Myanmar is likely to see more bloodshed as security forces on the ground have been instructed to wipe out anti-regime protesters wherever they encounter them, according to internal memos issued by the top military command in the country’s capital Naypyitaw and whose contents were divulged to The Irrawaddy.
“You must annihilate them when you face them,” reads an instruction dated April 11, because “rioters [the military’s euphemism for anti-regime protesters] have gone from peaceful demonstration to the level of armed conflict.”
“Officers at all levels have to follow these instructions strictly,” it adds.
The order amounted to a retroactive endorsement of the massacre of 82 people just two days earlier in Bago, a city north of Yangon, in which soldiers and police sprayed protesters with live rounds and used rifle grenades to destroy roadblocks fortified with sandbags.
Two days later, on April 14, another memo was distributed.
It reads, “All the emergency security forces must be weaponized fully and systematically” as “riots may extend to your control area,” citing ongoing protests in “every township in Sagaing, Mandalay, Yangon and Bago regions and in Mon State.”
Since the coup on Feb. 1, the leaders of Myanmar’s military (or Tatmadaw) have been roundly condemned inside and outside the country for committing atrocities against their own citizens. Coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has been dubbed “murderer-in-chief” by many people online, as his troops have killed more than 700 people so far.
The regime claims its use of force against protesters is justified to stop what it has referred to as “rioting”. It has used some protesters’ sporadic use of Molotov cocktails and air guns to portray the protesters as being the instigators of the violence. While the regime’s brutal repression has prompted some protesters to take up crude weapons such as homemade firebombs or rudimentary hunting rifles, the protests across the country have been largely peaceful.
It should be noted that most of the civilians deaths so far took place prior to the “annihilate them” order. Given the number of deaths that occurred before the military command decided a shoot-to-kill “instruction” was necessary, it seems many more can be expected in the days ahead, now that the regime has given its already-trigger-happy troops a green light to embark on a killing spree.
With the “rioters” keeping up their protests, Myanmar seems likely to descend further into bloodshed.
It has also been learned that since February, the Myanmar military has been recalling battle-hardened commanders to the cities from remote battlefields to quell the peaceful protests.
Vice Senior General Soe Win along with hardline regional commanders and Lieutenant General Than Hlaing, the deputy home affairs minister, have been playing key roles in the serious rights violations committed during the Tatmadaw’s violent suppression of protesters and resistance forces. Both men are now on EU and US sanctions lists.
Despite resorting to violence and heavy-handed measures to control the anti-coup protests, the regime has been unable to restore law and order. Its attempted coup has not succeeded yet. At the same time, it has been struggling to maintain unity among its ranks.
The Irrawaddy has learned that top leaders, motivated by a mixture of deeply entrenched economic interests, a desire for political power and a misplaced sense of patriotism, are feeding rank-and-file soldiers and their families a steady diet of intimidation and propaganda, using psychological warfare tactics to keep them in line and hold the institution together.
To ensure military officers and their families don’t waver, the military on April 16 issued a warning to its command and field units that “foreign as well as domestic media are criticizing economic, political, social, religious and human rights issues of our government.”
It then instructed “all responsible persons at all level of forces to prohibit troops and families from listening to the media and explain to them at least twice a week that such broadcasts are lies.”
Long before the order was issued, senior commanders had already banned mid-ranking officers from using Facebook, the country’s most popular social media platform. The result has been to isolate them from the outside world and daily events in Myanmar. In effect, the Tatmadaw has become their entire world.
On April 17, the military’s high command instructed all units “not to allow strangers to come into the military camps or surrounding areas.”
In the ethnic states, in an “opinion” distributed on April 12, the senior command told armed forces and regional commands to be aware that “ceasefire armed groups are not officially organized by the State” and emphasized that the Myanmar military “is the only legal armed force” and “has to work for democracy and development with full strength.”
It further stated that the military “really wants peace and its main role is defending the country.”
The message ends with the exhortation that “the above opinion must be explained to all the troops.”
News (2)
Myanmar soldiers killed as KNLA protects protesters in Mon State
At least two Myanmar military soldiers were killed during a series of clashes with the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU) in Thaton Township, Mon State on Friday.
During clashes with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)’s Brigade 1, four regime soldiers were also seriously injured, according to local residents.
A resident told The Irrawaddy that fighting broke out in two locations in Thaton District at around 6 a.m. while KNLA troops were providing security for anti-regime protesters.
Around 100 anti-coup protesters gathered in front of a local school to protest against the military regime and show support for the National Unity Government formed by elected lawmakers from the ousted National League for Democracy.
