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.
Recent Posts
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- Junta offensives leave 4 dead, thousands displaced in northwest Myanmar
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Two journalists among more than a dozen arrested in Yangon protest crackdown
/in NewsAt least one person was shot attempting to escape and another was severely beaten after being captured, witnesses said
At least 15 people, including two freelance journalists, were arrested during a crackdown on a protest in Yangon’s Kyeemyindaing Township on Tuesday, according to sources.
One protester who managed to evade arrest told Myanmar Now that plainclothes regime forces appeared almost immediately after the rally on Panbingyi Street began at around 4:45pm.
“Some people hadn’t even gotten out of their cars when [the junta troops] showed up pointing their guns at them,” said the protester, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The purpose of the rally, which was timed to coincide with the opening of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, was to call on the world body to retain diplomat Kyaw Moe Tun as Myanmar’s permanent representative.
Last December, the UN’s credentials committee voted to keep Kyaw Moe Tun—who weeks after last year’s coup delivered an impassioned speech denouncing the military takeover—in the post, in a blow to the junta’s bid for international recognition.
Protesters were just beginning to unfurl banners that read “UN: Prove Your Existence For Justice” when regime forces in civilian vehicles parked on Panbingyi Street started making arrests, another activist told Myanmar Now.
At least one person who attempted to flee the scene was shot in the leg and another was severely beaten after being captured, according to a local resident.
“The protesters ran past our car as they were trying to get away. The plainclothes officers started shouting that they were thieves and told bystanders to stop them. Some people at the end of the street caught them. After that, two shots were fired,” said a woman who did not want to be identified.
The planned flash mob protest was organised by several anti-regime groups, including the Octopus Youth Organisation, the Education Students Union, the Myanmar Labour Alliance, and the Bama Youth Network.
The Confederation of Trade Unions Myanmar, another group that took part in the protest, said in a statement that four of its members—Nay Min Tun, Aye Chan Aung, Zue Zue Ra Khine, and Yamin Kay Thwe Khine—were among those arrested, along with a driver named Than Zaw.
The identities of the other detainees, including the two freelance journalists, could not be confirmed at the time of reporting.
Panbingyi Street was the scene last December of another protest that ended when regime forces used their vehicles to ram into a crowd of demonstrators.
Although there were reports of several deaths in that incident, the junta later claimed that only two men and a woman had been injured in what it called a “crowd dispersal operation”.
Despite tight security and violent crackdowns, pro-democracy groups continue to hold rallies in Yangon calling for an end to military rule.
Last month, the regime arrested a protester and a freelance photographer who marked the 34th anniversary of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising on August 8 by displaying umbrellas with the number eight printed on them in Burmese.
One of those who escaped arrest on Tuesday said the latest attempt to crush the anti-coup movement would not deter activists determined to restore civilian rule.
“Those of us who are still free will just redouble our efforts to bring down this dictatorship,” he said.
Myanmar Now News
Myanmar: Death of Activists in Custody
/in NewsSix Cases Highlight Alleged Torture, Junta’s Failure to Investigate
(Sydney) – Myanmar’s military and police are responsible for scores of deaths in custody since the February 1, 2021 military coup, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human Rights Watch documented the deaths of six detained activists that involved apparent torture or the denial of adequate medical care. The junta authorities have not seriously investigated these deaths or taken action against those responsible.
“The six deaths Human Rights Watch documented are just the tip of the iceberg of suffering and torture of those detained by Myanmar’s military and police,” said Manny Maung, Myanmar researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Given the junta’s cruelty in all aspects of its rule, there’s little surprise that no evident action has been taken to investigate deaths in custody and bring those responsible to justice.”
The junta should immediately end its abuses against those opposed to military rule, including arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and other ill-treatment, and unfair trials. Deaths in custody should be immediately reported with proper documentation to the person’s family, the body should be returned, and those responsible for abuses held to account.
The Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners estimates that at least 73 people have died in police or military custody in police stations, military interrogation centers, and prisons since the coup, which effectively ended the democratic transition under Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). These deaths are only a small percentage of the at least 690 people that have been killed shortly after being apprehended by the security forces, often during military operations in ethnic minority areas. The military junta has only acknowledged a few custodial deaths but attributes them to illness or heart failure. However, human rights activists, witnesses, and sources close to the victims said that the physical evidence available indicates that many died from torture or other mistreatment, including poor detention conditions and a lack of access to adequate medical care.
Human Rights Watch documented the six deaths between May and July, remotely interviewing 10 witnesses and others familiar with the cases, reviewing 40 photographs and 5 videos posted to social media platforms, and obtaining independent medical analysis of the visual evidence by an emergency physician with expertise in torture.
The six men were all political activists or vocal opponents of the military junta in Yangon, Mandalay, and Sagaing Regions. Khin Maung Latt, 58, Zaw Myat Lynn, 46, and Than Tun Oo, 48, were NLD members apparently arrested for their political affiliation. Khet Thi, 43, Tin Maung Myint, 52, and Kyaw Swe Nyein, 55, joined or led protest movements after the coup. Five died within 24 hours of being arrested and interrogated, while Kyaw Swe Nyein, died two months after his arrest.
Myanmar police and soldiers arrested five of the six victims during night raids; they arrested the sixth, Than Tun Oo, in Mandalay during the day. In all but one of the cases, the arrests were carried out during joint military-police operations. A law enacted in March formally brought the police under junta control, requiring police officers to comply with all military orders, including taking part in military operations.
Photographs of five of the victims show physical marks on their bodies or heads that indicate torture. There are no photographs of Than Tun Oo’s body since junta authorities said he was cremated soon after he died.
Dr. Rohini Haar, an emergency physician whom Human Rights Watch consulted, analyzed images of the bodies: “Having reviewed photographs and videos of the five victims after their deaths, it is clear from the physical marks on the bodies and faces that these men suffered immensely, and that torture occurred.… There are so many signs of abuse and torture that it is hard to pinpoint exactly what killed these individuals.”
None of the men’s families received official medical certificates, cause of death, or autopsy reports, despite evidence that autopsies were conducted on four of the six bodies. The junta should issue medical certificates for all death-in-custody cases and provide autopsy reports to families if autopsies were performed.
Four of the victims’ families said they felt pressured by officials to have the bodies cremated immediately, presumably to hide evidence of wrongdoing. Two families said they buried their loved ones quickly out of fear the authorities would confiscate the body.
The UN special rapporteur on Myanmar said in October 2021 that he had received credible reports of “over 8,000 arbitrarily detained with many tortured, including dozens who were tortured to death.” At the UN Human Rights Council in March, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said she had received credible reports that at least 21 percent of deaths by the security forces had occurred while victims were in custody.
Human Rights Watch has found that the junta’s widespread and systematic abuses since the coup amount to crimes against humanity, which include murder, torture, and wrongful imprisonment.
The UN Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016) sets out that all death-in-custody cases should be subjected to “prompt, impartial, and effective investigations into the circumstances and causes” of the death. In addition, “family members should be informed immediately and thereafter a notification of death posted in an easily accessible way. To the extent possible, family members should also be consulted prior to an autopsy. They should be entitled to have a representative present during the autopsy … [H]uman remains should be returned to family members, allowing them to dispose of the deceased according to their beliefs.”
The UN, regional bodies, and governments – including the European Union, United States, United Kingdom, and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – should specifically raise concerns about deaths in custody and press the junta to end them, Human Rights Watch said. They should strengthen targeted sanctions against military-owned businesses, the military and the State Administration Council (SAC) junta leadership under Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.
The UN Security Council should urgently take measures against the junta, including by referring the situation in the country to the International Criminal Court and passing a resolution to impose a global arms embargo.
