This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Page 1 of 55
PEACE Info (September 15, 2021) − Fighting in southern Chin enters second day after column of junta soldiers ambushed − Myanmar Junta Troops Suspected of Killing and Mutilating Civilians − Violence escalates in Yaw region of northwestern Myanmar − More people flee Chin State for India − Defendant denies 4 billion kyats robbery allegation − Myanmar Junta Cuts Internet Access in Anti-Regime Resistance Strongholds − Junta’s Demand to Spy on Customers Prompts Telenor to Leave Myanmar − Exiled Physician Fighting for a Better Myanmar − MYANMAR UNITED NATIONS REPRESENTATION ROW: Status quo is the desired interim
Fighting in southern Chin enters second day after column of junta soldiers ambushed
Resistance fighters say they killed ten soldiers during the attack near Kanpetlet
Myanmar Now Published on Sep 15, 2021
A hilly rural area in Chin State
Chin resistance fighters ambushed a column of over 50 junta soldiers who were marching to the southern town of Kanpetlet on Tuesday morning, reportedly killing ten and prompting retaliatory shelling attacks by the military.
The Chinland Defence Force (CDF) in Kanpetlet attacked the column of soldiers about four miles from the town at around 10am shortly after receiving information about their movements from resistance fighters based in the nearby town of Saw.
Besides the fatalities there were several junta soldiers injured in the attack. In response, military units stationed at a police station and in schools in Kanpetlet fired mortar rounds inside the town, said a CDF spokesperson.
“Their reckless shelling hit the town,” he said. “The [gunfire] from the column of soldiers did not hit the town, though.” The clash lasted until 9pm, he added.
The CDF has warned civilians not to travel between Kanpetlet and Saw, which are 12 miles apart, as fighting there could become more intense.
Fighting began again at around 7am on Wednesday morning. “There was a clash today but we cannot disclose any information yet as we do not know the exact number of casualties yet,” said a spokesperson of the CDF.
There was a brief pause in the fighting due to heavy rain, but the clash continued at about midday, said a CDF fighter involved in the battle.
On Saturday, resistance fighters from Saw, Kanpetlet and the nearby town of Yaw, teamed up to fight the military near Kan Chaung village. Then on Monday the guerilla fighters ambushed a convoy of 10 military vehicles and about 120 soldiers heading towards Saw from Kan Chaung.
The Saw People’s Defence Force said in a statement that it used landmines in the attack and injured five soldiers.
Earlier this month the underground National Unity Government declared a “resistance war” against the military junta.
The junta has not commented on the recent clashes near Kanpetlet.
Myanmar Junta Troops Suspected of Killing and Mutilating Civilians
By The Irrawaddy | 15 September 2021
Five civilians have been found dead with their bodies mutilated close to where junta troops clashed last week with local resistance fighters in Magwe Region’s Gangaw Township. The victims had been shot and tortured, while the genitals had been cut off two of the bodies, according to local residents.
The bodies were found near Mwe Lel village, where three of the dead were from. The other two victims were from Lel Shae Village. Two bodies were discovered on Monday, and the other three on Tuesday.
One of the five victims found dead with signs of torture in Gangaw. (Photo: CJ)
The victims had been shot in the back of their heads and their arms and legs had been slashed with knives. Genitals had been removed from some bodies, said a villager.
“The victims were innocent civilians. We found gunshot wounds on their bodies. They had been
beaten. Two of the residents of Mwe Lel Village had their genitals cut off. There were cuts on the legs and arms of the bodies. The heads and faces were badly disfigured. We had to cremate the bodies at the site as they were too mutilated to move,” said the local resident.
Two of the five victims found dead with signs of torture in Gangaw. (Photo: CJ)
Junta troops and resistance fighters clashed on September 9 near Myin Thar village in Gangaw. At least 17 locals, most of them youths, died in the battle.
Clashes continued the following day, and some 40 houses were destroyed as military regime troops torched Hnan Kha Village. Some villagers from Mwe Lel were detained the same day by junta forces.
There were further clashes on September 12 after junta soldiers torched Htel Hlaw Village. On Monday, junta troops returned again to Hnan Kha Village, burning down another 14 houses.
