Myanmar’s military junta will release thousands of prisoners, including political detainees and a number of prominent foreigners, as part of a general amnesty announced on Thursday, according to state media.
Among those set to be freed are Sean Turnell, an Australian economist who has been detained since the regime seized power in February 2021, and Vicky Bowman, a former British ambassador to Myanmar who was arrested in August.
The amnesty, which was announced to mark Myanmar’s National Day, will see the release of 5,744 prisoners. Among them are some detained under Section 505a of the Penal Code for incitement in the wake of last year’s coup.
Turnell, who was an economic advisor to ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was sentenced in late September to three years in prison under the Official Secrets Act and Immigration Act by a junta-controlled court in the regime’s administrative capital Naypyitaw.
Suu Kyi and other senior leaders of her deposed ruling party, the National League for Democracy, were not included in the amnesty.
Bowman and her husband, Myanmar national Htein Lin, were both handed one-year sentences in September for immigration offenses related to the former ambassador’s alleged violation of the terms of her visa. Htein Lin will also be freed under the amnesty.
Two other foreign nationals—Japanese filmmaker Toru Kubota, who was sentenced last month to ten years in prison for his contact with anti-coup protesters during the making of a documentary, and Kyaw Htay Oo, an American citizen arrested on terrorism charges—were also named in Thursday’s announcement.
All four of the foreigners included in the amnesty will be deported, according to state media reports.
The regime has also dropped charges against 11 Myanmar celebrities convicted in absentia for their role in opposing the military takeover, the reports added.
Myanmar’s military continues to face staunch opposition to its rule nearly two years after overthrowing the country’s civilian government. Like previous juntas, the current regime has announced a number of amnesties since seizing power to ease both domestic and international pressure.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the regime has arrested more than 16,232 dissidents since the coup, of whom more than 13,000 remain in junta custody.
Myanmar Now News
Veteran activist Mya Aye and other prominent junta critics released as part of mass amnesty
/in NewsSeveral of those freed under an amnesty announced on Thursday had been arrested on the day of last year’s coup
Veteran democracy activist Mya Aye, who has been in junta custody since the military seized power in February of last year, was among nearly 5,800 prisoners pardoned in a mass amnesty on Thursday. He was released from Yangon’s Insein Prison along with several other detainees on Thursday afternoon.
A regime-controlled court sentenced the prominent ‘88 generation student leader to two years in prison in March under Section 505c of the Penal Code for “inciting hate towards an ethnicity or a community.” He was handed the sentence on his 56th birthday.
“I will always be with the people of Myanmar,” he told reporters gathered outside the prison upon his release.
Several others arrested on the day of the February 2021 coup were also freed on Thursday, including two senior members of the ousted ruling party, the National League for Democracy—party spokesperson Dr. Myo Nyunt and legal advisor Kyaw Ho.
Satirist Maung Thar Cho and junta critic Ven. Pyinya Thiha—a senior monk better known as Shwe Nya Wah Sayadaw—were among the other notable figures released after more than 21 months in detention.
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Writer Maung Thar Cho is seen outside Insein Prison on November 17 (Supplied by citizen journalist)
A total of 143 prisoners were due to be released from prisons in Mandalay Region, including 14 from Obo Prison. Several sources confirmed that those released from prisons across the country include a number of journalists held for incitement.
Four foreign nationals—Australian economist Sean Turnell, former UK diplomat Vicky Bowman, Japanese documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota, and American botanist Kyaw Htay Oo—were also among those freed. The military said the four would be deported upon their release. Details are still unknown.
Also granted amnesty were the ousted minister of the State Counsellor’s Office Kyaw Tint Swe and former Tanintharyi Region chief minister Le Le Maw, who had been sentenced before the coup to 30 years behind bars for corruption.
Meanwhile, filmmaker Min Htin Ko Ko Gyi, another longtime critic of the military, was released on Tuesday after completing a two-year sentence. However, singer Saw Phoe Khwar was re-arrested on the same day and sent to Taungoo Prison in Bago Region after another charge was filed against him. Further details were not available at the time of reporting.
Insein_prison.jpeg
Families wait outside Insein Prison as prison authorities begin to release detainees granted an amnesty on November 17 (Supplied by citizen journalist)
Myanmar Now News
Myanmar junta raids in Sagaing leave at least 14 dead
/in NewsThe victims, who include both resistance fighters and civilians, were killed in a series of attacks in three townships that began late last week
Myanmar junta troops killed at least 14 people in a series of raids carried out in three Sagaing Region townships over the past week, according to local resistance sources.
