• ijrepjournalism@gmail.com
  • contact@ij-reportika.com
Ij reportika Logo

Category: ASEAN

Conflict in Myanmar’s Kayah state traps hundreds in town

Editor03 mins

A three-week battle has left six people dead and around 600 civilians trapped in Kayah state’s Ywathit township, local aid groups told RFA Tuesday. Banyar, director of the Karenni Human Rights Organization, told RFA that junta troops detained some villagers in a monastery and wouldn’t let them leave. “According to the list we received, there are more than 1,200 people in Ywathit town,” said Banyar, who goes by one name.  “Because of the battle, more than 600 people were able to flee. “There are still roughly 600 people. No one is allowed to leave the town. Six people were shot dead,” said Banyar, adding that the killings happened on June 27. He said Ywathit had been under junta control since June 27 and the town’s exit roads had been closed.  A member of the aid group told RFA that the victims were killed after being turned back at the Thai border. “A woman was killed. The rest were men from … Hpasaung township and Ywathit township who escaped to the Thai border during the fighting,” said the aid worker, who didn’t want to be named for security reasons. “However, the Thai side rejected them.  Many of them were detained and killed while they were returning. Some people are also missing.” Junta media have not mentioned the three-week battle and Kayah state’s  junta spokesperson Aung Win Oo didn’t return RFA’s calls. The combined Karenni National People’s Liberation Front and Karenni People’s Defense Forces said on June 13 they captured a junta outpost on the Thai border. However, the junta announced on June 27 that the military base had been taken back. According to Banyar, there are about 2,000 people seeking shelter near the border and another 9,000 people who have fled to Thailand as a result of the ongoing conflict. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Read More

In Myanmar, nearly 2 million people have been displaced by civil war, UN says

Editor09 mins

Nearly 2 million civilians in Myanmar have been displaced from their homes by the civil war raging in their country, with 40,000 displaced in the past month alone, according to the U.N.’s humanitarian agency, which appealed for food and other supplies. Myanmar has been wracked by violence since the military overthrew the democratically elected government in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup. Junta forces have faced stiff resistance from various ethnic armies that have teamed up with local anti-regime People’s Defense Forces — civilians who have taken up arms to fight the military.  Of the total 1.9 million internally displaced persons, the largest number — nearly 800,000 — are in Myanmar’s northwestern Sagaing region, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, said in an update on the situation on July 15.     “Countrywide, restrictions on humanitarian access have increased in multiple states and regions, notably in the Southeast and Kachin [state], further impeding timely and efficient aid delivery to affected and displaced communities,” the report said. “Sustained support, including financial assistance, from the international community is crucial to allowing partners to stay and deliver in challenging circumstances,” it said. The humanitarian situation remains urgent as families continue to grapple with the devastating aftermath of Cyclone Mocha, resulting in significant ongoing needs for shelter and food, OCHA said. The tropical cyclone in the North Indian Ocean hit western Myanmar’s Rakhine state and parts of Bangladesh in May. “After a brief suspension, humanitarians have been able to restart their regular programs in Rakhine, but the humanitarian cyclone response remains paused by the SAC,” the report said, referring to the State Administration Council, the ruling junta’s official name. The strictness of junta authorities on humanitarian aid is tightening throughout the country and the situation is worse in the southeast of the country and Kachin state, according to OCHA’s statement. Food shortages worsen Displaced people in Sagaing, Chin and Kayah states complain that food shortages are getting worse as military authorities restrict humanitarian aid access.  A day after OCHA published the figure, military troops raided Sagaing’s Khin-U township, prompting roughly 10,000 residents from about 20 villages to flee to safety.  A resident of the township’s Inn Pat village told Radio Free Asia that the soldiers unexpectedly raided his community at 5 a.m., putting elderly people who could not flee in imminent danger. “It caused a great deal of trouble,” said the person granted anonymity to ensure his safety. “Elderly people and the disabled who couldn’t run, had to remain in the village, hiding in the alleys between houses.” Displaced civilians from Mindat township in western Myanmar’s Chin state hide in the jungle, May 2021. Credit: Citizen journalist Civilians living in villages where military troops and pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militias have been stationed cannot return to their homes, he added.  More than 50,000 internally displaced people, or IDPs, are  in western Myanmar’s Chin state, according to OCHA’s report. Civilians there also fled their homes because of fighting and face life-threatening challenges on a daily basis because of the junta’s heavy artillery shelling and airstrikes, said a management committee official for the IDP camps in Chin’s Mindat township. “Many people have been injured by the shelling,” said the official who declined to be named for fear of his safety. “The junta planes fly over the area every night. That’s why everyone is panicking and can’t sleep well. It’s a pretty bad situation.” Mounting casualties Three civilians, including a nine-year-old girl and a breastfeeding mother, were killed by an airstrike by junta forces on Mindat’s Wun Khone village on July 8.  A resident of Moebye township in southern Shan state, where junta troops and ethnic Karenni joint forces engaged in fierce clashes, said IDPs are having a hard time getting food because military troops have banned the transportation of rice to the area.  “We can buy only dry food and gasoline in small quantities,” the local said. “The rice transportation routes have been totally blocked by the junta.” Aid and relief groups said 28 civilians were killed during the 40 days of fighting in Moebye from May 25 to July 4. The armed assaults on civilians, forcing them to flee their homes, are a crime against humanity, said Banyar Khun Aung, executive director of the Karenni Human Rights Group. “The junta intentionally planned their attack to force them out of those places that they call home,” he told RFA. “It’s not just in one location. They junta attacked many places using many different strategies to force the local residents to leave their homes.”   RFA could not reach junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment.  Armed conflicts continue in 255 of 330 townships in Myanmar, according to the latest annual report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued on March 3.  The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution last Dec. 21, calling for the immediate cessation of violence, the release of all political prisoners, including State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, and the unrestricted flow of humanitarian aid in Myanmar.  Translated by Myo Min Aung for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

