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
- Open letter from Myanmar civil society organizations to ASEAN to move beyond the Five-Point Consensus and support Myanmar people’s efforts to build federal democracy
- Justice
- UN expert on Myanmar to visit Australia
- Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 15 to 21, 2024)
- Myanmar civil society calls for ASEAN to move beyond the Five-Point Consensus and end all engagements with the illegal military junta
Junta targeting rebel-held areas in northern Myanmar with airstrikes and artillery
/in NewsThe military is regularly attacking rebel-held Nawnghkio and Hsipaw townships.
Myanmar’s junta is conducting regular airstrikes and artillery attacks on towns in northern Shan state that are firmly under rebel control in a resurgence of violence in the area, residents said Thursday.
On Monday, the ethnic Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, said that the air force dropped more than 50 bombs on Hsipaw with Y-12 aircraft, and that aerial attacks were being carried out every day on Nawnghkio. Both towns are under TNLA control.
The attacks are the latest spasm of violence in Myanmar’s three-year civil war, in which rebels appear to have the upper hand, prompting the military to lash out at towns under their control.
While armed clashes are taking place in Nawnghkio township’s Tawng Hkam village, the junta has repeatedly targeted the township seat with airstrikes and artillery attacks,
a resident of Nawnghkio who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, told RFA Burmese.
“They are also carrying out airstrikes on places where there is no fighting,” he said. “They have been firing heavy weapons from [the nearby township of] Pyin Oo Lwin for four or five days. Yesterday, their attacks hit houses. No [rebel] forces are stationed there.”
The TNLA captured key junta artillery battalions in Nawnghkio on Aug. 28 and fighting around the township’s remaining military outposts has continued since then.
Another Nawnghkio resident, who also declined to be named, told RFA that the junta is carrying out “continuous airstrikes” in this area.
“Around 2-3 a.m., the junta dropped about five bombs, possibly using Y12 aircraft,” he said, adding that no one was hit in the attacks.
Recent casualties
On Sept. 13 and 14, at least 10 bombs were dropped by aircraft on Nawnghkio town, residents said, while on Sept. 17, junta artillery shells killed three members of the same family – Cho Myint, 40, and two boys aged 3 and 17.
A recent junta airstrike on Hsipwaw town injured a 60-year-old woman and a 14-year-old girl, while also destroying several houses, the TNLA reported on Wednesday.
A resident of Hsipaw told RFA that fighting had intensified in the township beginning last week, and the junta has been carrying out aerial attacks since then.
“TNLA totally controls the town, except for the military’s No. 23 Light Battalion,” he said. “Junta troops are trying to retake this camp. Airstrikes were used in the fighting, hitting residents and killing some people.”
RFA was unable to independently confirm the exact number of casualties.
Fighting began in Hsipaw in the last week of June, when the second round of a major ethnic offensive known as 1027 Operation began. On Aug. 10, the TNLA took control of all parts of Hsipaw after junta troops withdrew from Hsipaw Bridge and the town center.
Attempts by RFA to contact Khun Thein Maung, the junta’s economic minister and Shan state spokesman, for comment on the use of airstrikes in the area went unanswered Thursday, as did efforts to reach TNLA spokeswoman Lway Yae Oo.
According to the health ministry under Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, or NUG, on Sept. 7, the junta carried out 11 airstrikes in Shan, Kayah and Chin states, as well as Sagaing, Magway, Mandalay and Bago regions, killing more than 40 people.
During the second round of Operation 1027, the opposition forces under the NUG seized Mandalay region’s Mogoke, Singu, Thabeik Kyin and Tha Gaung townships, as well as several townships and the towns of Moemeik, Naunghkio, Hsipaw and Lashio in northern Shan state.
End of cooperation with NUG?
Meanwhile, a ethnic army that helped launch Operation 1027 with the TNLA said it will cease fighting and end its cooperation with the NUG militarily or politically.
The rebel Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA – which, along with the TNLA and the Arakan Army, or AA, form the ethnic Three Brotherhood Alliance – said in a statement on Wednesday that it will not align with any group that opposes neighboring China and said it will work with Beijing to bring an end to Myanmar’s conflict.
Also known as the Kokang Army, the MNDAA said that despite taking control of much of northern Shan state, including the largest city Lashio, it has no plans to seize the state capital Taunggyi or Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay.
However, the group did not go as far as announcing an end to hostilities with the military and said it would defend its territory and pursue autonomy if necessary.
The ethnic army had posted a similar statement to Facebook on Sept. 4, after China warned rebel groups to end fighting with the junta along its southern border, but later took it down.
The NUG has provided no response to the MNDAA statement.
Observers suggested that the MNDAA statement was the result of intense pressure from China, which has shut down key trade routes along the border amid fighting there.
