Abaung Sein* took brief pauses to chew betel as she recollected her family’s flight out of Sittwe, the regional capital of strife-torn Rakhine State in western Myanmar. The elderly Rakhine/Arakanese was enjoying her guilty pleasure as her family settled into a friend’s crowded Yangon flat. “We were lucky that we bought the tickets when we … Read more
Magazine Three years after the coup, and several months after the beginning of a major resistance offensive, Myanmar under Min Aung Hlaing is locked into a course of continued conflict. In this Mar. 3, 2021, file photo, an anti-coup protester displays defaced images of Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in Mandalay, Myanmar, March 3, 2021. … Read more
Current trends suggest Myanmar’s military regime will be toppled the same way it came to power: through the use of force.
Myanmar’s military junta has sentenced six brigadier generals to death and sentences of life imprisonment following their surrender to resistance forces in northern Shan State earlier this month, according to local media reports. Citing a “credible military source,” the Chindwin News Agency reported yesterday that the brigadier generals were sentenced by a military court in … Read more
Since late last week, senior Chinese officials have held a flurry of talks with Myanmar’s military administration focusing on border security, after an ethnic armed group completed its capture of the Kokang region in northern Shan State. According to a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry, Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong visited Myanmar during January 4-6, … Read more
The Chinese idiom, “times make heroes,” aptly captures the current situation of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), a Chinese-speaking rebel group in northeastern Myanmar. This ethnic armed organization (EAO) has tended to attract less attention than some of its peers, such as the well-equipped United Wa State Army and the long-standing Karen National … Read more
On October 27, the same day as the Three Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) launched their Operation 1027 offensive, Myanmar’s military junta relaxed its curfew across major cities. Citing “improved security,” the regime shortened the curfew in Yangon and completely removed it in Mandalay and a handful of other cities. Such relaxations were … Read more
Yesterday, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a statement accusing a key armed rebel group in Myanmar of abducting and forcibly recruiting civilians fleeing fighting in northern Shan State. The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), which is currently engaged in an ongoing offensive against Myanmar’s military junta, “is violating the laws of … Read more
Since October 27, 2023, Rakhine State has witnessed intense fighting between the Myanmar Armed Forces and ethnic Rakhine insurgents, as part of the broader Operation 1027. The war has created a humanitarian disaster for Rakhine civilians and generated new political, economic, humanitarian and security concerns for neighboring Bangladesh. Bangladesh has already faced several problems owing … Read more
An armed resistance group in Myanmar has seized another key border crossing with China, tightening its grip on an important junta stronghold in northeastern Shan State. Local media outlets reported yesterday that forces from the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) captured the Yanlonkyaing border gate in the Kokang Self-Administered Zone (SAZ) early on Monday. … Read more