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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More houses torched as junta troops leave Loikaw village
/in NewsResidents of Kunnar said soldiers also burned down a number of houses when they took control of the village last week
Regime forces occupying the village of Kunnar in Kayah (Karenni) State’s Loikaw Township set fire to 19 houses before retreating on Monday, according to local residents and resistance sources.
A member of the anti-regime Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) told Myanmar Now that the soldiers, who took control of the village late last week, started the fires at around 8am on Monday.
“We were at the edge of the village and they were on the main road in the middle of the village. They torched the houses while retreating. They also fired shots into the village before starting the fires,” he said.
The incident comes days after regime forces were accused of deliberately burning down houses in Kunnar and another village in the area on Friday.
There were also reports that more fires had been set on Sunday, but this could not be confirmed.
According to the KNDF member, there were around 130 troops stationed in Kunnar over the weekend. He added that there had been no new clashes since fighting broke out twice last week, on Monday and Thursday.
The junta troops were also accused of stealing food from more than 50 houses and destroying furniture, appliances and other property as they made their way out of the village.
“There were soldiers in the village for two or three days, but they started to leave this morning. First, however, they torched seven houses—nice, big houses,” said Reh, a Kunnar resident who fled the village amid last week’s clashes.
In a statement, the KNDF said that a total of 19 houses were destroyed on Monday.
The Karenni Civil Society Network reported on Friday that more than 150,000 civilians have been displaced by conflict in Kayah State and southern Shan State’s Pekhon Township since late May.
The group added that at least 400 buildings, including houses and churches, had been destroyed as of December 7.
Myanmar Now News
Thousands Flee Into Thailand as Myanmar Junta Shells Villagers
/in NewsSome 5,000 residents of villages in Karen State’s Myawaddy Township on the Thai border have sought shelter in the neighboring country, while an estimated 10,000 more locals remain internally displaced in the area following the Myanmar junta’s heavy offensives against the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and civilian People’s Defense Force (PDF) groups.
On Sunday, more displaced people crossed the Thaung Yin River, which forms the border with Thailand, after the junta shelled civilian residential areas. A relief worker helping the IDPs said a growing number of people are stranded at the border and need help, as the fighting has escalated there.
The military fired artillery at them and some shells landed on Thai soil, the source said, adding that he heard the Thais fired back with smoke bombs as a warning.
Military tensions escalated last week when some 200 junta soldiers raided Lay Kay Kaw new town near Myawaddy on Dec. 14, alleging that democracy activists and members of PDF groups were hiding there. Two MPs-elect from the National League for Democracy, U Wai Lin Aung and Dr. Pyae Phyo, were among around 40 people detained by the junta on that day.
The raids and clashes followed the junta’s accusation that the Karen National Union, Myanmar’s oldest revolutionary force, was supporting and sheltering striking civil servants and anti-regime armed resistance groups. The KNLA is the armed wing of the KNU.
Many internally displaced people (IDPs) have been unable to cross the river into Thailand, so Lay Kay Kaw administrative officials are arranging for temporary IDP camps to be set up in the area, said KNU Vice Chairman Padoh Kwe Htoo Win.
“The military activities have continuously intensified in the area, with the deployment of 105-mm howitzers in Myawaddy. It’s likely that they will fire artillery from there [at Lay Kay Kaw and surrounding areas],” he said.
The junta has also sent drones and reconnaissance planes over Lay Kay Kaw and the surrounding area every day, he added.
On Monday morning, planes circled above Lay Kay Kaw, Padoh Kwe Htoo Win told The Irrawaddy in the afternoon. He added, “We are worried they will bomb the area,” which has many villages that are home to ethnic Karen, Mon, Shan and Bamar communities.
Irrawaddy News
Army attacks on two Loikaw villages leave at least 20 houses destroyed by fire
/in NewsKarenni resistance forces said that junta troops deliberately set the houses on fire after shelling the villages
Regime forces destroyed at least 20 houses in two villages in Karenni (Kayah) State’s Loikaw Township on Friday, according to the anti-regime Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF).
The group accused the military of firing heavy weapons into the villages of Daw Saw Wea and Kunnar from noon until 6pm on Friday and then deliberately setting a number of houses on fire.
In a statement released on Friday, the KNDF called the attacks “one-sided”.
Earlier in the week, a combined force of KNDF and Karenni Army (KA) troops clashed with junta soldiers near the two villages, which lie about 1km apart.
Reh, a resident of Kunnar who fled after the fighting started last Monday, confirmed that he saw smoke rising from the village on Friday afternoon.
“After firing heavy weapons, they came to torch houses in the village for no reason. There are only a few people still there,” he told Myanmar Now on Sunday morning.
He confirmed that at least one house in Kunnar had been set on fire, while 13 houses and seven tractors had been burned in Daw Saw Wea. He said he didn’t know about the other houses that had reportedly been destroyed.