Violence escalates in Yaw region of northwestern Myanmar
As the junta reportedly suffers major casualties in the Yaw area of Magway Region, their troops brutally retaliate against villagers and resistance forces alike
Myanmar Now | Published on Sep 15, 2021
The remains of a house that was burned down by the military in Htei Hlaw village, Gangaw township on September 12 (Supplied)
Clashes between the Myanmar army and local resistance forces have been intensifying in the Yaw area of Magway Region since the National Unity Government (NUG) declared war on the coup regime.
A spokesperson for the Yaw People’s Defence Force (YDF) told Myanmar Now at least 70 junta troops have been killed since the September 7 announcement, but that his forces had endured no casualties, only injuries.
Fifteen soldiers are said to have died on September 9 and 10 alone in Gangaw, one of three townships that comprises the Yaw region; the other two townships are Htilin and Saw. The area borders Sagaing Region and Chin State.
“You could say that there are battles in every corner of the Yaw region. The situation has been tense,” the spokesperson said.
In order to crush armed resistance and local support for the PDF groups, the junta has been systematically burning down residents’ homes in the area, according to the YDF.
“The soldiers burn down villages when they lose a battle—they also shell civilian houses. There have been some people that have died because of it,” the YDF spokesperson.
The coup regime troops reportedly started with the villages of Hnan Khar and Htei Hlaw in Gangaw, setting fire to an estimated 100 homes over the last week. Myanmar army troops also killed 18 people in Myin Thar, also in Gangaw Township, on September 9. Many of the victims were teenagers who had been defending the village, locals said.
The remains of a house that was burned down by the military in Htei Hlaw village, Gangaw township on September 12 (Supplied)
On Tuesday morning, junta troops killed two people who had been seeking refuge in a monastery in Kyaukse village, in neighbouring Sagaing Region’s Kalay Township, and reportedly burned down two houses in the area, according
to villagers who saw the smoke from afar.
The YDF spokesperson said that the soldiers committed the alleged crimes after a clash with local resistance forces near a bridge located between Kyaukse and Gangaw, killing two of the military council’s troops.
During the clash, those who were able to ran to the forests, with elders staying behind at the monastery, he explained. One of the victims killed there was reportedly 55-year-old Kyaukse resident Thaung Myint—the name of the other individual was not known at the time of reporting.
Pyu Saw Htee explosives
A YDF attack on a police station 15 miles south of Gangaw on Saturday led to an unexpected discovery by the resistance, who targeted a police station in the village of Min Ywar but had to retreat upon the arrival of military reinforcements.
As they fled the scene, YDF members found a makeshift arsenal concealed some five miles away in Khauk Khu village. Here, they say the Pyu Saw Htee—a network of military supporters that has emerged to counter the anti-coup resistance—had stored explosives and ammunition worth 7 million kyat (US$3,825).
“When our troops arrived near Khauk Khu village, having heard there was Pyu Saw Htee armoury hidden there, we combed through the forest looking for it,” the YDF spokesperson said.
The explosives that the YDF seized from the pro-military Pyu Saw Htee collective (Supplied)
The YDF confiscated the weaponry, which included rifle bullets and highly sensitive dynamite typically used in mining activities.
He said that Pyu Saw Htee members had been supplied arms by the Myanmar army during clashes with the local resistance in the Yaw area.
Page 6 of 55
“We heard that they weren’t allowed to use weapons except during battles. Many Pyu Saw Htee died during those battles,” he added.
Local resistance coalition forms
PDFs in the Yaw area have also joined forces to ambush the junta. On Monday, the Saw Township PDF fought alongside the YDF in an attack on a military column in Saw, which borders Mindat Township in southern Chin State.
The clash started at 11am near the villages of Kan Chaung and Khwin Chaung on the Gangaw-Kyaukhtu road, according to Yaw Padu, the 60-year-old leader of the Saw PDF.
He said the joint force intercepted the junta troops who were returning to their station in the occupied village of Kyauk Sit after terrorising other villages in Saw Township.
“We only used long-range weapons. We both employed heavy weapons,” Yaw Padu. “We fired a shell at them when we saw them moving towards Saw.”
The number of casualties on either side of the clash was not known at the time of reporting.
The Myit Thar River runs through Gangaw Township in the Northern Yaw region, as is seen from Google Earth
Another attack in Saw, which involved the use of landmines by the local resistance coalition, killed dozens of junta troops on Saturday according to Yaw Padu.