“The deaths of people in custody are among the hidden atrocities that junta security forces are committing every day,” Maung said. “Concerned governments should be ensuring global condemnation of these horrific abuses.”
For detailed accounts of the deaths in custody, please see below.
Deaths in Custody
The following case histories are based on remote interviews with family members of the victims and witnesses and other sources of information. In all but one of the cases, witnesses said they were afraid to be named due to fear of reprisals from the Myanmar military or police.
Kyaw Swe Nyein, Nyaung-U town, Mandalay Region
Plainclothes policemen and a military intelligence unit arrested Kyaw Swe Nyein, 55, at his home in Mandalay Region on January 30, 2022, after he joined protests in Nyaung-U, Mandalay Region.
The authorities accused Kyaw Swe Nyein of spreading “fake news” and sharing a Facebook post supporting anti-coup protests. A closed court in March sentenced him to six months in prison for incitement under section 505A of the penal code. This section, amended by the junta shortly after the coup, makes it a criminal offense to make comments that “cause fear” and spread “false news,” and is punishable by up to three years in prison.
On March 9, Kyaw Swe Nyein sounded well when he spoke to his family on a mobile phone borrowed from one of the prison guards at Nyaung-U prison. However, he told a family member that he had been badly beaten at the Myingyan interrogation center, where he was held for the first 10 days. He told his family that he had experienced some dizziness as a result. On March 11, prison authorities informed Kyaw Swe Nyein’s wife that he had died that evening after complaining of dizziness. Doctors at Nyaung-U hospital, where his body was taken, told relatives that he had died of heart failure.
The family did not receive a death certificate or an autopsy report, even though authorities conducted an autopsy. A family member said a police official told the family to sign a blank document acknowledging they were informed of Kyaw Swe Nyein’s death.
A family member said:
After reviewing images of Kyaw Swe Nyein at his funeral, Dr. Haar said a photograph showed evidence of trauma to the head from bruising around the eyes and ears.
Than Tun Oo, Mandalay town, Mandalay Region
On September 26, 2021, at about 3:30 p.m., soldiers and police arrested Than Tun Oo, 48, a former political prisoner and activist, at his home in Mandalay and took him to the No. 7 Area Police Station. Neighbors and family members watched as security forces beat him with his hands tied behind his back and then shot him in the legs, supposedly for being slow to respond to orders. A witness said:
The witness said the next day, September 27, police and military officials told Than Tun Oo’s family that he had died in the police station from heart failure. The authorities did not give the family a medical certificate, a witness said, but security forces made family members sign a document acknowledging they had been informed of Than Tun Oo’s death.
The family said Than Tun Oo was in good health prior to his arrest. When the family demanded his body, junta authorities said they had cremated the body immediately because Than Tun Oo had tested positive for Covid-19 while in custody.
A family member said:
Khet Thi, Shwebo city, Sagaing Region
Khet Thi, 43, a popular poet known for his sharp political wit, took on a leadership role opposing the military coup. He organized protests and spoke at rallies to encourage dissent against the military. His poetry became part of his resistance to military rule. “They shoot in the head, but they don’t know that revolution is in the heart,” he wrote.
On May 8, 2021, about 40 soldiers and police arrested Khet Thi at his home in the city of Shwebo, Sagaing Region, and accused him of leading a plan to lay landmines targeting the security forces. Junta authorities also arrested Khet Thi’s wife, Chaw Suu, and her brother-in-law, Aye Pyo, for allegedly helping to plan the attack.
A witness said that police handcuffed all three, then took them in a police vehicle to Myo Ma, the main police station in Shwebo, where they were separated into male and female cellblocks for interrogation.
After hours of interrogation overnight, Chaw Suu and her brother-in-law were released on the morning of May 9. A police officer informed Chaw Suu that her husband had been taken to Monywa General Hospital, almost 90 kilometers from Myo Ma police station. Sources familiar with the case said that Chaw Suu thought her husband was ill and asked the head of the police station to take her to the hospital so she could care for him. The officer in charge then told her that Khet Thi was dead.