“Most of the houses also had barns attached to them, so that means the rice inside of them is gone now, too. But we can’t put out the fires, because there are soldiers stationed there,” he added.
Last week, residents of around a dozen villages in Kayah State’s Loikaw and Demoso townships were forced to flee their homes following clashes between the military and local resistance forces.
The state was one of the first parts of the country to see the emergence of an armed resistance movement in the wake of the February 1 coup.
The Karenni Civil Society Network reported on Friday that more than 150,000 civilians have been displaced in predominantly Karenni areas of Kayah State and southern Shan State’s Pekhon Township since the conflict began.
Myanmar Now News
At least 20 killed in air raid on Magway village
/in NewsAnti-regime forces say the military used three helicopters to strafe residents of Hnan Khar in a surprise attack on Friday
At least 20 people were killed when the military deployed helicopters to carry out a surprise attack on the village of Hnan Khar in Magway Region’s Gangaw Township on Friday, according to resistance forces active in the area.
The attack started at around 2pm on Friday and lasted about 40 minutes, a spokesperson for the Yaw Defence Force (YDF) told Myanmar Now on Sunday.
Three helicopters were involved in the assault, said the YDF spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
The 20 people who were killed included both YDF fighters and civilians living in the village, he said, adding that troops inside the helicopters also fired on a village school.
“It could be more than that. Those who went out to pick up bodies were also shot. We can’t say exactly how many yet, as we couldn’t get too close,” he added.
The YDF, which is active in Magway’s Gangaw, Htilin, and Saw townships, was holding a meeting in Hnan Khar to discuss its efforts to suppress illegal logging and drug trafficking in the region when the attack took place, the spokesperson said.
After the attack, the helicopters landed in Hnan Khar and the nearby villages of Yehla and Shwebo with troops, according to local residents.
Hnan Khar is currently occupied by around 150 junta soldiers and members of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia, said one resident of the village.
“The military has been sending Pyu Saw Htee members from pro-army villages to Hnan Khar in trucks. The military is also stationed there,” the villager said.
Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify his claim at the time of reporting.
Fleeing villagers
Most of Hnan Khar’s roughly 1,000 inhabitants managed to flee the village, but some elderly residents who could not be carried out are still there, said the villager.
“We are in so much trouble now. We have to carry elderly people who can’t walk or run. Some people injured their legs or broke their arms while fleeing,” he added.
Another Hnan Khar villager who fled the military raid said that junta troops opened fire several times on Saturday on areas where villagers were sheltering.
“They fired heavy weapons towards the eastern side of the Myittha River and combed through the woods outside the village,” he said.
The YDF spokesperson said the military torched three houses north of the now nearly deserted village on Sunday morning.
There was also shelling in the eastern part of the village later in the day, as well as more fires, according to one local woman who spoke to Myanmar Now on Sunday afternoon.
“Nobody dares to go back to the village. We heard there are troops hiding there now,” said the woman, who added that she had also heard that a number of people had been arrested since the attack on Friday.
Thousands of civilians from other villages in the area, including Shwebo, Yaeshin, and Yehla, have also fled their homes since Friday’s air raid, according to multiple sources.
Rising tensions
According to all of the sources Myanmar Now spoke to, there have been no clashes between the military and the YDF since Friday.
On Saturday, state media reported that the raid was carried out after the military received information that the YDF was holding a meeting in Hnan Khar.
“The venue was raided at around 2:40pm and terrorists fled in disarray across the Myittha River, east of the village, after a clash,” said the junta’s English-language mouthpiece, the Global New Light of Myanmar.
The report, which did not mention the use of helicopters in the attack, claimed that regime forces found the bodies of six people, as well as guns and ammunition.
A number of villages in Gangaw Township have been targeted by regime offensives in recent months, with Hnan Khar being among the hardest hit. Nearly 60 houses in the village were torched during earlier raids.
Gangaw has come under intense pressure since August, when the military suffered heavy losses in a series of attacks carried out on army convoys traveling through the township on the way to Kalay in Sagaing Region.
Tensions have risen again in recent days amid warnings by the YDF that there could be more clashes in the region soon. The group also announced on Sunday that the Kalay-Gangaw Road is closed until further notice
Myanmar Now News
Photographer dies in custody in first journalist death since Myanmar coup
/in NewsSoe Naing was arrested while shooting a silent protest in Yangon.
Photos of Soe Naing shared by his colleagues and social media show the spectrum people live in Myanmar from everyday moment to lives under the military regime.
A freelance photographer arrested by junta troops on Human Rights Day has become the first journalist to die while in detention since the military seized power in Myanmar more than 10 months ago.
Soe Naing was detained on Dec. 10 while documenting a nationwide “Silent Strike” boycott against junta rule to mark the United Nations day to honor human rights in Yangon’s Latha district.
News of Soe Naing’s death surfaced on social media Tuesday and was confirmed by family members, according to sources who were close to the photographer.