He said a Myanmar army soldier initially told residents of Kan Chaung village at 6am that day that some 60 soldiers would be joining the side of the people and would surrender their weapons.
When the villagers went to welcome who they thought were defecting troops, they instead were ambushed with both heavy and light weapon fire, forcing them to flee.
Later that afternoon, the PDFs launched a counterattack on the troops using landmines.
“We tried to offer them a chance to surrender their weapons but they started shooting and requested reinforcements. We heard 200 more reinforcement troops would be arriving, so we set up landmines,” Yaw Padu told Myanmar Now.
“The troops were marching towards the area on foot. We worked in groups and set up landmines,” he said, adding that some 30 junta soldiers were subsequently killed in the incident.
Close family members of police officers from Myanmar showing the three-finger salute in solidarity with Myanmar's democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a small village at an undisclosed location near the border between Myanmar and the Mizoram region, India. Photo: EPA
Almost 2000 people, including many children from Chin state, have crossed over to Mizoram in the past
four days following military airstrikes in the bordering villages along the Mizoram-Myanmar border, India Today reported.
According to reports, around 1500 people from Chin state have taken shelter alone in Mizoram’s Hnahthial district after clashes erupted between the Chinland Defense Force (CDF) cadres and the Myanmar military.
The clashes broke out at Lungler village in Thantlang town in Chin state along the Mizoram-Myanmar border on September 10.
A defendant in a 4 billion kyats robbery denied the allegation and said that Myo Ko, the township officer-in charge of the Bago People's Defense Force, was the mastermind behind the robbery on the Irrawaddy Bank car.
"Two people from our group were arrested. It is impossible for these persons to commit such a crime. The military council mixed these two cases to defame me. The Bago PDF was not involved at all. The military council deliberately destroyed the image of PDF,” Myo Ko told Mizzima.
He added that the arrested members of the Bago People's Defense Forces have nothing to do with the bank robbery and they were arrested while checking guest list reports.
Two Toyota Hiace vehicles carrying 4 billion kyats (4,000 million kyats) from Irrawaddy Bank Branch 1 in Bago were stopped by seven people at Mile Post No. 25/5 on the old Yangon-Mandalay highway, Bulayinn Village tract, Bago Township on September 13. After five Bank employees’ mouths, eyes and hands were bound with tape, robbers fled by Hiject vehicle carrying money and telephones, according to a military council statement.
The bank employee was able to report the incident to the police within 15 minutes. The statement said four women and three men involved in the robbery, were captured with arms and bullets.
It is said the seven detainees had an M-79 grenade launcher, two AK-47 rifles, four cartridges and 220 bullets, six MK-12 pistols.
Two people involved in the case are said to be on the run.
Myanmar Junta Cuts Internet Access in Anti-Regime Resistance Strongholds
By The Irrawaddy | 15 September 2021
Myanmar’s military regime has cut off internet access in several townships in Sagaing and Mandalay regions. The affected townships are strongholds of anti-regime resistance groups who have inflicted heavy casualties on junta forces.
Mobile and wifi internet services from Myanmar’s three main telecom operators – MPT, Telenor and Oredoo – have been blocked since 12.30pm Tuesday in Kani, Mingin, Yinmabin, Pale, Shwebo and Budalin townships in Sagaing, and Mogoke and Myingyan townships in Mandalay Region.
In the three months from June to August, more than 840 junta soldiers were killed and 355 wounded in Sagaing Region in clashes with local People’s Defense Forces (PDF).
184 civilians in Sagaing have also been slain and 49 wounded by junta forces, according to the parallel National Unity Government. Myanmar military forces are also facing intense opposition from resistance groups in Mandalay’s Mogoke and Myingyan townships.
Junta-owned Mytel telecom masts have also been destroyed across the country, including in Sagaing and Mandalay regions, since last week.
A resident of Sagaing’s Yinmabin Township said that civilian resistance fighters have managed to defeat junta troops in every clash in the region, because locals and resistance groups are sharing every movement of regime forces online.
“Actually, they [junta forces] block the internet access as they are afraid of the people [sharing information],” said the resident.
Before the internet blackout, some Facebook users and Facebook pages from Sagaing Region were actively sharing information about regime troop movements in order to have advance notice of potential raids.