On May 9, at about 2 p.m., junta officials at Monywa hospital told Khet Thi’s family that he had died of a heart attack. However, family members deny that he had any heart problems, and say he was in good health apart from poor eyesight. A source said hospital staff pressured the family to have the body cremated at the hospital the same day. Fearing junta officials would force them to immediately cremate Khet Thi, the family took his body to prepare for burial the next day.
Junta officials failed to provide the family a medical certificate or autopsy report, and there was no investigation into his death.
A family member said:
Khet Thi was buried on May 10, 2021, less than 48 hours after his arrest.
Dr. Haar, the emergency physician, said that images of Khet Thi taken after his death showed likely head trauma.
Zaw Myat Lynn, Shwe Pyi Thar township, Yangon
Zaw Myat Lynn, 46, was a former NLD member who ran a vocational education school named after Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon’s Shwe Pyi Thar township. He and his family lived with the students.
On March 9, 2021, at about 1 a.m., police and soldiers arrived at the school, appearing to target Zaw Myat Lynn for arrest due to pro-democracy posts on his Facebook account. He ran and jumped over a fence but was surrounded by police and soldiers who took him into a military vehicle.
A teacher said:
Zaw Myat Lynn’s family was told the next day to come and identify his corpse.
Dr. Haar, who reviewed 12 photographs and 2 videos of Zaw Myat Lynn’s body, said visible injuries suggested scalding liquid was poured onto his face.
After examining similar photographs, The Guardian newspaper concluded that the nature of Zaw Myat Lynn’s injuries were consistent with torture: “It appears that boiling water or a chemical solution had been poured into his mouth. The tongue was melted, his teeth missing. Facial skin was peeling off. The body had been wrapped up to conceal further traumatic injuries.”
A source close to the family said that junta officials told Zaw Myat Lynn’s family that he had died from heart failure. The officials failed to provide the family with a medical certificate or autopsy report.
Tin Maung Myint, Yin Mar Bin township, Sagaing Region
On April 4, 2021, soldiers arrested Tin Maung Myint, 52, during a raid on his village in Yin Mar Bin township, Sagaing Region. He was a farmer and village leader who had joined the opposition to the junta. Witnesses said that soldiers arrested Tin Maung Myint around 4 a.m. along with seven others who were keeping watch on the military column that was preparing to raid their village.
Tin Maung Myint’s body, along with that of another villager who was arrested with him, turned up the next day about 2 p.m. at the Monywa General Hospital, bearing marks of torture. A witness who viewed the body said:
One photograph posted on social media of Tin Maung Myint’s body shows numerous wounds. Dr. Haar, who reviewed the photograph, said she observed massive trauma consistent with skin tears and avulsions – or forcible tearing – on his shoulders that looked like burns. Bruises are visible on the face, as is a deep gash on the forehead. She said it was unclear which injury was the cause of death.
Junta authorities failed to provide a death certificate to the family or explain how Tin Maung Myint had died. Hospital staff who found the bodies told the families the men were already dead when they were discovered dumped at the hospital.
Khin Maung Latt, Pabedan township, Yangon
On March 6, 2021, soldiers and police arrived at the home of Khin Maung Latt, 58, a ward chairman and NLD member, in Pabedan township, Yangon. Witnesses said that after forcibly entering his home, security forces beat and kicked Khin Maung Latt in front of his family, then took him away at gunpoint. His family was notified the next morning that he had died of heart failure, and they retrieved his body at 8 a.m.
A friend of Khin Maung Latt’s who attended his funeral on March 7 said that his legs looked broken, his white funeral shroud was covered in blood, and that his face appeared blue and swollen. The friend said:
He said that the authorities appeared to have carried out an autopsy:
A member of the Muslim community who helped to prepare Khin Maung Latt’s body for a Muslim burial said there were deep wounds on his back and hands consistent with torture.
