News (1) to (3) / Source : The Irrawaddy
News (1)
Civilian Resistance Forces kill at least 16 of Myanmar Junta's troops
At least 16 military troops were reportedly killed and several were wounded during a series of shootouts with civilian resistance forces of Kani Township, Sagaing Region on Thursday and Friday, according to local residents.
On Friday, about five shootouts between junta troops and civilian resistance forces of Kani Township occurred when the troops, vowing retribution, conducted searches for civilian forces who had attacked the troops on May 6.
A member of civilian resistance force of Kani told The Irrawaddy that three shootouts occurred in the forest along the Monywa-Kalaywa highway on Friday. Two more shootouts occurred at Kyauklonegyi Mountain near Chaungma village and at a forest near Thaminchan village in the township.
During the shootouts, junta troops used heavy explosives, making use of drones to locate the civilian forces.
In the shootouts at Kyauklonegyi Mountain, at least eight military troops were killed and several were wounded. About seven members of the civilian resistance force were killed, the source told The Irrawaddy.
In Thursday’s clashes, about eight military troops and two villagers who fought back against the junta’s force were reportedly killed, according to local residents.
However, The Irrawaddy was not able to confirm the causalities of both sides independently.
“We will keep fighting them until our elected civilian government returns,” a member of Kani’s civilian resistance force said.
In a military regime press conference Friday concerning the armed resistance in Chin State and Sagaing Region, Major Kaung Htet told the media that the military will not tolerate any armed resistance on the part of the people.
“Since we also don’t tolerate any criminal activities, we will wipe them out by all means [necessary] as we are supposed to do,” the major said.
Taking up homemade percussion lock firearms, more than two hundred of the civilian resistance forces from several villages also conducted defensive actions against more than 50 military reinforcements travelling on vessels in the Chindwin River near the Upper Kin village on Thursday afternoon, according to residents.
The military reinforcements reached the area after their two vessels carrying explosive chemicals became stranded on a sandbank near the village after being attacked by resistance forces.
Local residents said that resistance forces managed to destroy some the explosive materials by throwing them in the river.
During hours-long shootouts, two members from the resistance forces and two military troops were reportedly killed, according to the residents. After the shootouts, the military troops have been deployed at the Upper Kin Village since Thursday evening.
Due to the raid, around three thousands of villagers from Kin, Upper Kin and Michaungkwin villages fled their homes on Thursday evening.
A resident of Upper Kin village told The Irrawaddy that several hundred villagers, including children and elderly people, are now living in the forest. They have only the clothes on their backs since they had to flee their homes urgently due to the shootouts.
“Now we are worried about food for tomorrow. We are also concerned for our children including infants that they would contract malaria in the forests. We have no medicine,” the villager said.
On Thursday morning, a shootout between resistance forces and military troops travelling with vehicles took place along on Monywa- Kalaywa highway near the Chaung Ma village in the township.
During the shootout, two military troops were killed and a military vehicle was burned, a resident told the media.
Military-run newspapers also said that two military troops were injured when 30 “armed rioters,” a military euphemism for civilian resistance forces, attacked troops travelling in the Chindwin river near Ketaung Village in Kani Township about 8:30 a.m. on Thursday.
On April 15, at least six civilians also were killed near the Chaung Ma village in the township during a shootout between the junta’s forces and a civilian protection group formed by anti-regime protesters.
The shootout came after the regime forces detained more than 70 protesters, including leading members of the protest committee in Kani Township.
Also, villagers of Chaung Ma had to flee their homes since military troops had deployed in the village following the shootout.
In several townships of Sagaing, Magwe regions and Chin State, people are resisting the junta troops by taking up the homemade percussion lock firearms and slingshots.
News (2)
ASEAN Chairperson, Secretary-General to visit Myanmar on 12 May 2021
Three weeks have elapsed since the historic special meeting of ASEAN leaders at the organization’s Jakarta-based Secretariat, and the bloc’s chair and chief now plan to have their feet on the ground in Myanmar after the end of Ramadan next week. They are scheduled to hold further talks with the military regime leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and concerned senior officials.
The visit comes amid growing calls for more assertive ASEAN action in implementing the five-point consensus agreed in Jakarta on April 24. Some critics have interpreted the lack of immediate tangible action as the bloc’s effort to buy time for the military regime.
