Summary
This document provides news and information about Myanmar in 2024. More content will be added when it becomes available.
Airstrikes
On 3 Aug 2024, The New York Times reported: “Bombs Rain Down in Myanmar as Junta Evades Sanctions to Buy Jet Fuel… The military has stepped up a campaign of airstrikes, and killed more civilians, to fend off rebel advances. The attack last month on the village of Lat Pan Hla is a feature of Myanmar’s brutal war strategy. Unable to defeat the rebels on the ground, it has increased its indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets to terrorize the population.” [Source]
News
Channel 4 News (10 Jun 2024)
“Can these Gen Z rebels win Myanmar’s brutal civil war?” — When Myanmar’s military junta seized power in a coup three years ago, young protesters took to the streets. They picked up arms when the soldiers opened fire. [Source]
Channel 4 (12 Jun 2024)
“Inside Myanmar resistance: Rebel doctors and mine hunters” — Myanmar has long been dominated by the country’s powerful military. But three years after launching a deeply unpopular coup – the army faces its biggest ever threat. As a brutal civil war rages, a loose alliance of ethnic militias and former peaceful protesters who’ve now picked up arms, control more than half the country. And they’re beginning to build new, rival systems of government inside rebel-held territory, as Secunder Kermani and filmmaker Katie Arnold explain, in their second special report from Myanmar. And a warning, it contains distressing pictures right from the start. [Source]
Al Jazeera (27 May 2024)
“Some 45,000 Rohingya flee amid allegations of beheading, burning in Myanmar” — Escalating violence in conflict-ridden Rakhine State, Myanmar, has forced an additional 45,000 minority Rohingya to flee, the United Nations has warned, amid allegations of beheadings, killings, and the burning of property. Clashes have erupted in Rakhine State since the Arakan Army (AA) rebels attacked forces of the ruling military government in November, ending a ceasefire that had largely been in place since a military coup in 2021. The fighting has trapped the Muslim minority group, long considered outsiders by the majority Buddhist residents, between the government and the rebels. There are also warnings that hundreds of homes in the town of Buthidaung have been destroyed by arson. Al Jazeera correspondents Tony Chang and Tanvir Chowdhury at the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, along with human rights activist Nay San Lwin in Frankfurt, discuss the latest updates. [Source]
BBC (24 May 2024)
“Myanmar: How armies of young insurgents are changing the course of a forgotten war” — In the past seven months, somewhere between half and two-thirds of Myanmar has fallen to the resistance of a military coup that began in 2021. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since then, including many children, with some 2.5 million displaced. Now, the military is facing an unprecedented challenge to its rule. And in an attempt to thwart the growing resistance, it regularly bombs civilians, schools and churches from its warplanes. [Source]
BBC (21 May 2024)
“Frontline special report: Myanmar rebels take on army in brutal civil war” — Myanmar is in the grip of a civil war, largely forgotten by the outside world, which has left thousands of people dead and displaced more than two million from their homes. [Source]
Al Jazeera (8 May 2024)
“Myanmar armed conflict: Peoples Defence Forces fight for Myawaddy town” — Once members of a peaceful urban protest movement, its fighters are bearing the brunt of fighting around the strategic border town of Myawaddy. In the last of Al Jazeera’s special reports inside Myanmar, Tony Cheng looks at the Peoples Defence Force. Justine Chambers is a post-doctoral researcher with the Danish Institute for International Studies. She is also a specialist on authority and ethno-national conflict in Myanmar. [Source]
Al Jazeera (5 May 2024)
“Fighting intensifies as Myanmar military clashes with ethnic armed groups across the country” — The battle for the border town of Myawaddy in Myanmar has raged for the past three weeks.