Read More

Junta blames ‘terrorist drones’ for Sagaing bombing

Editor04 mins

A bomb blast in Myanmar’s Sagaing region injured eight locals, junta-backed messaging channels reported Monday. Pro-military Telegram groups said “terrorist drones” attacked a market in Shwebo township on Sunday morning. They said three children were among the injured. They said an eight-year-old girl was severely injured after bomb fragments hit her in the neck. But a local, who didn’t want to be named for fear of reprisals, told RFA junta troops fired heavy artillery at the market. “There is U Aung Zeya Palace to the west of Shwebo Market. Kha Ma Ya-42 Battalion was stationed there. They opened fire,” said the local. “One shell exploded outside the market; the other exploded in the market stall of a greengrocer. “Two people were hit in the waist and chest. They were sent to Mandalay Hospital,” the local said, adding that those with minor injuries were taken to Shwebo’s public hospital. Locals said that the market had been temporarily closed and junta troops were searching the neighborhood. RFA could not confirm either of the reports and Sagaing region’s junta spokesperson, Saw Naing, did not return calls on Monday. Motorcycle bomb In another attack Saturday, 12 Shan state residents were injured by a bomb blast outside a jewelry store in Lashio’s township’s market. A local, who also requested anonymity, said the bomb was planted in a motorbike outside the Zwe Htet store. “Of the 12 people injured, 11 are jewelry store employees,” the resident said. “Among them, two men and two women were seriously injured.” Residents say aid groups took the injured to the local hospital. They said many stores in the market are closed as the junta has stepped up security in Lashio. Debris outside the Zwe Htet jewelry store, Lashio township, Shan state, where a motorcycle bomb exploded on July 15, 2023. Credit: Citizen journalist In April a bomb went off near a water festival pavilion in Lashio, killing four people and injuring 11 after People’s Defense Forces warned people not to take part in Water Festival celebrations sponsored by the junta. Nobody has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s blast. Junta-media was silent on the bombing and Shan state junta spokesperson, Khun Thein Maung, didn’t return RFA’s calls. Junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said on July 13 that there had been 489 explosions nationwide since the start of this year, resulting in 782 fatalities. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Read More

Hun Sen deletes Twitter post linking Thai election to Cambodian opposition

Editor05 mins

Prime Minister Hun Sen has removed a Twitter post that attempted to connect the Cambodian opposition to a Thai politician’s failure this week to win enough parliamentary votes to become the country’s next prime minister. Pita Limjaroenrat and his Move Forward Party fell short of the 375 votes needed to clinch power in an initial round of voting on Thursday. Hun Sen tweeted that Pita’s setback was also “a major failure” to Cambodia’s exiled opposition activists. He was most likely referring to Sam Rainsy, the former head of the now-disbanded opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party who fled to France in 2015. “These traitors always expected that when Pita becomes the prime minister of Thailand, they would use Thai territory to do a campaign against the Royal Government of Cambodia,” Hun Sen wrote in the tweet. “Now the expectations of the brute opposition group have vanished like salt in water,” he said. In May, Sam Rainsy told Radio Free Asia that if a new pro-democracy Thai government is formed, he would look into traveling to Cambodia through neighboring Thailand.  Thailand’s progressive Move Forward Party was the top vote getter in the May 14 general election. It heads a pro-democracy coalition trying to unseat an administration with deep military ties that has ruled Thailand for almost a decade. Hun Sen has asked Thailand to arrest Sam Rainsy if he travels there. Last month, he publicly threatened to attack Sam Rainsy with a rocket launcher if he led workers from Thailand into Cambodia.  “Do not do politics that depend on somebody else,” the prime minister wrote in Thursday’s deleted tweet. “This is my goodwill message for the extremist groups.” Move Forward Party leader and Thailand prime ministerial candidate Pita Limjaroenrat speaks to the media in Thai Parliament after the parliamentary vote for the premiership in Bangkok on July 13, 2023. Credit: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP Online reaction After it drew angry online comments, Hun Sen removed the post from Twitter. “Absolutely ludicrous,” wrote Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Asia director.  Thai journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk tweeted that the 70-year-old Hun Sen is “a political dinosaur comfortable in the company of dictators.” “When he looks at Pita, he sees the [political] liberalization & reform he fears might some day come to Cambodia,” he wrote. Hun Sen posted another message on both Twitter and Telegram on Friday, writing that he doesn’t oppose Pita’s candidacy for prime minister.  “I respect the decision of the Thai people and I will not interfere in the internal affairs of Thailand,” he wrote. “I am ready to work with Thailand’s leader, regardless of who or which party.” He added that Cambodian opposition activists should stop using Pita’s name – “who does not know he is being used” – to oppose the Cambodian government. Finland-based political commentator Kim Sok said the first message made it seem like Hun Sen doesn’t understand diplomacy and politics, even though he served as Cambodia’s foreign minister during the 1980s. “Normally, a leader of a country uses good words and avoids bad words to other countries’ politicians, especially those who win the election,” he said in an interview with Radio Free Asia on Friday. Translated by Chandara Yang. Edited by Matt Reed.

Read More

Two days of junta attacks in Myanmar’s Sagaing region leave 4 dead

Editor05 mins

Junta forces targeted three Sagaing townships this week, killing four civilians and injuring 17, as they continued to try to impose martial law in the region, locals told RFA Friday. On Wednesday the army turned its heavy artillery on Shwebo township, bombarding Tet Tu village twice, killing a man and injuring 11 people including a four-year-old child. “The child was hit in the abdomen and another seven people were critically injured,” said a local, who didn’t want to be named for fear of reprisals. “The other three were slightly injured.” On Thursday the guns turned on Kale township, killing two people and injuring six. “A heavy artillery shell hit a house in See San village, killing a couple in that house,” said a local, who didn’t want to be named for safety reasons. “A child and a woman near her house were also injured.” The other locals were injured in attacks on two neighboring villages. Locals said troops shell their villages nearly every day, and mine explosions are also common. A house in See San village, Kale township, Sagaing region, destroyed by heavy artillery fire on July 13, 2023. Credit: Chin National Organization The junta also sent ground troops into Wetlet township Thursday, burning around 100 homes. Locals said an elderly man died in his home in Thone Sint Kan village. “The column spent the night in Thone Sint Kan village Wednesday night and troops torched the houses when they left on Thursday morning,” said a local, who also requested anonymity for safety reasons. “An old man who was paralyzed died in the fire.” Around 40 homes are still standing but residents have fled the village and say they are afraid to return home until troops have left. The junta has released no statement on the incidents and junta spokesperson for Sagaing region, Saw Naing, did not return RFA’s calls. The junta placed Shwebo and Wetlet under martial law last February but has struggled to seize control of the townships. Junta leader Senior Gen.Min Aung Hlaing told a military council meeting in Naypyidaw Thursday that he needed to step up security due to serious violence in Sagaing region, Chin and Kayah states. The continuing violence has brought widespread international condemnation and calls on this year’s Association of Southeast Nations chair Indonesia to put more pressure on ASEAN member Myanmar to end the fighting and restore democracy. The latest came from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Speaking on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Jakarta Friday, he said Myanmar’s military rulers must be pushed to stop violence and implement the “five-point consensus” peace plan they agreed with the rest of the 10-member grouping two years ago. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Read More

Cambodian ruling party spokesman rejects criticism of Theary Seng conviction

Editor07 mins

Renewed calls from the U.S. State Department and a U.N. working group for the release of Cambodian-American lawyer Theary Seng are a violation of Cambodia’s sovereignty, the spokesman for the country’s ruling party said on Thursday. “Our court jurisdiction is under the laws of Cambodia as an independent and sovereign state,” said Sok Ey San, spokesman for the Cambodian People’s Party. “The court convicts [any person] based on the laws and the facts. She caused chaos in Cambodia for being a holder of foreign nation’s passport. She stirred chaos in Cambodian society.”  In June 2022, Theary Seng was sentenced to six years in prison on treason charges, prompting condemnation from rights groups and the U.S. government.  Her conviction was “a direct result of her exercise of her right to freedom of expression, which is protected under international law,” a U.N. working group of independent human rights experts said in a report released on Wednesday. “Her detention resulted from her long-term, high-profile criticism of the prime minister and her pro-democracy activism,” the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said in the 17-page opinion.  State Department comments Asked about the working group’s report, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States continues to condemn the conviction and sentence of Theary Seng, who holds dual Cambodian and U.S. citizenship.  When pressed by a reporter, Miller said the department still hasn’t determined whether she is “wrongfully detained” – a designation that could involve the department’s Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. “With respect to this case, there is no higher … pressure we can bring to bear than the secretary of state himself personally raising a case with his counterparts,” Miller said at Wednesday’s daily briefing. In August 2022, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed Prime Minister Hun Sen to free Theary Seng and other activists during a visit to Phnom Penh. Other U.S. officials, including Under Secretary of State Uzra Zeya, USAID Administrator Samatha Power and Ambassador W. Patrick Murphy, have also called for her immediate and unconditional release.  Theary Seng was sentenced along with 50 other activists for their association with the banned Cambodia National Rescue Party, once the main opposition in the country before it was dissolved by the Supreme Court in 2017. The specific charges stemmed from abortive efforts in 2019 to bring about the return to Cambodia of opposition leader Sam Rainsy, who has been in exile in France since 2015. Theary Seng and the other defendants denied the charges. Foreign intervention fears Last month, Hun Sen said he wouldn’t pardon Theary Seng or opposition party leader Kem Sokha, who was sentenced in March on treason charges widely condemned as politically motivated. Hun Sen said the decision was necessary in light of recent foreign intervention in Cambodia. He added that even though Theary Seng has dual citizenship, her case applies only to Cambodian law. In recent months, the prime minister has frequently invoked the specter of national security threats at public appearances ahead of the July 23 parliamentary elections, which he has framed as a referendum on who can best maintain Cambodia’s sovereignty.  “From now on, those who seek foreign intervention will stay in prison,” he said last month. “We don’t release you. Don’t include them in prisoners who will be pardoned or have a reduced prison term. We are stopping foreign intervention in Cambodia.” Theary Seng’s case was submitted to the U.N. working group by the Perseus Strategies, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and Freedom House organizations, which represent her pro bono. “Theary Seng’s case is emblematic of the many people jailed in Cambodia for exposing human rights abuses, advocating for free expression, and calling for free and fair elections,” said Margaux Ewen, director of Freedom House’s political prisoner’s initiative.  “The Working Group’s judgment comes at a critical time. As democracy and internet freedom are under threat globally and in Cambodia, we need the international community’s support of brave individuals like Theary Seng – and the rights for which they fight.” Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