A spokesperson for the Kani-PDF told The Irrawaddy that the internet blackout likely means that the junta is planning to attack civilian resistance forces in the region, and wants to ensure that locals don’t share information about troop movements.
Junta soldiers have been raiding villages in Kani Township over the last few days, while several Myanmar military gunboats have been patrolling the Chindwin River and helicopters have been hovering overhead.
“They are frightening the people here by blocking the internet and the information flow. They also frighten us with their helicopters, drones and gunboats. This is a kind of psychological war against our people,” the spokesperson for the Kani-PDF told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
In August, junta forces raided a series of villages in Kani after blocking phone and internet access.
Many locals are also concerned that the internet blackout means that the regime is more likely to use intense violence on anti-regime strongholds in the region.
Since August, internet access has also been cut by the junta in the jade-mining town of Hpakant, Kachin State.
Junta’s Demand to Spy on Customers Prompts Telenor to Leave Myanmar
By The Irrawaddy 15 September 2021
The Norwegian parent company of telecom operator Telenor Myanmar said Wednesday it could not maintain its presence in Myanmar, as doing so would require it to help the military regime conduct surveillance of its clients.
“Developments since the military takeover made it clear to us that our continued presence would require Telenor Myanmar to activate intercept equipment for the use of Myanmar authorities,” Telenor Group said in a statement. The company said the use of such equipment is subject to Norwegian and international sanctions. “Operating such equipment in this situation would constitute a breach of our values and standards as a company. Ultimately, this conflict between local and international law and human rights principles makes continued presence in Myanmar impossible for Telenor Group,” it said.
Telenor announced on July 8 that it had agreed to sell its Myanmar operations to M1, which was added to the Burma Campaign UK’s Dirty List in 2019 for doing business with the Myanmar military. M1 is a major shareholder in Irrawaddy Green Towers, which has almost 4,000 telecom towers across the country and works for military-owned telecom operator Mytel.
The move prompted criticism from rights groups, who said Telenor had failed to consult civil society stakeholders on the sale, and pointed to M1’s business dealings with authoritarian regimes in Syria, Sudan and Yemen. In particular, they raised concerns over Telenor’s acknowledgement that as part of the deal it would transfer the call records of its more than 18 million subscribers to the Lebanese company. Rights activists say allowing the junta to access such information would be dangerous, pointing out that phone subscribers in Myanmar must supply ID cards and addresses when registering SIM cards.
In Wednesday’s statement, Telenor Group said it “shares these concerns and has made all possible efforts to stay in Myanmar,” but the junta’s directive to implement intercept equipment made its presence in the country “untenable”.
“Having worked actively to avoid activation of intercept equipment, Telenor Myanmar Ltd. has until now not activated this equipment and will not do so voluntarily,” the company said. “We believe a sale is the least detrimental solution for the Myanmar society, as it will maintain the connectivity of our 18 million subscribers as well as critical services such as banks and hospitals, and ensure continued employment for our staff and broader value chain in a difficult time. Our efforts are now focused on obtaining regulatory approvals for the sale of Telenor Myanmar Ltd.”
Telenor Group has been one of Myanmar’s largest investors since launching its operations in the country in 2014. It reported 18.2 million subscribers in its first quarter financial report for 2021. The company agreed to sell its Myanmar operation to M1 for US$105 million. M1 Group is owned by the billionaire Mikati family, who have a history of doing business in authoritarian countries and face unresolved allegations of corruption and terrorist financing.
Myanmar's Minister of the Office of the State Counsellor Kyaw Tint Swe addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters, Sept. 28, 2019.
BANGKOK - A minister of Myanmar’s shadow government says the United Nations has an “obligation” to recognize what the people
want ahead of the 76th General Assembly that began Tuesday in New York.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since February’s military coup, during which the military ousted the democratically elected government and followed it with an ongoing violent crackdown on opposing demonstrators.
The annual assembly, which concludes on September 30, will see a nine-member credentials committee discuss who will take the nation’s U.N. seat, with the choice down to either members of the military junta or representative of the former government.
Dr. Sasa, the minister of International Cooperation for Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG), the shadow government formed in the wake of the coup, which includes ousted legislators and ethnic minority leaders, says the people have spoken.
“The origin of the legitimacy is really with the will of the people of Myanmar. The will of the people of Myanmar has been expressed in the elections, which were free and fair. The U.N.’s duty is to uphold the will of the people of Myanmar. That is the obligation.