Dr. Haar, who reviewed nine photographs and one video of Khin Maung Latt’s body, observed unskilled, haphazard suturing of the autopsy wounds on the head and chest: “The sutures are very unusual and not in line with medical best practice. By even conducting the autopsy under such unusual circumstances, may also suggest medical complicity to the acts of torture that clearly occurred to the individual.”
Khin Maung Latt’s body was cremated at the Ye Way cemetery on March 7, less than 24 hours after his arrest. The friend said officials failed to provide the family with a medical certificate or autopsy report.
HRW
The Power of Protest in Myanmar
/in Justice NewslettersFor decades, people in Myanmar have come together to protest and call for greater protection and enforcement of their fundamental rights and freedoms. Pivotal moments throughout the country’s history took place during moments of frustration from brave citizens who demanded a better future for themselves and the next generation.
The attempted coup in Myanmar is yet another example of the Generals of the Myanmar military trying and failing to exert power over a population who refuses to grant them any form of legitimacy. In response, the regime has not hesitated to brutally crack down on protesters.
The commemoration of the 1988 protests was recognized on 8 August 2022. Thirty-four years have passed since students led demonstrations against General Ne Win’s disastrous economic policies. At least three thousand people were killed in a rampage of assaults by the Myanmar Army.
Again, between October and December 2006, protesters were detained again in a series of pro-democracy strikes that aimed to bring awareness to the oppression against students. In 2007, the Saffron Revolution saw monks among the students, and activists, participate in a non-violent protest which was triggered by a national increase in fuel prices. Dozens were once again killed by the regime for peacefully protesting.
Lway Nhawt Ta’ang, Advocacy Manager, at the Ta’ang Women’s Organization (TWO), said, “The reason why there has been protests in Myanmar for more than 70-years is because this entire time the situation has not improved as much as it should.”
“The people of Myanmar do not want the dictatorship that was practiced for so many years before. They prefer the system of democracy,” she added. “The protests taking place currently aim to unite the country’s citizens in strong rejection of the coup and call for a return for democracy.”
Propelled by an insatiable hunger for power, the rights of civilians have been disregarded time and time again by the military generals. After several years of a quasi-civilian democracy, citizens were hopeful. Albeit, many challenges still remained under the National League for Democracy (NLD), yet there was hope.
General Secretary of the All-Arakan Students’ and Youths’ Congress,
Ko Ting Oo, said the coup has revealed the oppression that ethnic people face across Myanmar.
“As a result of the Spring Revolution, the majority of Burmese people began to accept and understand the oppression and human rights abuses that ethnic people face. For decades, we have been ruled unjustly.”
The unity throughout the pro-democracy protests are a reminder of the strength and adversity of people on the ground who are committed to see a federal union, and accountability for the human rights violations that have been perpetrated by the military junta.
“We cannot accept the military’s dictatorship. We have seen only negative consequences and no positive results throughout history,” said Nai Aue Mon, Program Director of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland.
“It is the true desire of the people to see consequences for the Generals. We are fed up, and tired of the military regimes,” he added.
For decades, people in Myanmar have come together to protest and call for greater protection and enforcement of their fundamental rights and freedoms. Pivotal moments throughout the country’s history took place during moments of frustration from brave citizens who demanded a better future for themselves and the next generation.
They must provide financial support to the armed resistance and protesters, and boycott all military products. They must also honour the multiple calls of civil society organizations to refer the Myanmar Army to the International Criminal Court.
Junta troops kill 12, burn hundreds of homes in 11 days of raids in Sagaing
/in NewsSources said 20,000 residents from 80 villages fled their homes amid the attacks.
Junta troops in Myanmar’s Sagaing region have killed at least 12 civilians and burned down more than 500 houses in 11 days since entering the region’s northern townships of Kawlin, Kanbalu and Kyunhla, villagers and local defense groups said Friday.
Sources in the area told RFA Burmese that the military had set nearly 50 villages alight since Aug. 22, forcing more than 20,000 residents from 80 villages in the area to flee their homes for safety.