Rebels and the military are fighting for control of the area. In the first of four special reports, Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng travelled to the frontline in Kayin state. He also spoke with one of the rebel commanders. Ronan Lee is a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow at Loughborough University London, where he focuses on Asian politics and Myanmar. [Source]
PBS (5 May 2024)
“What a rapidly changing civil war means for the future of Myanmar” — Myanmar is on the brink of becoming a failed state. For three years, the southeast Asian nation has been embroiled in an escalating civil war between the military junta and pro-democracy forces. Now, resistance groups have gained control of a significant part of the country after a long line of junta defeats. John Yang speaks with Burmese-American journalist Aye Min Thant about the situation. [Source]
Deutsche Welle (1 May 2024)
“Myanmar: Can the opposition overthrow the government?” — Resistance fighters in Myanmar have been winning battles against the ruling military junta in clashes across the country, leading many to believe that the government could be at risk of collapsing.
But last week the military said it had recaptured Myawaddy town on Myanmar’s eastern border with Thailand, sowing doubt over the resistance’s gains. [Source]
Al Jazeera Podcast (29 Apr 2024)
“Could Myanmar’s coup come to an end?” — Rebels fighting Myanmar’s government are making significant gains. Could they topple the coup leaders who took power just over three years ago? [Source]
Al Jazeera (17 Apr 2024)
“An exclusive look inside the fight against the junta in Myanmar” — Myanmar’s military government is facing its biggest challenge since it seized power in a coup more than two years ago. This is the most decisive moment in 60 years, after a loose alliance of ethnic armed groups with newly formed anti-coup militias cut off key trading routes, seizing towns and dozens of outposts. For the first time, they are moving into areas the military once thought of as strongholds. Opposition forces now control half the country, advances that have never been achieved before. [Source]
BBC (17 Apr 2024)
“Myanmar moves former leader Aung San Suu Kyi to house arrest and pardons 3,300 prisoners” — The military government in Myanmar has said it has pardoned 3,300 prisoners and has moved the country’s former leader Aung San Suu Kyi from prison to house arrest. State media, quoting a spokesman for the junta, said extremely hot weather had caused Miss Suu Kyi and other elderly prisoners to be relocated as a precaution against heat stroke. The Nobel laureate, Suu Kyi, has been in jail since she was ousted in a coup in 2021. This news comes a week after the military suffered a significant defeat, losing control of the main border crossing into Thailand, as it continues to face a shortage of soldiers. [Source]
Al Jazeera (8 Apr 2024)
“Is Myanmar’s military losing ground?” — Myanmar’s military government has suffered significant defeats at the hands of anti-coup opposition groups in recent weeks. Karen fighters and other rebel movements have seized a vital town on the border with Thailand and tried to attack the capital using drones laden with explosives. So, what’s next for military junta as it deals with these security challenges? And do the recent gains rebel groups have made represent a turning point for Myanmar? [Source]
Al Jazeera (2 Apr 2024)
“How Myanmar’s rebel fighters are using 3D-printed guns to challenge military rulers” — University students and engineers opposing Myanmar’s military coup, are helping armed groups make weapons. Rebels have struggled to arm themselves to fight the junta. Al Jazeera gained exclusive access to a weapons factory, where 3D printers are manufacturing assault rifles. [Source]
Deutsche Welle (27 Mar 2024)
“In April mandatory army conscription will come into effect in Myanmar” — Myanmar’s junta has started drafting civilians to fight in its military, as it tries to squash persistent efforts by pro-democracy and armed ethnic resistance groups to overthrow it. The military took power in a coup in 20-21 and imprisoned the country’s former democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Conflict has been brewing since, and the resistance movement has been gaining momentum. The junta is set to enforce a law that dictates all men between 18 and 35, and all women between 18 and 27 must serve at least two years in the armed forces. The law will come into effect in April – and it’s pushing thousands to flee the country. Many of them are heading to neighboring Thailand but they’re not necessarily safe there either. [Source]
France 24 (28 Feb 2024)