“About 10 Myanmar soldiers were heading to the protest event to crack down on the protesters. Before they arrived at the event, the KNLA opened fire to protect us,” a resident said.
One civilian was also injured in the leg during the fighting, he said.
The military troops later returned with reinforcements and opened fire randomly near the protest areas. However, no one was injured as the protesters had already dispersed.
The Yangon-Mawlamyine Highway was also temporarily closed due to the fighting on Friday morning, according to residents.
However, the military fired several artillery shells into villages near the KNLA’s Brigade 1 at around 10 p.m. As a result, hundreds of villagers were forced to flee from their homes.
Tension has risen between the military and the KLNA in Hpapun district and Bago Township since the KNU publicly denounced the military coup. The KNU leader, Padoh Saw Mutu Say Poe, has refused to meet with coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing until his troops stop killing civilians and free all detainees arrested after the coup.
ASEAN leaders urged Myanmar’s coup leader to de-escalate the violence in his country and seek a political resolution to the crisis through dialog at their summit in Jakarta, Indonesia on Saturday, but seemingly failed to elicit any firm promises from the military chief.
The assembled leaders pressured coup leader and armed forces commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to end the violence by his security forces, which has seen at least 745 people killed during brutal crackdowns against peaceful anti-regime protesters, and called for the release of political prisoners including civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The junta has detained nearly 3,400 individuals since the Feb. 1 coup.
During the meeting, the leaders reached a five-point consensus to urge Myanmar to accept the appointment of a special envoy to engage with all the parties and to grant access to humanitarian assistance from ASEAN, which would be coordinated by the ASEAN secretary general in conjunction with the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Center).
Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the situation in Myanmar is “something that is unacceptable and must not continue,” adding that the violence must be stopped and democracy, stability and peace in Myanmar restored.
“The interests of the Myanmar people must always be the priority,” the Indonesian president said.
Widodo said, “I also conveyed the importance of the Myanmar military leadership to make a commitment to ending the use of force by the Myanmar military. At the same time all parties must exercise restraint so that tensions can be defused.”
Malaysia put forward a three-point proposal including a de-escalation of the situation on the ground and an end to killing and violence against civilians.
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin urged the coup leader to release all detainees promptly and unconditionally. “We realize that the success of ASEAN’s efforts on Myanmar very much depend on the willingness of the Tatmadaw to cooperate,” he said, referring to the Myanmar military.
After the meeting, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told the media that the Myanmar junta leader said he is not opposed to a visit by a delegation from ASEAN to help resolve the crisis in the country.
“He said he heard us, he would take the points in which he considered helpful, that he was not opposed to ASEAN playing a constructive role, or an ASEAN delegation visit, or humanitarian assistance, and that they would move forward and engage with ASEAN in a constructive way,” Lee Hsien Loong said.
Press statements from the ASEAN leaders do not indicate that the coup leader made a specific promise to end the violence in his country or release political prisoners, however.
U Aung Myo Min, a longtime human rights advocate and the director of Equality Myanmar, welcomed ASEAN leaders’ efforts to stop the violence in Myanmar, but voiced disappointment that ASEAN failed to extract concrete promises from the coup leader on how he would meet their demands.
“We are disappointed because such demands and statements can be made even without face-to-face talks. Besides, we don’t see there is a set timeframe or an effective action plan, in order not to delay [implementation],” he said.
Expectations for ASEAN’s special summit on finding solutions to the deteriorating situation in Myanmar were not high, given the bloc’s policy of non-interference and its history of favoring previous military dictatorships in the country. Myanmar people were already disappointed that the bloc declined to invite representatives of the parallel, civilian National Unity Government (NUG) formed on April 16 by elected lawmakers from the ousted National League for Democracy.
U Moe Zaw Oo, the NUG’s deputy foreign minister, said, “The demand of ASEAN to end the violence should be linked with concrete action if the demand is not met. The same is true for the release of the political prisoners. ASEAN must have a concrete plan for what to do if these demands are not met,” U Moe Zaw Oo said.
“ASEAN should be aware of the fact that the military council is very accustomed to lying to its own people and the international community. We welcome the engagement but it should also be meaningful in the sense that it must have real impact on the situation on the ground. Otherwise, it would be a waste of time,” the deputy foreign minister said.
U Aung Myo Min rejected the first item in the “five-point consensus” spelled out in the chairman’s statement that was issued after the meeting, which states that “all parties shall exercise utmost restraint”. The human rights advocate said: “It shows that ASEAN does not understand the situation in Myanmar. In fact, our people, unarmed civilians, are not committing violence; we are being abused. Such wording is unfair, and [shows] they don’t know the true situation.”
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