UN Aid Chief Urges Military Junta To Allow Better Humanitarian Access
On a visit to Myanmar, Martin Griffiths said a third of the population requires assistance, but that UN humanitarian goals for Myanmar were only 22 percent funded at the year’s halfway point (Reuters)
At Least Seventeen Rohingya Refugees Dead After Boat Capsizes
An additional thirty people are missing in the Bay of Bengal, and Myanmar took eight survivors into custody; the group was fleeing Myanmar’s Rakhine state headed for Malaysia (AP)
UN: Human Rights Situation Deteriorating in Myanmar
An independent UN probe of Myanmar’s human rights situation between July 2022 and June 2023 found that combat-related war crimes have become increasingly frequent and brazen, including bombings of civilians, killings of civilian and combatant detainees, and large-scale burning of civilian buildings (UN)
Myanmar’s military has reportedly intensified attacks in eight states and regions (RFA)
Myanmar Junta Reduces Suu Kyi’s Prison Sentence
The military government pardoned some sentences for pro-democracy civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, reducing her detention time from thirty-three to twenty-seven years, and granted clemency to more than seven thousand prisoners (Nikkei)
Myanmar’s Junta Extends State of Emergency, Delays Elections
A six-month extension of the state of emergency erased hopes that Myanmar might hold general elections this year (Bloomberg)
Meanwhile, an explosion in southeastern Myanmar killed one person and wounded twelve (AFP)
Myanmar Resistance Groups Form Anti-Junta State Council
An alliance of political, civil, and armed groups formed the first state council, in Karenni State, earlier this month as Myanmar’s resistance tries to fill a gap in services due to the absence of government in much of the country (VOA)
BBC: Myanmar Junta Moves Aung San Suu Kyi from Jail to House Arrest
The military has not confirmed the move and denied reports that the ousted civilian leader will meet with the speaker of the lower house of parliament; Suu Kyi is serving a thirty-three-year prison sentence, and little is known about her condition (BBC)
India Cracks Down on Rohingya Refugees in North
Police arrested seventy-four Rohingya refugees for living “illegally” in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh for ten years after fleeing persecution in Myanmar; India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention that mandates states to protect refugees and does not have any such laws of its own (Reuters)
Fighting Flares in Myanmar Border Regions
A military source says fighting has occurred in recent days in Kachin, Karen, and Kayah states, as well as Sagaing and Magway regions; residents allege one army raid killed fourteen civilians in Sagaing (Guardian)
Explosions Rock Myanmar Cities, But No One Claims Responsibility
An uptick in blasts from seemingly homemade bombs in Yangon, Mandalay, the Sagaing region, and Shan state has injured over twenty civilians and killed one, but the rebels and military blame each other for the attacks (RFA)
Myanmar Resistance Requests $500 Million in U.S. Assistance
Armed groups fighting to oust the ruling military junta specifically asked for humanitarian and nonlethal military aid; in December, the United States passed the BURMA Act, which allows for nonlethal assistance to Myanmar’s resistance but did not allocate any funding (VOA)
Two Weeks of Fighting Continues in Myanmar’s Kachin State
Myanmar’s military has been attacking the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) daily in Nam Sang Yang, attempting to advance toward the rebel group’s headquarters; the KIA is awaiting the arrival of reinforcements from the Arakan Army, another armed group (RFA)
Thai Foreign Minister Says He Met With Myanmar’s Suu Kyi
Thailand’s foreign minister met with imprisoned Myanmar pro-democracy civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Sunday, he said, making it the first meeting between Suu Kyi and a high-ranking foreign leader since she was detained following the country’s 2021 military coup (Nikkei)
Myanmar Junta: Fifteen Civilians Killed in Mortar Attack
The rebels deny accusations that their mortars hit a village in Sagaing province (AP)
Separately, fighting between rival Rohingya groups killed seven refugees at a camp in Bangladesh (VOA)
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for ASEAN to take a tougher stance on Myanmar and China, and Indonesia is trying to revive a peace plan for Myanmar that Burmese civil society has rejected (Reuters;RFA)
Myanmar’s Supreme Court to Hear Appeals of Ousted Leader’s Case
The court will consider appeals of Aung San Suu Kyi’s corruption charges, for which she was sentenced to thirty-three years in prison and barred from speaking to the media (AP)
World Bank: Junta’s Economic Policy Will “Permanently” Scar Myanmar
A World Bank report released today criticized the economic policies of the military junta that took over in a coup in 2021 and noted that Myanmar’s gross domestic product (GDP) is still around 10 percent lower than before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (Nikkei)
Junta-Aligned Myanmar Militia Switches Sides
The ethnic militia in Kayah state was nominally part of the national army, but its members said they were switching sides to fight alongside guerrilla groups and support the pro-democracy movement (AP)
Meanwhile, authorities around the country burned more than $446 million worth of illegal drugs, the production of which has increased since the military coup (ABC)
Myanmar Junta Arrests Aung San Suu Kyi Supporters
Activists say over one hundred and thirty were arrested for holding or wearing flowers during a nationwide “flower strike” in support of the jailed leader on her birthday (NYT)
UN Expert Appeals to Southeast Asian Nations for New Approach in Myanmar
More than three thousand civilians have been killed in Myanmar since a military coup in February 2021, but the country’s crisis has lost international visibility, an independent UN expert said at a news conference in Jakarta; he called for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries to take a harsher line against the ruling military junta (AP)
Meanwhile, the United States announced new sanctions on Myanmar’s defense and banking sectors for importing arms (Reuters)
Thailand Hosts Myanmar Junta For Dialogue
Thailand, led by a prime minister who seized power in a coup, will hold talks with Myanmar’s generals to try to resolve the situation in the country, breaking with other key ASEAN countries that do not want to legitimize the junta (Al Jazeera;Reuters)
Meanwhile, the junta continues to block aid for regions affected by Cyclone Mocha (HRW)
Fighting Between Myanmar’s Army, Rebels Kills Twenty-Six Civilians
The clash between the army and the resistance took place just east of the capital in Shan state, a hotly contested region (AP)
Myanmar Junta Meets with Aung San Suu Kyi to Discuss Peace
Top military officials allegedly met with the jailed National League for Democracy (NLD) leader to request her support in peace negotiations with the resistance, but she refused to accept, reports Radio Free Asia (RFA)
Myanmar Junta Intensifies Air Offensive Against Resistance
The frequency of airstrikes has increased by 25 percent compared to last year, as bombings now occur on a daily basis throughout the country (VOA)
Tens of Thousands of Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh Protest for Repatriation
Refugees called to be sent back to Myanmar, where a brutal military crackdown caused many Rohingya to flee in 2017, as communities in Bangladesh have grown more hostile to the refugees and international aid organizations have reduced their support, leaving refugee camps in harsh living conditions (Reuters)
Russia Reportedly Buying Back Arms Sold to Myanmar, India
Russia is suspected of buying back parts for tanks and missiles that it previously exported to India and Myanmar, Nikkei reported; while it is possible Russia reimported the parts for repairs, a Nikkei analysis of customs clearance data found no records of Russia sending the repaired parts back (Nikkei)