Nay Zin Lat, the former National League for Democracy (NLD) representative for Kanbalu township, said a dozen people had been killed over the past 11 days and that three villages in Kyunhla township were set on fire on Thursday alone.
“Kyunhla township’s Hmaw Tone village is still burning today,” he said.
“Eight unidentified bodies were found on Aug. 23 near [Kyunhla’s] Tei Pin Seik village. They might have been burned to death or killed by heavy weapons. We cannot confirm anything yet.”
Nay Zin Lat said three fighter jets fired at Kawlin township’s Thit Seint Kone village at around 11:20 p.m. the same day, adding that “five villagers were hit and only one survived.”
The Kawlin Revolution Group, an anti-junta paramilitary organization, told RFA that four people were killed in the attack, including six-year-old Pyisone, Moe Aung, Zin Myo Tun, and his nine-months pregnant wife, Phyu Zar Win.
RFA tried to contact family members of the victims but was unable to reach them because the phone lines were cut.
Local anti-junta People’s Defense Force (PDF) groups announced that more than 40 enemy troops were killed in a skirmish between the PDF and the military near the border of Kanbalu and Kawlin townships on Aug. 22-23, and that three officers and a cache of ammunition were captured.
A resident of Aung Chan Thar village told RFA that junta troops started burning his and other villages in Kawlin township as they passed through the next day.
“The troops that were airdropped into the area set fire to our village. The fighting took place on Aug. 22 and they started burning the village on the 23rd,” the resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“There used to be 75 houses in our village. They set fire to almost every village they entered. All those from our village are on the run and are depending on food donated by people nearby. But when it rains, life is miserable and we don’t have any food or medicine.”
500 homes burned
Sources told RFA that more than 500 houses have been burned since Aug. 22, including 75 from Kawlin township’s Aung Chan Thar village, as well as 59 from Kone See village, two from Tei Pin Seik village, 95 from Ein Chay village, 17 from Inn Yar village, and 53 from Ywar Koe Gyi village — all in Kyunhla township. They said at least 220 houses were torched in three other villages as well, without providing details.
“Even my pucca (brick) building has turned to ashes. All 95 of the houses have been destroyed,” said a villager from Ein Chay, who also declined to be named, fearing reprisal.
“Right now, we don’t dare to stay [in the village] and we don’t have a place to live. All the villagers have fled. When it rains, everyone has a difficult time.”
Other sources said the military had cut off internet access in Kawlin and Kanbalu townships and that details of the arson attacks remain unknown.
A member of a local armed-resistance unit said junta troops are still stationed in Kyunhla’s Ywar Koe Gyi and Kaing Wun villages and that a nearby area came under attack by air raid on Thursday night.
“The army columns are not leaving. They aren’t going anywhere,” the fighter said.
“Last night, a jet fighter came and fired at some places between their forces and our camp. It was between Ywar Koe Gyi and Kaing Wun villages and there were no casualties.”
RFA contacted the junta’s minister for social affairs in Sagaing, Aye Hlaing, but was unable to reach him on Friday.
The latest offensive in Sagaing came days after an Aug. 17 meeting between junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing and U.N. Special Representative Noeleen Heyzer, during which the former claimed that his forces were not responsible for using arson attacks against villages.
However, Data For Myanmar, a group that monitors the fires nationwide, said on Aug. 29 that a total of 28,434 homes have been burned across the country since the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, coup.
RFA News
Myanmar army shelling kills two, injures three in Bago Region
/in NewsAccording to the KNU, more than 300,000 civilians have been displaced by conflict within its territory
Shelling by Myanmar’s military killed two people and injured three others—including two children—in a village in Bago Region’s Shwegyin Township on Tuesday, according to resistance sources.
The incident occurred early in the morning, soon after Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) forces attacked a junta army base on the Shwegyin-Kyaukkyi road, a member of the Yoma People’s Defence Force (PDF) told Myanmar Now.