“Just this morning, Ko Soe Naing’s cousin confirmed his death to his best friend. … His friend also contacted Soe Naing’s wife. She also confirmed his death,” a family friend told RFA’s Myanmar Service on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.
“His friend is not in a position to talk to the media, so I am talking on his behalf. Soe Naing’s funeral was held in the Mingalardon area.”
One of Soe Naing’s colleagues also said he had received confirmation of his death, and suggested without elaborating that the photographer was killed during an interrogation by security forces.
“We didn’t believe at first because there is no reason for them to beat a photojournalist to death,” said the colleague, who declined to be named.
“However, around 4:00 p.m., someone from our internal network updated us that a family member had confirmed his death.”
The colleague said that an hour later, word spread that Soe Naing’s body had already been cremated by the authorities.
“No one got a chance to see the body or be present at his cremation,” he said. “Now, Ko Soe Naing is gone without a trace.”
Attempts by RFA to reach Soe Naing’s relatives went unanswered on Tuesday, as family members had turned off their phones for safety reasons, sources said.
Seasoned photographer
According to the colleague, Soe Naing was a seasoned photographer who had covered many events and protests since the military removed Myanmar’s democratically elected National League for Democracy government in a Feb. 1 coup.
In the weeks and months since the coup, security personnel have committed human rights abuses including arbitrary arrests, rape and killings. More than 8,000 civilians have been arrested and 1,339 killed by junta authorities since February, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, mostly during non-violent protests of the coup.
“Even when the military started suppressing the protesters and the protests turned into guerilla-like flash mobs, he still covered these events,” Soe Naing’s colleague told RFA.
“He was calm and focused on his work. He was never involved in these protests. He only focused on covering the events. There is no reason for him to be killed. I can’t understand why they killed him.”
‘Escalation in terror’
Soe Naing’s death was addressed in a statement by Paris-based journalist watchdog group Reporters Without Borders, which called on the international community to condemn what it called an “escalation in terror against reporters” and to implement sanctions against the junta leadership.
“With Soe Naing’s death, a new tragic threshold has been crossed this morning in the terror that Myanmar’s military are using against journalists,” said Daniel Bastard, the head of the group’s Asia-Pacific desk.
“His death must serve as an alarm signal and push the international community to impose new targeted sanctions on the military junta that has been running the country since February, starting with its chief, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. The world can no longer look on without doing something.”
Reporters Without Borders noted that at least three other journalists had been arrested by authorities in recent days, including freelance photographer Zaw Tun on Dec. 10, and Democratic Voice of Burma reporter Aung San Lin and regional reporter Min Theik Tun on Dec. 12.
Junta spokesman Gen. Zaw Min Tun did not respond to requests by RFA for comment on the arrests.
At least 57 journalists are currently imprisoned in Myanmar, according to Reporters Without Borders. The group ranked Myanmar 140th out of 180 countries in its World Press Freedom Index, published in early 2021.
Reported by Tin Aung Khine and Khet Mar for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
RFA News
The Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma Calls for Accountability for Human Rights Violations Committed in Myanmar by the Military Junta in New Briefing Paper: “Waking to War Crimes”
/in Press Releases and StatementsThe Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma Calls for Accountability for Human Rights Violations Committed in Myanmar by the Military Junta in New Briefing Paper: “Waking to War Crimes”
14 December 2021
For Immediate Release
The Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma (ND-Burma) strongly condemns the scaled up, ongoing military operations deployed by the junta in Myanmar which has displaced thousands in the last ten months. A new briefing paper by ND-Burma “Waking to War Crimes,” acknowledges the systematic and widespread deployment of atrocities against innocent civilians since February, and further calls for an immediate cessation of violence.
ND-Burma has documented war crimes and crimes against humanity through desk research, interviews and member organization data in Chin State, Kayah (Karenni) State and Sagaing region. On average, between 35 and 43 cases of human rights violations were collected per the respective state/region between August and October. The human rights violations being perpetrated by the junta are considered to be grave breaches of the Geneva Convention and amount to war crimes.
Against the backdrop of intensified clashes, civilians in conflict-torn areas are trapped. Humanitarian aid has been blocked and the junta continues to lawlessly steal what little possessions villagers have. Every day, people are being abducted, killed and extorted amid ongoing corruption and disorder fueled by the regime. The international community must take steps to actively end the uncontrolled criminality of the Myanmar junta to protect those on the ground. An arms embargo must be initiated, alongside targeted sanctions and referral of the military junta to the International Criminal Court.
Such courses of action are long overdue but it is not too late.
For more information:
NDBoffice@protonmail.com
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ND-Burma is a network that consists of 13-member organisations who represent a range of ethnic nationalities, women and former political prisoners. ND-Burma member organisations have been documenting human rights abuses and fighting for justice for victims since 2004. The network consists of nine Full Members and four Affiliate Members as follows:
Full Members
Affiliate Members: