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Junta Deploys Thousands of Reinforcements to Upper Myanmar For Clearance Operations

October 8, 2021/in News

By THE IRRAWADDY 8 October 2021 The Myanmar military has deployed at least four battalions of reinforcements – around 3,000 soldiers – to the country’s most restive regions to conduct clearance operations against civilian resistance forces, according to local civilian armed groups and a source close to the military. In addition, one of the junta’s most notorious commanders […]

Weekly Update on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar: Post-Coup (27 September to -3 October 2021)

October 4, 2021/in HR Situation

Junta Deploys Thousands of Reinforcements to Upper Myanmar For Clearance Operations

October 8, 2021/in News

Weekly Update on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar: Post-Coup (27 September to -3 October 2021)

October 4, 2021/in HR Situation

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Junta Deploys Thousands of Reinforcements to Upper Myanmar For Clearance Operations

October 8, 2021/in News

By THE IRRAWADDY 8 October 2021

The Myanmar military has deployed at least four battalions of reinforcements – around 3,000 soldiers – to the country’s most restive regions to conduct clearance operations against civilian resistance forces, according to local civilian armed groups and a source close to the military.

In addition, one of the junta’s most notorious commanders – Lieutenant General Than Hlaing, the chief of the Myanmar Police and the regime’s Deputy Home Affairs Minister – has also been assigned to the military’s North West Command based in Monywa, Sagaing Region.

Sagaing, along with neighboring Magwe Region and Chin State, is where junta forces are facing the fiercest opposition from civilian resistance forces.

Lt-Gen Than Hlaing, along with another Lieutenant General, will lead the military’s operations against local People’s Defense Forces (PDF), a former army captain, who defected from the military after the February 1 coup, told The Irrawaddy.

Brigadier General Phyo Thant, the former commander of North West Command, was reportedly detained by the military regime earlier this week, after his plan to defect and take refuge in an area controlled by an ethnic armed group was exposed, according to a source close to the military.

Rumors are already circulating that the Brig-Gen was tortured to death during his interrogation.

The new mission comes after the equivalent of two infantry battalions of junta soldiers have been killed in Sagaing, Magwe and Chin State in the last four months alone. Between June and September, 1,512 regime troops died in fighting with civilian resistance forces in those areas, according to Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government.

Lt-Gen Than Hlaing has earned notoriety for commanding lethal crackdowns against peaceful anti-coup protesters and striking civil servants.

One of his victims was his own brother. Lt-Gen Than Hlaing’s younger brother Ko Soe Moe Hlaing, a veteran pro-democracy activist, was tortured to death in May while in military custody in Bago Region.

An estimated 1,000 junta reinforcements were deployed last week to Shwe Taung Oo, a residential area for former military personnel located near Monywa, a leader of the Kani-PDF told The Irrawaddy.

Another 100 junta troops deployed four days ago at a monastery near the border with Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region. Residents from nearby villages have fled their homes out of fear at the presence of regime troops. The soldiers are believed to be preparing to raid Kani Township, added the Kani-PDF leader.

“We have already planned for potential fierce fighting with the regime. We youths are prepared to die in battle as we can’t live under military dictatorship anymore,” the Kani-PDF fighter told The Irrawaddy on Friday.

Although there have been no clashes in recent days, junta forces are still raiding throughout Sagaing and Magwe.

On Friday morning, 100 regime troops searching the forest in Magwe’s Gangaw Township for resistance fighters opened fire randomly, a leader of the Yaw Defense Force (YDF) told The Irrawaddy.

Some 500 junta reinforcements have deployed to Gangaw and hundreds of them are searching villages in the north of the township for PDF’s. Helicopters are reportedly supplying them with heavy weapons and ammunition.

On Thursday, junta troops used 15 detained villagers as human shields while marching through the north of Gangaw Township, a result of regime soldiers being ambushed with landmines so often.

Over 40 soldiers were killed on Tuesday, and 30 injured and five vehicles and an armored car damaged, when the YDF ambushed a military convoy of 50 vehicles travelling from Monywa via the Pale-Gangaw Highway.

A video shows the convoy being attacked with landmines detonated by YDF fighters.

“We will respond as best we can if they [junta forces] raid us,” said the leader of the YDF.

Kale-PDF claimed to have killed 12 junta soldiers with landmines on Thursday in two ambushes targeting a regime convoy travelling on the Kale-Gangaw Highway in Sagaing Region.

On Monday, the Pale-PDF ambushed a military convoy of more than 80 vehicles, including armored cars, carrying junta reinforcements from Monywa to Pale Township in Sagaing Region.