“The U.N should look at realistic issues, not just about politics,” Sasa, who uses one name, told VOA from an undisclosed location.
“With or without U.N recognitions, we know what we have to do. That is to end this military junta regime reign of terror,” he added.
In Myanmar’s November elections, the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won a landslide victory. But the armed forces made unsubstantiated claims of electoral fraud as the coup unfolded earlier this year. A mass uprising, spearheaded by the Civil Disobedience Movement, opposed the coup, and thousands took to the streets in protest.
But thousands have since been killed and detained, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a group that monitors Myanmar. The military disputes the figures, saying the number of those killed is lower.
In July, the U.N. had warned that a civil war could break out, but Sasa said the current situation shouldn’t be defined this way.
“People from the outside will see this as a civil war. It’s really not a civil war. It’s a struggle for freedom and democracy, and tyranny, and the destruction of democracy under a military dictatorship.”
'We draw the line'
But only last week the NUG announced a “defensive war” against the Myanmar military, following months of fighting across the country. Political analysts have argued that the announcement was a call to arms.
“We want to stick to law and order, protect the civilians as much as possible, but [at] the end of the day, another side is fighter jets. The people of Myanmar are facing military fighter jets, heavy artillery, heavy weapons. And the question is, how can we disable those weapons?
“We draw the line. Enough is enough. We cannot prolong this reign of terror,” Sasa said.
Myanmar’s political unrest has only multiplied the country’s problems as it struggles with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Because many protest leaders work in the medical sector, several have been targeted by the armed forces. Furthermore, people are refusing to be vaccinated under the military’s stewardship.
Originally a medical doctor from a remote village in Chin Yet, Sasa has become a popular new face in politics and was set to take a top job in the government before the coup.
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has spent much of its years under military rule and has endured years of ethnic hostilities. Sasa said he faced many difficulties growing up in the country, including the loss of childhood friends and family members.
“The suffering I have seen in my life is something I cannot even begin to describe. It is hard to see such suffering — no hospitals, school, college. To go to hospital or college … takes like seven days walking through the jungle,” he said.
But he managed to get an education, first in India, and then in Armenia, where he went to medical school. He also worked as a schoolteacher, he said, and more recently with humanitarians and health workers in rural villages in Myanmar. But when the opportunity to move into politics came, he found it difficult to resist.
“I was being asked by top leaderships to try politics. It became very difficult to say no. I got the opportunity to bring people together — me, as a minority. I feel I can bring a real value to the country.”
He became a leading member of the Chin State NLD’s election committee for the general elections, which got him noticed by Aung San Suu Kyi.
Today, however, with Suu Kyi still detained and facing a slew of charges by the military, and Sasa on the run, things are much different.
“None of us thinks this hell [the coup] would happen. Because COVID-19 is happening, it would lead to chaos and help no one.”
When the coup unfolded, Sasa found himself immediately at risk. He managed to flee unnoticed, disguised as a taxi driver.
“We saw the smoking guns, the government surrounding us, every street everywhere. I start thinking about how to get out from there. The only way was to do like a taxi driver — it takes me three days and nights — I thought I’d be arrested and killed.”
Page 13 of 55
Sasa is still on the run and admits his current situation is still “very tough.” The military charged him with high treason following his political involvement after the coup. He became Myanmar’s representative to the U.N. by the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) — a legislative body representing ousted lawmakers.
But he is still hopeful, saying he’s honored to be “bringing people together” with an “inclusive government” fighting for a better Myanmar.
“That feeling of risking life every day, it is uneasy, it is painful. But in the way we are building the future, we are building a better tomorrow for all.
“Hopefully, we’ll see a new Myanmar, a new future, sooner or later,” he said. “All the sacrifices we have made, history will look back and remember something great.”
MYANMAR UNITED NATIONS REPRESENTATION ROW: Status quo is the desired interim solution
By Sai Wansai - September 15, 2021
The recognition of UN representation row between the junta’s State Administration Council (SAC) and the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) has been brewing for quite a while since the military coup on February 1 and it seems that this will drag on until the end of the year, without making any decision.
UN Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun attended the UN meeting 14 September
According to the NUG Facebook news, UN Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, who declared its loyalty to the NUG, attended the closing session of the 75th Session and opening session of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 14 held at General Assembly Hall of the United Nations, New
York, on September 14 at 3:00 pm.
