Armed Ethnic Group Opens New Front Against Myanmar Military
The Arakan Army, which recently helped an alliance of armed groups make territorial gains in northeast Myanmar, attacked government positions in the country’s southwest Rakhine state, seizing several security outposts and capturing police officers (AP)
Meanwhile, the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force claimed to have shot down a fighter jet, though the military said it crashed due to a technical malfunction (Al Jazeera)
Myanmar Clashes Prompt Thousands to Flee Into India
Thousands of people fled from Myanmar into neighboring India today among fresh clashes between ethnic minority insurgent groups and Myanmar’s security forces; the attacks represent the biggest threat to Myanmar’s military junta since it took power in a 2021 coup (Reuters)
China and Myanmar Conduct First Joint Naval Exercise
Myanmar’s junta hosted three days of drills in the Andaman Sea with Russia, one of its closest allies and top suppliers of arms (AP)
Myanmar Resistance Seizes First District Capital
At least three local resistance groups coordinated an offensive to capture Kawlin, an administrative capital in the Sagaing region (AP)
The fighting displaced 50,000 residents and trapped more than 1,000 people in the city (RFA;RFA)
Meanwhile, China called on Myanmar to cooperate on border security after rebels captured one of the last remaining significant land links between the two countries (Reuters;VOA)
Chinese Foreign Ministry Calls For Halt to Fighting Along Border With Myanmar
A coalition of ethnic armed groups said they have seized several towns and some armored vehicles along the China-Myanmar border (Bloomberg)
Myanmar Rebels Seize Town on Border With China
Myanmar’s ruling military junta said it lost control of the town of Chinshwehaw after fighting with three ethnic armed groups since Friday; the armed groups say they have gained control of several military posts and strategic roads that link Myanmar with China, Myanmar’s biggest trade partner (AFP)
A billion-dollar rail project is planned in the town as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (Diplomat)
U.S. Sanctions Myanmar’s State-Owned Oil and Gas Enterprise
It is the first time the United States has directly sanctioned the junta’s primary source of income, which brought $1.72 billion in revenue last year (Guardian)
Meanwhile, Myanmar officials met with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to encourage their return as part of a China-brokered repatriation plan (Al Jazeera)
The junta also met with a high-ranking Chinese official to discuss border security as fighting rages on in the area (AP)
United States Announces New Partial Sanctions Against Myanmar
The measures, imposed due to the military junta’s human rights violations, will target Myanmar’s state energy company, its most lucrative state-owned enterprise, and will go into effect on December 15 (Bloomberg)
Ethnic Rebel Groups Launch Coordinated Attacks in Northern Myanmar
The Brotherhood Alliance of three armed groups attacked twelve towns in Shan state across one hundred kilometers of territory; local media reported many casualties (Al Jazeera)
Artillery Strike on Displaced Persons Camp in Myanmar Kills Twenty-Nine Civilians
The camp lies in territory controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) near the Chinese border; the KIO said the military has ramped up attacks in the past year due to growing Kachin support for other insurgent groups (BBC)
Junta Bombs Displaced Persons Camp
The attack killed twenty-nine and wounded more than fifty others, an official in a rebel group that controls the area said; a Myanmar military official denied responsibility for the attack (BBC)
It appeared to be the deadliest military attack on civilians in six months, the New York Times reported (NYT)
Heavy Flooding in Myanmar Displaces More Than Fourteen Thousand People
Flooding from monsoon rains has especially affected the south of the country, including its most populous city, Yangon (AP)
Myanmar’s Top Court Rejects Appeals by Former Civilian Leader
The Supreme Court rejected Aung San Suu Kyi’s efforts to reverse her convictions in six corruption cases after her legal team tried to appeal them at a lower court (Bloomberg)
Conflict in Myanmar Driving People Across the Chinese Border
Fighting in Shan state between the military and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army pushed at least one thousand people to flee into China; the UN says more than 1.6 million people have been internally displaced since the military junta came to power (RFA)
Meanwhile, China established a temporary ‘border control zone’ in Yunnan province to combat Chinese nationals running scam operations in rebel-held Burmese territory (Diplomat)
Myanmar’s Exiled Government Says It Controls Majority of Country
While Myanmar’s military junta controls the country’s cities, the leader of a shadow government linked to rebel fighters said they control about 60 percent of the country’s total territory; the junta carried out more than double the number of air strikes against civilians between April 2022 and July 2023 than in the fourteen months following the 2021 coup, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said (Bloomberg)
UN: Myanmar Junta Intensifying Airstrikes and Mass Killings
U.N. high commissioner for human rights Volker Türk called for international action against the regime, which is responsible for at least 4,108 deaths (VOA)
Nikkei: Myanmar Will Withdraw From 2026 ASEAN Chairmanship
Other members of the bloc have refused to allow its military leaders to participate in official meetings following Myanmar’s military coup in 2021 (Nikkei)
UN Human Rights Expert Urges Tighter Sanctions on Junta
UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews called on the United States to expand sanctions on Myanmar’s military leaders to include their state oil and gas enterprise, their main revenue source; he also urged the United States to maintain current levels of humanitarian aid for victims of the conflict (Reuters)
First Shipment of Russian Fighter Jets Reach Myanmar
Myanmar received the first two of six Russian Su-30 fighter jets promised in a contract signed between the two countries in September 2022, according to Russian state news agency RIA (Reuters)
United Nations Renews Call to End the Crisis in Myanmar
Secretary-General António Guterres said a unified strategy and additional funding is necessary to end the deteriorating situation in Myanmar (AP)
Likewise, Bangladesh called for renewed efforts to reach a long-lasting solution to the conflict, which has driven thousands of Rohingya refugees into the country (Reuters)
These calls for action followed U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s pledge that the United States would continue to pressure Myanmar to pursue a path to democracy (Reuters)
Former Myanmar Leader Aung San Suu Kyi Reportedly Denied Medical Care
Suu Kyi’s son and other sources have said toothaches have left Suu Kyi unable to eat; the ruling junta denied the reports and said she is in good health (BBC)
Myanmar Junta Strikes School in Sagaing Province, Injuring Eighteen Children
Artillery shells hit the school during the school day; at least one thousand civilians in the township have fled due to the constant threat of strikes (RFA)
Myanmar Expels East Timor’s Senior Diplomat
East Timor’s senior diplomat was ordered to leave the country due to their engagement with the National Unity Government, which views itself as Myanmar’s legitimate administration (AP)
Joint UN Security Council Statement Condemns Myanmar Junta
Thirteen UN Security Council members, all members but China and Russia, condemned Myanmar’s military regime for the killing of civilians and called on the country’s leadership to respect human rights (AP)
Civil Society Groups Call On UN to Cut Ties With Junta
The demand was made over accusations that the militants are blocking aid from reaching those who need it; instead, they urged the United Nations to partner with ethnic and civil society organizations in order to deliver aid (Al Jazeera)