Media outlet Myanmar Now cited political commentator Than Soe Naing as saying that the MNDAA was “simply announcing the direction laid out for them by China.”
The junta has accused Beijing – one of its few remaining international supporters – of backing the TNLA and MNDAA, with junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing saying in early August that the military lost Lashio because of China’s involvement.
Later that month, Min Aung Hlaing met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Naypyidaw, after which the Chinese embassy issued a statement suggesting that external forces were attempting to damage China-Myanmar relations.
RFA News
Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 8 to 14, 2024)
/in HR Situation, NewsHuman Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Sep 8 to 14, 2024
Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in the Magway Region, Shan State, Kachin State, and Rakhine State from September 8th to 14th. Military Junta arrested the civilians as human shields from Mindon Township, Magway Region, and Salingyi Township, Sagaing Region. Military Junta also committed a massacre by killing over 30 civilians in Hpakant Township, Kachin State. The Military Junta arrested the civilians from Ayeyarwady Region and Bago Region for the Military Service.
Over 30 civilians died, and over 10 were injured by the Military’s heavy and light artillery attacks within a week. Over 50 civilians were arrested by the Military Junta within a week.
Infogram
Myanmar National Organizing Committee for ACSC/APF ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum 2024
/in Press Releases and StatementsThe Myanmar National Organizing Committee (Myanmar NOC) for ACSC/APF, comprised of 15 Myanmar civil society organizations, will be participating in the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum (ACSC/APF) 2024, which will be held in Dili, Timor-Leste, from 19 to 21 September. ACSC/APF is an annual conference where civil society organizations and peoples of ASEAN gather to discuss and address various issues across national, regional, and global boundaries. This year, the Conference’s theme is “Toward a People-Led Democracy and Sovereignty in Southeast Asia”.
During this three-day gathering, the Myanmar NOC will report on the country’s situation at the opening of the Conference and will host workshops and side events throughout the Conference.
On 20 September, the Myanmar NOC, together with International Peace Bureau – Philippines, Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma, ALTSEAN-Burma, and Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), will host a workshop under the theme of State Violence, Militarism, National Liberation, and Democracy, entitled “Triumph over Military Tyranny: ASEAN’s Role in Rebuilding Myanmar”. This workshop aims to provide updates to stakeholders in the region on the ground realities of the Myanmar people’s revolution; to provide analysis of and assess ASEAN’s approach to the crisis in Myanmar, including recommendations for ASEAN’s approach to successfully address Myanmar’s crisis and implement its pledge for a Myanmar people-owned and -led process of liberation and federal democracy building.
In addition to the workshop, the Myanmar NOC will also host a side event with photo exhibition, film screening, and solidarity corner for the Spring Revolution in Myanmar. On 19 September, a representative from one of the Myanmar NOC’s member organizations, Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network, will speak on Plenary 2: Critical Overview for ASEAN Mechanism. On 20 September, a representative from the Interim Executive Council of Karenni State will speak on Plenary 4: People and Planet First: Toward a Liberating Southeast Asia.
————————-
Background
Since the Myanmar military’s illegal coup attempt in February 2021, Myanmar has stood at a pivotal juncture in its history. The bottom-up people’s revolution, driven by the aspiration to liberate Myanmar’s communities from decades-long military tyranny and establish a federal democracy, has persistently advanced on the ground despite the military’s unprecedented nationwide terror campaign against the people.
Over the past three years, the military junta has perpetrated a multitude of grave human rights violations and mass atrocity crimes across the nation, including massacres, torching and pillaging of entire towns, and lethal airstrikes against civilian communities and places where they take refuge. There have been over 2,400 airstrikes by the military over the past three and a half years. The junta’s violence has displaced more than 3 million people—a number that has been rising steadily and is likely a gross underestimation of the true magnitude of displacement. Displacement is widespread both within Myanmar and across its borders, with about 30,000 new Rohingya refugees having arrived in Bangladesh after 5 August.
Most recently, across six days in early September, the military junta had launched several airstrikes targeting civilians in different areas of the country. It was reported that at least 40 people were killed by those junta airstrikes, including a dozen children. In the face of these attacks and violence by the junta, the people’s revolution has worked tirelessly towards establishing a new, peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable Myanmar that is free from the military tyranny. The people’s revolution is winning on the ground, and the Myanmar military junta does not have effective control of the country. Townships covering 86% of the country’s territory and including 67% of the national population are not under stable junta control.
Myanmar is moving forward. Now is time for ASEAN and the wider international and regional community to seize this most critical opportunity and take immediate and decisive action to support the Myanmar people’s revolution for federal democracy.