After abandoning the base, the regime forces opened fire with heavy artillery, killing a man in his 60s and a woman in her 50s in the village of Than Seik, the Yoma PDF member said.
A three-year-old girl, a 10-year-old boy, and another person who had not yet been identified at the time of reporting were injured, he added.
“I heard that one junta soldier was injured in the initial attack, but we haven’t confirmed that yet. As far as I know, there were no KNLA casualties,” he said, adding that the entire population of the village has since fled the area.
Than Seik is located about 20km north of the town of Shwegyin. The area is part of eastern Bago’s Nyaunglebin District, which is KNLA Brigade 3 territory.
According to a person who is assisting displaced civilians, the two injured children were transferred to Yangon General Hospital on Tuesday evening. The boy was said to be in critical condition.
Last Wednesday, the Karen National Union (KNU), the political wing of the KNLA, released a statement saying that there had been a total of 25 clashes in Nyaunglebin in the first two weeks of August. At least 57 junta soldiers were killed in the fighting, the group said.
In addition to using heavy artillery, the military has also carried out airstrikes in the area. Locals have also accused regime troops of abducting villagers and stealing livestock.
According to the KNU, nearly 62,000 civilians have been displaced by recent fighting in Nyaunglebin. The total for all areas under KNU control, including in Mon and Karen (Kayin) states, is more than 300,000, it said.
Earlier this month, the KNU reported that there were more than 150,000 displaced civilians in its territory in Bago Region and Mon State alone.
In the absence of support from international relief agencies, which have not been allowed to operate in much of Myanmar, many local groups have turned to online donations to meet the growing needs of conflict-affected civilians in the country.
Myanmar Now News
Six bodies found in boat carrying Rohingya drifting off Myanmar coast
/in NewsThere were 59 survivors although a baby has reportedly since died.
UPDATED at 9:45 a.m. EDT on 8-31-2022
Six bodies have been discovered along with 59 ethnic Rohingya survivors on a boat floating near an island off Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady delta region.
Local residents told RFA the Coast Guard went to stop the boat on Monday after reports it had been drifting for several days in the sea near Gayatgyi island, which lies just off the coast.
One of the residents, who declined to be named for safety reasons, said that the Myanmar navy from nearby Ka Don was sent to arrest them.
“There were dead bodies on the boat. It seems the boat’s engine broke down and it floated in the sea for a long time and people died of starvation,” the resident said.
Residents said three men and three women had died, and there were 59 survivors. They said a child from the boat died after survivors were taken to the police station for Bogale township, but RFA could not verify this independently.
Bogale lies about 65 miles (105 kilometers) southwest of Myanmar’s commercial center, Yangon.
RFA called Maung Than, who is minister of social affairs and the spokesman for Ayeyarwady regional military council, but calls went unanswered on Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear where the boat had departed from and what punitive action may be taken against the surviving Rohingyas. In the past, Rohingya migrants have faced between three and six months in prison under Myanmar’s immigration law.
On June 21, local authorities arrested 28 Rohingya as their boat neared a village in Ayeyarwady region’s Kyaiklat township.
More than a million Rohingya Muslims used to live in the Buthidaung and Maungdaw areas on the northern tip of Rakhine State. Some 740,000 fled to Bangladesh to escape army scorched-earth operations in 2017 and live in squalid refugee camps there.
Of those that remained, hundreds were killed, including women and children and many villages were burned down.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, is investigating the military for genocide in a case brought by Gambia. The U.S. State Department has already labelled Myanmar’s actions as genocide.
Even though five years have passed since that crackdown, stateless Rohingya refugees are no closer to returning to Myanmar.
Hundreds of thousands more Rohingya remain in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State, where their movements are more restricted. Zarni Soe, a human rights activist based in the state, told RFA last week that their situation may worsen amid renewed fighting between the Arakan Army and junta troops in the north of the state.
RFA News