Reportedly at the meeting, Secretary-General of the United Nations H.E. Mr. António Guterres gave a statement and President of the seventy-fifth UN General Assembly H.E. Mr. Volkan Bozkir also gave his farewell statement. Then, President-elect of the seventy-sixth session of the United Nations H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid took the oath of office.
The 1st plenary meeting was opened by the President of the General Assembly H.E. Mr. Abdulla Shahid following the appointment of the members of the Credentials Committee. The 9 member Credentials Committee was formed consisting of the Bahamas, Bhutan, Chile, China, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Sweden and the United States.
Accordingly, the Credentials Committee will have to deal with Myanmar’s UN representation issue and perhaps as well tackle, Afghanistan and Guinea issues, in which the former hasn’t named its ambassador yet and the latter, still in the midst of unclear military coup situation replacing the elected former government.
Foreign Policy report on September 13 regarding the Myanmar UN representation row writes “The United States and China have brokered an agreement that will effectively block Myanmar’s military rulers from addressing the United Nations’ General Assembly next week, according to diplomats, dealing a blow to the junta’s quest for international legitimacy after it took power in a coup earlier this year.”
“But the pact—which was hammered out during weeks of behind-the-scenes diplomatic negotiations—will require Myanmar’s defiant, still-serving U.N. ambassador who represented the previous government to hold his tongue during the high-level event, refraining from the tough rhetoric he deployed last year in denouncing the military’s power grab. It will also delay any effort by Myanmar’s rulers to press for U.N. membership to recognize it as the legitimate government in Myanmar, at least until November,” according to the Foreign Policy report.
This seems to be an accepted deal and thus the recent status quo situation is going to be maintained at least up to November or the end of the year.
“According to the rules of the UN General Assembly, if there is a dispute over the right to represent the countries concerned, the current representative must remain in place until the issue is resolved,” writes the RFA Burmese section on September 14.
Analysis
In a rare case, China and US were able to find a compromise in order to avoid a proxy-like confrontation in Myanmar theater and able to demonstrate cooperation between the UNGA and United Nations Security Council (UNSC), as confrontation between the two UN institutions may call in question the functionality of the whole UN system.
UN Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun attended the UN meeting 14 September Newyork
Another point to ponder is why China, which is suspected all along to be siding with the coup-maker military junta has now changed tune, all of a sudden.
The answer to this may be that it cares international criticism and also keen to cultivate its soft power, particularly where Myanmar is concerned.
In the past, its policy is to deal only with the junta and didn’t pay much attention to the people in trying to plough through its mega projects, to facilitate its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). But in the aftermath of the February coup, China saw the rising tide of people’s dissatisfaction railed against it, in form of massive protest in front of its diplomatic mission
Page 15 of 55
within the country and as well embassies abroad in many countries, including burning of Chinese investment facilities within the country.
In short, as a country working towards becoming a super power, it is keen to cultivate its soft power to woo the population and as well political and civil society organizations through government-to-government, party-to-party, and people-to-people strategic approach. In other words, it is the three pillars of Chinese foreign policy, which are the state, the party, and the people, at work.
Thus, it is not a wonder that that China and US were able to thrash out a compromise interim solution regarding Myanmar’s representation issue in the UN.
To sum up, the two big powers and many UN members may push for political dialogue among stakeholders of Myanmar, whether they like it or not, which will be led by the ASEAN. The UN representation row may not be resolved until there is a decisive outcome, which means either one comes out as a winner or a compromised political settlement is reached between the contenders.
Any Embassy Sales by Junta Would Be Illegal, Myanmar’s Shadow Govt Warns
By The Irrawaddy | 15 September 2021
Amid reports that the Myanmar military junta seeks to sell the land housing the country’s embassy in Japan, the shadow National Unity Government (NUG) has warned that any sale, in part or in whole, of a Myanmar diplomatic mission by the “illegal” military regime would be unlawful.
NUG Minister of Planning, Finance and Investment U Tin Tun Naing told The Irrawaddy that the warning was issued after the shadow government received credible reports of the regime’s proposed sale of the site of the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo.
A part of the Myanmar Embassy’s land in Tokyo was sold off under the former military regime. According to press reports at the time, the then regime sold 60 percent of the embassy grounds, netting it about US$234 million.