Members of the Myanmar NOC:
For media inquiries, please contact:
Myanmar National Organizing Committee, ACSCAPF@proton.me
Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 1 to 7, 2024)
/in HR Situation, NewsHuman Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Sep 1 to 7, 2024
Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in the Sagaing Region, Mandalay Region, Magway Region, and Shan State from September 1st to 7th. The Military Junta threatened that they would launch airstrikes on the townships which they lost. The Military Junta arrested the university students from Yangon Region and Ayeyarwady Region for the Military Service. The head of the Prison who works under the Military Junta, collected money for the guest permission in Maubin Prison, Ayeyarwady Region.
Over 40 civilians died, and over 20 were injured by the Military’s heavy and light artillery attacks within a week. Over 20 underaged civilians died when the Military Junta committed abuses and violations.
Infogram
Red Cross chief calls for greater aid access after visit to Myanmar
/in NewsMirjana Spoljaric warns that conflict has cut off ‘countless people’ from essential services.
Myanmar’s junta must allow greater aid access to civilians, the Red Cross chief said at the end of a visit to the war-torn country, warning that the conflict has created a humanitarian crisis that’s put “countless people” at risk.
The United Nations says about 3 million people have been forced from their homes by fighting between junta troops and those who oppose the military’s Feb. 1, 2024, coup d’etat, many since clashes surged at the beginning of the year.
The comments from International Committee of the Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric came as aid workers told RFA Burmese that 40,000 people had been displaced in central Myanmar’s Sagaing, Magway and Mandalay regions by junta airstrikes and troop raids between Aug. 1 and Sept. 10.
In a statement following her Sept. 5-9 trip, Spoljaric warned that a breakdown of healthcare services in Myanmar is leading to a rise in preventable diseases, while a lack of medical supplies is worsening the suffering of the wounded and chronically ill.
“Many families in Myanmar are going without basic medicines and health care, face food shortages and have limited access to clean water and sanitation. They live with the fear of conflict and violence,” she said in a statement. “The disruption of livelihoods is leaving countless people without the means to sustain themselves.”
Spoljaric noted that the military’s regular use of explosive weapons in populated areas has led to an increase in civilian casualties, while restrictions on the movement of people and goods has limited access to essential services for many communities.
During her visit, Spoljaric met with junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to discuss the ICRC’s goals in the country and urged him to allow greater access to conflict-affected areas – particularly in Shan, Kachin, Rakhine, Chin, Kayah, and Kayin states.
She also traveled to Rakhine state, where the military killed 70 people, including its troops in rebel captivity, in airstrikes on Sunday and Monday.
International humanitarian organizations have been helping civilians displaced by fighting in the region but most groups have withdrawn staff and suspended their work as the security situation has deteriorated.
Spoljaric said that the ICRC is engaging in dialogue with all stakeholders in the conflict “to remind them of their obligation to respect international humanitarian law and ensure the safety of civilians and humanitarian actors.”
Airstrikes displace 40,000
On Tuesday, residents and relief workers told RFA that junta troops had resumed offensives against villages in Sagaing, Magway and Mandalay regions, and that the air force is carrying out bombardments more frequently there.
A resident of Su Yit Kone village, in Mandalay’s Natogyi township, told RFA that nearly everyone had fled into the jungle because of the threat of airstrikes.
“The junta is intentionally destroying local houses every day to make the people afraid,” said the resident who, like others interviewed for this story, declined to be named due to security risks. “The villages aren’t active anymore. When it becomes dark, everyone beds down in the jungle.”
In Pa Zi Gyi village, in Sagaing region’s Kanbalu township, residents have been sheltering in the jungle since April 2023, when a junta airstrike killed more than 170 people and leveled all but three of the village’s 400 homes.
With airstrikes on the rise in the region, “we still don’t dare go back home,” one resident said, adding that junta planes are “constantly seen flying overhead.”
“Our village has turned into a wilderness,” he said. “We survive on collecting herbs and vegetables from the forest.”
The resident said that the displaced are only occasionally visited by small charity groups, who help supplement their food supplies.
Central region under assault
Meanwhile, junta ground forces are also stepping up raids on villages in the region.
On Tuesday, Data For Myanmar, which monitors arson attacks in Myanmar, reported that junta troops razed more than 1,043 houses in Sagaing, Magway and Mandalay regions in the first half of 2024 alone.
Attempts by RFA to contact junta spokesperson Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun about the reasons for the uptick in attacks in central Myanmar went unanswered Tuesday.
An official with the insurgent People’s Defense Force in Mandalay said that the junta sees central Myanmar as a militarily strategic region because it connects northern Shan, Kachin and Chin states to the rest of the nation.
“The people of central Myanmar have suffered a lot from the fighting, but they will persevere,” he said. “Victory by the armed opposition could present huge challenges to the junta because of the region’s strategic value, which is likely why the military is making a push there.”
RFA News
Over 67 killed by airstrikes in Arakan State since Sunday; ICRC requests humanitarian access during visit to Naypyidaw
/in NewsOver 67 killed by airstrikes in Arakan State since Sunday
The Arakan Army (AA) claimed that more than 50 people, including prisoners of war, were killed during airstrikes carried out by the Burma Air Force on the No. 2 Border Guard Post in Maungdaw Township, located near the Burma-Bangladesh border in northern Arakan State on Monday. It reported that members of pro-military Rohingya armed groups and the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) were among the dead.
The AA added that a fighter jet opened fire on U.N. buildings in Waithali village and at 3 Mile Point in Maungdaw on Sept. 9. The AA seized control of the No. 2 Border Guard Post on July 6. Another 17 people, including children and healthcare workers, were also reportedly killed and 10 were injured during airstrikes on a healthcare center in Pauktaw Township, south of the Arakan State capital Sittwe, on Sunday.
“It is the place where the AA provided healthcare for prisoners and prisoners of war. They dropped bombs with their aircraft twice,” an anonymous source from the AA told DVB. Pauktaw came under the control of the AA on Jan. 24. Min Aung Hlaing said during a visit to the Shan State capital Taunggyi on Sept. 3 that the military would launch retaliatory attacks in areas controlled by resistance forces.
Military prepares for resistance attacks in eastern Kachin State
Kachin Independence Army (KIA) General Sumlut Gun Maw condemned the regime’s order for heightened defense against the KIA and People’s Defense Force (PDF) in the Kachin State Special Region 1, which is located in northeastern Kachin near the China border, on Monday. The area is controlled by the pro-military Kachin Border Guard Force (BGF).
“The order should not have been issued,” Sumlut Gun Maw posted on his social media account. The martial order was issued in June and signed by Zahkung Ting Ying, the chief of the Kachin Special Region 1. He directed the BGF and militias based in Chipwi, Tsawlaw, Kanpaikti – which make up the special region – to “implement strict defense measures.”
The regime order claimed that “the KIA and PDF are conducting offensives to disrupt the peace of local ethnic communities and the country” in the region. Much of Burma’s lucrative rare earth mining is conducted in the Kachin Special Region 1. The Kachin BGF was formed by the New Democratic Army – Kachin under military chain of command in 2009.
ICRC requests humanitarian access during visit to Naypyidaw
A delegation led by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Mirjana Spoljaric met with Min Aung Hlaing in the capital Naypyidaw on Monday. Spoljaric called on the regime to allow greater humanitarian access to conflict-affected areas of the country.
“Many families in Myanmar are going without basic medicines and health care, face food shortages and have limited access to clean water and sanitation. They live with the fear of conflict and violence. The disruption of livelihoods is leaving countless people without the means to sustain themselves,” Spoljaric stated in a press release on Monday.
Spoljaric visited Burma from Sept. 5-9 and met with colleagues at the Myanmar Red Cross in Naypyidaw on Sunday. This is her first trip to Burma since becoming ICRC president in October 2022. The previous ICRC president, Peter Maurer, visited Burma in June 2021 – four months after the military coup. The regime claimed that it is adhering to international humanitarian law.
News by Region
KACHIN—At least four civilians were killed and at least six were injured during fighting between the KIA and the military in Saitaung village of Hpakant Township on Sept. 5. Ywat Zaw Khaung from the Peace-talk Creation Group, which mediates between the military and resistance forces, was among the injured.
“I heard the representatives of the Peace-talk Creation Group negotiated with the military not to use violence against the public, but it seems the military did not accept and is conducting retaliatory shelling,” Naw Bu, the KIA spokesperson told DVB. Around 1,500 civilians living around Saitaung village have been displaced from their homes due to the fighting.
KAREN—Cyber scam centers operating in Shwe Kokko, located 12 miles (20 km) north of Myawaddy, have reportedly relocated to territory under the control of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) in Karen State, as well as Laos and Cambodia, since the Karen BGF issued a warning for them to leave by October.
“They may move to Cambodia or Laos but they will return to Burma. I have seen a lot of job postings for these businesses,” an anti-human trafficking group working along the Thailand-Burma border told DVB. The Institute for Strategy and Policy – Myanmar has documented that there are nearly 50 cyber scam compounds operating along the Thai border.
SHAN—Heavy flooding has affected towns in eastern Shan State, including Kengtung and Tachileik, since the remnants of Typhoon Yagi arrived in the region on Monday. The flooding has also impacted areas under the control of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA).
“The stream on the [Mongpawk] outskirts near the Chinese border overflowed. In the morning, the water began to rise, and by evening, it had started to gradually recede,” a Mongpauk resident told DVB. Water levels exceeded critical thresholds in Tachileik on Monday, according to local sources. The regime’s Department of Meteorology and Hydrology has issued a heavy rainfall warning for most of Burma.
DVB News