“Junta ‘losing control on the ground’, Myanmar’s opposition foreign minister says” — Zin Mar Aung, the foreign minister in Myanmar’s opposition National Unity Government (NUG), spoke to FRANCE 24’s Marc Perelman about the ongoing conflict in her country. The NUG supports the rebel groups that are fighting the ruling junta. These groups “have regained almost 60 to 70 percent of the territory”, she claimed. [Source]
Deutsche Welle (19 Feb 2024)
“Myanmar civil war: Exiled minister says rebel victory is close” — China and Russia must end supplies of arms to Myanmar’s military junta – that’s the call from exiled foreign minister Zin Mar Aung as fighting continues in the country’s civil war. By current estimates, the junta now controls just 40% of the country, giving rebel forces hope that their dream of toppling the generals for good could be within reach. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Zin Mar Aung demanded that China, Russia and other countries stop providing arms to the junta – saying they were being used to “kill their own people.” Zin Mar Aung spoke to DW’s Richard Walker, setting out the democratic government’s hopes for Myanmar – and the frustrations it faces in keeping Myanmar on the global agenda. Other issues raised: online scam operations run from Myanmar, Chinese mafia involvement, the role of India in Myanmar, and what Myanmar needs from the West. [Source]
Background News
France 24 (29 Sep 2023)
“Myanmar: Inside the Chin ethnic group’s armed resistance to ruling junta” — Since the February 2021 coup in Myanmar, the Christian Chin ethnic minority has taken up arms to defend its land, identity and ideals against the all-powerful ruling junta in the Buddhist-majority country. Our team reports. [Source]
Channel 4 (19 Apr 2023)
“The Gen Z army fighting Myanmar’s military dictator” — Channel 4 News gains rare access to the Gen Z rebels fighting the military dictatorship in Myanmar and hears how the young fighters are willing to kill and die for democracy. Two years since the military junta seized power in Myanmar, a fierce guerilla war is intensifying as protesters, who pleaded for a return to democratic rule two years ago, have now picked up weapons to fight for their freedom. Amid accusations of indiscriminate bombing campaigns, the regime doesn’t want the outside world to see what they’re doing in Myanmar but Channel 4 News travelled secretly into the country to speak to the young rebels. We contacted Myanmar’s military authorities requesting an interview or comment. We have not received a reply. [Source]
Deutsche Welle (19 Dec 2022)
“Rebels in Myanmar” — Naing Myel Htet Kyaw says: “We must take up arms. My parents support that.” The 18-year-old is fighting against the military in Myanmar. He’s one of the youngest in the rebel force that has taken shape since the 2021 military coup in Myanmar. Many of those flocking to the armed resistance are quite young. Some have traded their school uniforms and classrooms for arms and a jungle camp to carry on the struggle against the country’s military rulers. They see themselves as essentially pro-democratic forces, but they haven’t hesitated to resort to brutal guerilla tactics. Dennis and Patrick Weinert report from the embattled rebel territories and meet up with fighters at one of the resistance’s secret bases. [Source]
Deutsche Welle (26 Sep 2022)
“Myanmar guerrillas kill military official after increased military attacks against rebels” — Urban guerrillas opposed to military rule in Myanmar have killed a retired senior military official. It’s the latest killing in a saga of violence between the junta and those opposed to its rule. The UN’s top human rights envoy to Myanmar has warned that a ‘horrible cycle of violence’ is going to ‘snowball out of control.’ His comments come as the military increases its attacks against pro-democracy forces and ethnic rebels in the countryside. The latest instance of which – an attack on a school in the Sagaing region in the north-west. [Source]
BBC (24 Mar 2019)
“Aung San Suu Kyi: How a peace icon ended up at a genocide trial” — Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi used to be seen as a symbol of human rights, and spent years under house arrest for promoting democracy. Now, as Myanmar’s civilian leader, she is at the International Court of Justice to defend her country against charges of genocide committed against the Rohingya Muslim minority. She will, in fact, be defending the very people who had previously imprisoned her – the military. [Source]
NowThis (24 Mar 2019)
“The Rise and Fall of Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi Explained” — A non-violent freedom fighter? A war crimes apologist? Or is she something in between? Aung San Suu Kyi’s decades-long, non-violent struggle for democracy made her a hero around the world. But once appointed to office, many say her leadership, has been disappointing. [Source]