The Irrawaddy contacted the embassy in Tokyo for comment but embassy officials weren’t available.
While details of the proposed sale are not yet known, the plan shows that the regime is increasingly desperate for hard currency. The country’s economy has been in freefall since the coup with new investment drying up, the withdrawal of existing investment and the halting of key international-backed infrastructure projects, as Western countries sanction the military regime amid its forces’ brutal killing of more than 1,000 peaceful protesters, activists and youths.
Myanmar people are also refusing to pay commercial and income taxes and have stopped buying lottery tickets as they continue their boycott campaign to reduce the regime’s revenue and deny it legitimacy.
“As they are in dire need of foreign currency, it is likely they are plotting to sell embassy land in other countries as well,” U Tin Tun Naing said. This fear prompted his ministry to issue its announcement, he said.
The announcement states that the illegal military regime’s governing body as well as its subsidiary institutions and organizations have no right to control, manage or dispose of the public estate and thus any sale of the sites of the country’s diplomatic missions is “prohibited”.
Either the seller or the purchaser, or both, partaking in any such prohibited transaction will be prosecuted at a time and jurisdiction of the NUG’s choosing, the announcement added.
The NUG said it will follow up with relevant authorities in the host countries of Myanmar diplomatic missions to preclude unlawful transactions prohibited by the announcement.
U.S. trade chief urges ASEAN envoy to visit Myanmar soon, promote dialogue
Published 15 September 2021 | Reuters
WASHINGTON, Sept 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai has urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to send its special envoy to visit Myanmar as soon as possible to promote dialogue, her office said on Tuesday, days after opponents of the country's military rulers declared a revolt.
The U.S. Trade Representative's office said Tai made the request during a virtual annual meeting with ASEAN economic ministers meeting on Monday.
Myanmar has sunk into chaos since a ruling military seized power in a Feb. 1 takeover, with rising deaths in daily protests, insurgencies in border regions and widespread strikes. An activist group counts more than 1,000 people killed by security forces and southeast Asian and western governments are urging all sides to refrain from violence after opponents to the ruling military last week declared a nationwide revolt.
ASEAN last month appointed Brunei's second minister for foreign affairs, Erywan Yusof, as special envoy to Myanmar, tasked with ending violence in Myanmar and opening dialogue between the military and its opponents.
"Ambassador Tai also expressed deep concern regarding the military coup in Burma and urged ASEAN’s Special Envoy to visit Burma as soon as possible to promote dialogue between all parties," the USTR said in a statement using the U.S. government's preferred name for Myanmar.
Tai, who chaired the meeting with Brunei's finance and economy minister, Amin Liew Abdullah, also said the Biden administration was committed to strengthening the U.S.-ASEAN trade and economic relationship and a regional trade and investment framework agreement.
Electricity Bill Boycott Denies Myanmar Military US $1 Billion in Power Revenues Since Coup
Customers say they believe the junta would use the money to maintain power instead of help the nation.
2021-09-15
Electricity and energy workers protest the military coup, Feb. 19, 2021. RFA
Myanmar’s junta has lost some 2 trillion kyats (U.S. $1 billion) in revenue from its military-operated power company since seizing power seven months ago amid a widespread public boycott of the paying of electricity bills, according to the country’s
shadow National Unity Government (NUG).
NUG Minister of Finance and Investment Tin Tun Naing said Tuesday that 98 percent of electricity customers in the country’s Yangon region, 97 percent in Mandalay region, and about 80 percent in the country’s remaining states and divisions have been refusing to pay their bills as part of a Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) to protest the junta and its Feb. 1 coup d’état.
“We have a record of the Ministry of Electricity and Energy’s meter bills, and they have failed to recoup about 2 trillion kyats in the last seven months,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service.
“The people need to keep up with this action. I predict that the junta could lose about 2.5 trillion kyats U.S. $1.43 billion) by the end of the year.”
Following its establishment in May, the NUG’s Ministry of Electricity and Energy issued an order exempting all households from paying electricity bills and on June 8 announced that it had also ordered the suspension of payments for commercial entities.
According to a leaked departmental directive issued on Sept. 7 by the junta’s Yangon Region Electric Power Corporation, residents of townships in Yangon region alone were in arrears of more than 281 billion kyats (U.S. $161 million) from June to December 2020.