Some 500 regime reinforcements have also arrived in Pinlebu Township, Sagaing Region since late September, after junta forces suffered almost 40 casualties in two intense firefights with the local PDF.

Around 300 troops have been deployed in rural areas of the township and over 9,000 residents of 10 villages have fled their homes due to junta raids, the spokesperson of the Pinlebu-PDF told The Irrawaddy on Friday.

The Pinlebu-PDF said it is concerned about the prospect of villagers being caught in the crossfire in clashes between civilian resistance fighters and junta forces.

Internet and mobile phone services have been blocked by the regime since the second week of September in most townships in the areas where PDF’s are most active.

Junta forces have used heavy explosives, jet fighters and helicopters in the clashes with civilian resistance fighters, as well as burning down villages and bombarding the residential areas of towns.

Irrawaddy News

Weekly Update on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar: Post-Coup (27 September to -3 October 2021)

October 4, 2021/in HR Situation

Eight months have now passed since the attempted coup in Myanmar. Every day, the country plunges deeper and deeper to a point of no-return. The value of the local currency is at an all-time low and internet shutdowns in 25 townships have stifled the already deteriorating human rights situation. Against the backdrop of darkness, the junta is more emboldened to commit grave violations. The junta has cut off internet access in several townships in northwestern Myanmar including Gangaw, Htilin and Myaing in Magway Region, and Falam, Kanpetlet, Matupi, Mindat, Paletwa, Tedim, Thantlang and Tonzang in Chin State.

Chin State, Kayah State and Sagaing region have been primary targets for the Tatmadaw as emerging civilian defense forces show no signs of abating. In several cases documented by ND-Burma affiliate member the Chin Human Rights Organization, two senior civilians were killed by the junta when their car came under attack by the regime while trying to retrieve their possessions after fleeing. Another was found dead, with a bullet wound to his head.

The National Unity Government (NUG) has called for a ‘defensive war’ against the illegal junta. The NUG made the announcement earlier in September following months of a brutal onslaught of violence perpetrated by the regime in an attempt to squander dissent. A devastating projection by the UN Food Program says Myanmar is on-track for ‘extreme deprivation’ with 1.2 million jobs lost since the coup.

An ongoing displacement crisis in Myanmar is a contributing factor to the grave sense of loss civilians are reeling from. Over 200 000 people fled their homes in the first six months of 2021. Since February, an estimated 2 million have been impacted by the crisis and are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance including food, shelter and medicine. The surge in COVID-19 cases and a deepening distrust has done little to curb fears and anxieties.

If one thing is abundantly clear in the time that has passed, it is that the junta has failed in their unjust attempt to seek legitimacy. Citizens reject the powers of the regime who only know how to rule through force. The international community and United Nations has a responsibility and moral obligation to declare the junta what it is – an unlawful, terrorist organization.

CHIN STATE

The ongoing violence in Chin State has forced thousands to neighbouring borders to seek safety. Those who remain face the prospects of arrest, torture and death if confronted by the junta. After fighting broke out in Thantlang following an ambush by the Chinland Defence Forces, casualties had not been confirmed. Civilians in the region said gunfire could be heard for approximately 30 minutes. After the ambush, the junta responded by open firing on the town where 18 homes were destroyed. A pastor was killed and nearly all the residents fled.

The bodies of several civilians found in Kanpetlet of Chin State were discovered with bullet wounds. Two of the bodies were burned and thrown into a ditch. The Internet shutdown in much of the State has made it more plausible for the junta to evade responsibility for their crimes.

KAYAH STATE

The junta is also continuing to violate civilian rights by laying landmines in civilian areas of Kayah State. As a result, innocent villagers are being severely injured and killed while traveling in town. The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force has defused approximately 30 junta-planted landmines and unexploded artillery shells.

Intensified fighting in Kayah State led to two civilians being killed during clashes in Demawso Township. Soldiers have been setting fire to villager homes and ransacking their belongings. Around 200 soldiers continue to occupy the area.

SHAN STATE

Clashes between rival Shan armed groups and between the junta and People’s Defence Forces has resulted in civilians being killed in the crossfire and forcing them to flee. Indiscriminate firing and shelling in northern Shan state left one nine year old boy dead after his home was struck in Monekoe Township. Another woman was hit with shrapnel in the head and was recovering with serious injuries.Fifteen vehicles with junta reinforcements arrived two weeks ago in Monekoe. Shan armed groups have rejected calls for a ceasefire due to ongoing disputes over land and territory.

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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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