Read More

Myanmar’s central bank revokes licenses of 10 forex companies

Editor05 mins

The junta-run Central Bank of Myanmar has revoked the licenses of 10 foreign exchange companies, state-controlled newspapers said Thursday. In Wednesday’s announcement, the bank said the forex firms had not complied with the central bank’s orders and instructions. It named the companies as Kannan Trading; Net Change; Thiri Aung Si; Riverwood Group; Global Myanmar Services; D-Gold; Aurum Image; Hi Welcome Travel; & Tours Sweeties Pearls; and Chase Travels & Tours. Although the statement said the licenses were revoked according to a decision of the executive committee, it did not mention what orders and instructions were violated. RFA contacted the companies whose licenses were revoked but they did not respond. An entrepreneur holding a foreign exchange license, who did not want to be named for security reasons, called the central bank’s current forex policy “unstable.” “They shut [companies] If they want to. We do not know what for,” he said.  “But there is one thing that they should explain. Why was it not in accordance with the rules and regulations?” At present, the central bank allows foreign exchange companies to exchange one U.S. dollar for 2,100 Myanmar kyat. Firms are not allowed to change more than $10,000 per day and must be able to show the transactions list during investigation. Last March, the business licenses of 20 money exchange companies were revoked for failing to comply with the central bank’s orders and instructions. And on June 21, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it was adding the junta’s Ministry of Defense, and the regime controlled Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB) to a sanctions blacklist in connection with the Myanmar military’s purchases of arms from foreign sellers “including sanctioned Russian entities.” The dollar rose 7.3% against the kyat in the following 24-hours. U.S. dollars and Myanmar kyat. Credit: RFA Two days later, the central bank said authorities had arrested 51 people for allegedly trying to cash in on the sudden spike in the price of dollars. It said foreign exchange speculators in Yangon and Mandalay, foreign currency dealers, people transferring money and officials from three companies had been prosecuted. The Central Bank of Myanmar said its currency market monitoring team took action in accordance with the anti-money laundering and foreign exchange management laws. Also on June 23, in a move aimed at slowing the outflow of foreign currency the junta’s commerce ministry announced that importers at northeastern Myanmar’s border with China would have to pay for goods using their local bank accounts from Aug. 1. Junta Deputy Information Minister, Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun, told state-controlled media last month that the U.S. sanctions were aimed at triggering a political and economic crisis in Myanmar. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Read More

Crossing the nine-dash line

Editor01 mins

Vietnam has banned the release of the Warner Bros feature film “Barbie” because its trailer includes a crude cartoon map that Vietnamese netizens believed depicted China’s “nine-dash line” territorial claims in the emotive South China Sea maritime territorial dispute. The decision mystified the studio, which said the map that prompted Hanoi to pull the movie was a “child-like crayon drawing” that traced Barbie’s travels and carried no political message.

Read More

Junta airstrikes kill 2, injure 4 in Myanmar’s Kayah state

Editor03 mins

A junta fighter jet repeatedly strafed a village in Myanmar’s Kayah state, killing an 11-year-old boy and injuring two more locals, Karenni Defense Force Officials told RFA Wednesday. The plane attacked Kyauk Su village three times on Tuesday night, said an information officer of Hpasawng township People’s Defense Force who did not want to be named for security reasons. “A jet fighter came and bombed at night,” the official said. “The injured are not seriously hurt. A Christian church and around six homes were also destroyed.” On Wednesday a jet attacked the Daw Noe Khu displaced people’s camp on the Thai-Myanmar border, killing a 32-year-old man and injuring two women. More than 4,000 people were sheltering at the camp, according to Karenni Progressive Party Joint Secretary, Aung San Myint. “The jets came around 1:00 a.m. and dropped bombs four times,” he said, adding that a school was destroyed by the bombing and a medical clinic and some houses were damaged. The officials of the Karenni Defense Force said that the junta is launching an offensive from Hpasawng township in order to fully control Mese township and is sending its forces to the region by air. Hpasawng People’s Defense Force said the army has had no opportunity to launch ground offensives so it relies on airstrikes and heavy artillery to attack civilian targets. The junta has not released a statement on the attacks. RFA called junta spokesperson for Kayah state Aung Win Oo by phone, but nobody answered. On July 4, three civilians, including a two-year-old child were injured when the air force bombed a displaced people’s camp in the western part of Demoso. The founder of the Karenni Human Rights Group, Ba Nyar, said that the attack was a war crime. The junta has carried out 527 airstrikes in Moebye (Moe Bye), Pekon and Pinlaung townships in southern Shan state and Kayah state since the February 2021 coup, according to the latest figures released by Progressive Karenni People’s Force. Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.

Read More

Myanmar’s junta says it will sue 2 banned media outlets

Editor05 mins

Junta officials are preparing to sue two independent media outlets, accusing them of not paying broadcasting fees imposed just before the military took power in a coup d’etat more than two years ago. The Yangon offices of the Democratic Voice of Burma, or DVB, and the Mizzima news agencies were raided by junta security forces in March 2021 – a month after the Feb. 1, 2021, military coup d’etat. The State Administrative Council, the official name of the military government, revoked the operating licenses of the outlets, which now operate online and underground. The junta’s Ministry of Information announced the lawsuit on Saturday, saying they still must pay for using the state-owned Myanmar Radio and Television platform to air news and entertainment in the months before the military takeover. According to the lawsuit, DVB owes a month’s fee of more than 20 million kyats, or about US$9,500, while Mizzima must pay 80 million kyats, or about US$38,000, for four months of services.  DVB and Mizzima told RFA on Monday that the lawsuit was illegal because it was brought by a junta that unlawfully seized power.  Mizzima News’ office in Thanlyin, Yangon, was raided by junta troops on Mar. 9, 2021, eight days after the military coup. Credit: Citizen journalist ‘Within minutes of the military coup’ That’s also why DVB doesn’t owe any fees to the junta, said Editor-in-chief Aye Chan Naing. Its broadcasting license contract was signed with a civilian government that was elected by the people, he said. “We had to pay MRTV every three months,” he told RFA. “We were never late to pay. But within minutes of the military coup, our television channel was cut for exactly one month without any notice from them.” Mizzima’s founder and chairman, Soe Myint, told RFA that the outlet would pay the bill if it could access its bank account, which had 90 million kyat (about US$42,000) when it was seized by the junta in March 2021.  He said he hasn’t received any emails or official paperwork about the lawsuit.  “If it is in an independent, judicially competent and safe situation, I am ready to defend this lawsuit in court at any time. Whether it is inside Myanmar or anywhere abroad,” he said. “I can present the fact that the military junta unlawfully seized my house and all my properties in any free and fair court of law.”  The junta has also charged seven Mizzima employees with violating Section 505(a) of Myanmar’s Penal Code, Soe Myint said. That part of the law pertains to the circulation of statements, rumors or reports with the intent to cause military officers to disregard or fail in their duties. RFA attempted to contact junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for a response on the lawsuit, but his phone rang unanswered. Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

Read More

Investigative Journalism Reportika © March 2022 by Ij-Reportika is licensed under CC BY 4.0