The deaths, which include that of a 14-year-old boy, were the result of attacks on villages in Sagaing’s Wetlet, Ye-U and Budalin townships that began last Wednesday.
On Sunday, around 60 regime soldiers raided the village of Htan Gyi, located some 20km southeast of the town of Wetlet, killing at least five people and torching around 300 homes, according to the leader of a local defence team.
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The charred remains of bodies discovered in Htan Gyi following a raid by junta troops on November 13 (Supplied)
The bodies of the deceased were found in two houses that had been set on fire by the regime forces, he said. Four were in a house just outside of the village near the local train station and the fifth was inside the village, he added.
The four bodies found near the train station belonged to members of another local defence team based in Pauk Kan, a village about 4km northwest of Htan Gyi.
“One had his throat slit. They were all badly disfigured. They were burned with their motorbikes. I don’t know if they were burned alive or set on fire after they were killed,” said the defence team leader, who did not want to be named.
He added that the junta forces initiated the raid on Htan Gyi from the area near the train station, firing on the village with heavy artillery before entering it and beginning their arson attacks.
The fifth victim was identified as Thinn Ko, a 50-year-old Htan Gyi resident who was ill and unable to flee the village when the soldiers arrived.
“It seems he died hiding inside one of the houses that was burned down,” the defence force leader told Myanmar Now.
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A vehicle destroyed in an arson attack by junta troops (Supplied)
After leaving Htan Gyi on Sunday evening, the junta column moved southeast to Kyaung Phyu, about 4km away, where they clashed with local defence groups, sources said.
Two days earlier, the military launched a series of airstrikes between the villages of Si Thar Myay and Lein Taw in Ye-U Township, about 80km northwest of Wetlet, using two Mi-35 attack helicopters, according to local resistance sources. Two Mi-17 transport helicopters were also used to airlift soldiers into the area, they added.
The two attack helicopters bombed the area for about 20 minutes before the other helicopters arrived with around 100 troops, the sources said.
Three resistance fighters were trapped during the air raid, which was reportedly ordered after the military received information that resistance forces were planning to hold a meeting in the area.
According to a source within Battalion 14 of the Shwebo District chapter of the People’s Defence Force led by the shadow National Unity Government, the three resistance fighters were later captured and killed.
All three had bullet wounds in their heads, the source said.
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Members of a local defence team in Sagaing (Myanmar Now)
For the next two days, the junta troops remained in the nearby village of Pan Kone, which they used as a base to carry out ground assaults on other villages in the area.
During this time, soldiers killed two local civilians, including a 50-year-old mentally handicapped man living in Pan Kone, according to a Ye-U-based resistance fighter.
“They were both regular civilians, not politically active at all,” he said, adding that two other residents of the village were also taken hostage and had not been released by the time the regime forces left Pan Kone for the town of Ye-U on Sunday.
Meanwhile, regime troops also carried out a series of attacks in Budalin Township, about 50km southwest of Ye-U, beginning on November 9. A total of four people, including two resistance fighters and a 14-year-old boy, were killed in these assaults, local sources reported.
The first two victims were killed in the village of Thet Shey Kan, where the village head and a resistance fighter died trying to help residents flee a column of around 50 soldiers.
The two men, identified as Bo Mee Tauk and Myo Thu Win, were both tortured after being captured, according a resistance source based in Budalin.
“When we found his body, the hands were all twisted and there were also cuts on the arms, stomach and back. His intestines were also falling out of his stomach,” said the source, referring to the body of village head Bo Mee Tauk.
“Both had also been hit repeatedly in the jaw with rifle butts, leaving the entire area black,” he added.
After spending last Wednesday night in Thet Shay Kan, the junta troops left for Ywar Shay, another village about 6km to the east.
Two residents of the village were shot dead when they encountered soldiers as they were trying to flee heavy artillery fire, according to a local who managed to escape.
The victims were identified as U Shan, 50, and Aung Myo Thant, 14.
Despite being located near Monywa, where the Northwestern Military Command is based, Butalin Township is largely under the control of anti-regime forces, and so is frequently targeted by the military.
Additional reporting by Moe Oo
Myanmar Now News