The junta recently issued a letter of warning ahead of the close of the 2020-21 fiscal year, instructing district and township level offices to discuss overages with customers and cut off power, if necessary, to ensure that they pay their balances on any overdue electricity bills beginning from March 2021.
The directives come after junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, during a May 20 meeting in the capital Naypyidaw, noted that electricity revenues were down and called on the people of Myanmar to pay their bills.
The junta’s Ministry of Electricity and Energy acknowledged in a statement on July 8 that it has had to purchase power from privately owned power plants to make up for shortfalls and warned that it would only be able to supply electricity to the country if the government can earn enough revenue.
The Independent Economists of Myanmar (IEM) reported in July that the ministry’s revenue had dropped by 90 percent since February this year due to the boycott on the payment of monthly meter fees.
The IEM said in a statement that the ministry is currently losing 100 billion kyats (U.S. $57.2 million) a month, with only two percent of customers in Yangon and three percent in Mandalay—the two cities that account for the nation’s highest electricity consumption—making electricity payments in March.
More than 4,000 employees have been fired from the department, which is now dealing with a shortage of staff, it added.
‘Trying to starve the junta’
Several people told RFA’s Myanmar Service they are taking part in the boycott because they believe the junta would use electricity tariffs to perpetuate military rule and said they would not pay electricity bills until a civilian government is elected.
A resident of Mandalay recently told RFA’s Myanmar Service that he had joined the boycott because he believes the junta would use the money for its own benefit.
“We are trying to starve the junta of vital revenues so it will not be able to function by refusing to pay all taxes,” said the resident, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Income from the electricity sector is definitely a part of the government machinery. What benefit will we get from … paying them?”
Since the coup, security forces have killed 1,093 civilians and arrested at least 6,533, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)—mostly during crackdowns on anti-junta protests.
Page 19 of 55
The junta says it had to unseat Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) government because the party had engineered a landslide victory in Myanmar’s November 2020 election through widespread voter fraud. It has yet to present evidence of its claims and public unrest is at an all-time high.
Last week, the NUG declared a nationwide state of emergency and called for open rebellion against junta rule, prompting an escalation of attacks on military targets by various allied pro-democracy People’s Defense Force (PDF) militias and ethnic armed groups.
A poster calling for participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement on display in Yangon's Kyimyindaing township, April 24, 2021. Citizen journalist Infrastructure targeted
Power infrastructure has also been the target of sabotage by the PDF and other armed groups in opposition to the junta.
A July 16 bomb blast in Mandalay’s Pyigyidagun township killed an employee of the Electric Power Corp. and a man waiting to pay his meter bill and injured at least seven people.
The week prior, on July 7, township power offices in Yangon’s Hlaing, Mayangone, Kamayut, South Okkalapa, and Thingangyun townships were targeted in bomb blasts. The Yangon Revolutionary Front claimed responsibility and said the explosions were a warning to the Department of Electricity to refrain from forcing people to pay their bills.
Since then, there have been at least 10 bomb blasts at power offices in Mandalay’s Mogok and Pyigyidagun townships, Yangon’s Lanmadaw township, and Magway region’s Myothit and Yezakyo townships.
A 30-year-old man from Yangon’s South Dagon township told RFA that the explosions had made him too afraid to visit a power office to pay his bill.
“At first, the reason for not paying was in protest of the junta, but later it was because NUG and PDF groups have warned against paying meter bills,” said the man, who also declined to be named.
“There were incidents in Mandalay where two people who went to pay their bills were killed in a bomb blast, so now even those who were not against [the military] dare not go pay their bills.”
An employee of the power corporation said he had to be extremely cautious when distributing meter bills to customers.
“There are no security guarantees provided by the department, so we have to look out for ourselves,” he said, speaking anonymously due to concerns about his safety.
Long term impact
Page 20 of 55
Analysts told RFA that Myanmar’s major cities that account for the nation’s largest share of energy consumption could be severely impacted by the boycott and any subsequent power outages.
“It’s not as simple as people think because electricity and water are basic requirements,” said Aung Phyo, an energy researcher in Shan state’s Kalaw township.
“If a certain situation arises, there will be no money from the people. How can the government prepare a budget without revenue? You need revenue to carry out maintenance and repairs. Without these, factories may have to close. People in urban areas who require a lot of electricity will suffer more.”
Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.