According to a high-level informed source who asked not to be identified, the joint visit will be made after Ramadan, which will end on Wednesday. The date has not yet been scheduled pending confirmation from Naypyitaw.
In addition, the source added that the name of the ASEAN special envoy will soon be announced by the ASEAN chair, Sultan Hassanal Bokiah of Brunei. Two prominent names included on the short list were former Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda and former Thai vice foreign minister Weerasak Footrakul.
Both have wide-ranging experience in engaging with Myanmar. Wirajuda was involved with the humanitarian task force assisting Myanmar during the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in 2008. Weerasak is a former ambassador to Myanmar from 1991-94 and served as vice foreign minister from 2015-19.
It is not certain how the regime would accept either of them as special envoy. Weerasak is known to be conservative and close to the military in Myanmar. He got to know several high ranking military leaders when he served as ambassador.
He is now an appointed senator in Thailand. It is not known whether he will be able to take a balanced view on Myanmar and understand its citizens, who are opposed to the illegitimate coup. Sources familiar with him expressed doubt over his ability as special envoy.
Wirajuda when serving as foreign minister strongly criticized Myanmar over the Rohingya issue. The former foreign minister has also criticized Thailand in the past for towing Rohingya out to sea and demanded an end to persecution of Rohingya in the region.
The joint visit by the ASEAN chair, represented by Brunei Foreign Minister II Dato Erywan Yusof and Secretary General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi will be the first by the ASEAN team following the five-point consensus. The trip will allow the chair and ASEAN chief to make a preliminary in-person assessment of the overall situation after the military’s power seizure on Feb. 1.
The cessation of violence agreed to at the Jakarta meeting has not yet completely occurred, although there has been a reduction in fighting and shooting incidents. Interviews with residents in Yangon and Mandalay reveal that the use of lethal weapons has subsided but the numbers of arrests of activists, journalists and medical professionals and civil servants has increased.
However, fighting between the Tatmadaw and armed ethnic groups, especially the Karen, Shan and Kachin, has continued sporadically. Judging by the numbers of fleeing villagers from the border areas to Thailand in the past three weeks, the Thai authorities are confident that the situation is under control.
Last week, the National Unity Government, set up by ousted lawmakers, announced the formation of people’s defense forces with the objective to stop the use of violence against the people.
Meanwhile, concerns have been expressed among the Thai security apparatus that growing numbers of the civil disobedience movement are joining the armed ethnic groups, especially the Karen and Shan. Recent news footage showed some of them engaging in military training in preparation for fighting against the Tatmadaw in the future.
Local civil society organizations based in Bangkok and along the border have already provided cash and humanitarian assistance to receiving centers. Aid has also been sent across the border to dissuade the villagers from crossing and remain inside Myanmar.
Muslim members of ASEAN finish observing Ramadan next week. In Brunei, the fast-breaking festival of Eid-Al-Fitr will begin on May 13 and continue to May15. In Indonesia, it runs from May13-17.
News (3)
1600 educators dismissed by Myanmar Junta for refusing to work
The military regime has suspended at least 1,683 striking educators and administrative staff members of 15 universities from their duties.
Following the Feb. 1 coup, many civil servants in the country have been on strike as they are unhappy with the takeover, saying they can’t work under military rule.
The regime ordered doctorate, master’s degree and final-year bachelor’s degree classes to reopen on May 5 nationwide, and educators and administrative staff to return to work by May 3, asking university authorities to report the list of absentees.
Among those suspended from their duties are professors, associate professors and administrative staff. Notices signed by concerned rectors say they were suspended from their duties due to unauthorized absence.
According to the lists acquired by The Irrawaddy, a total of 339 educators and administrative staff were suspended at Yangon University, 392 at Mandalay University of Arts and Science, 149 at Mandalay University of Foreign Languages, 60 at Myitkyina Technological University, 72 at Taungoo Technological University, 137 at Yangon University of Education, and 45 at Myanmar Maritime University.
Other institutions affected include universities of Computer Studies in Pathein and Taungoo, Sittwe University, Maubin University, and technological universities in Taunggyi, Hpa-an, Pathein and Kengtung.
These figures represent only those The Irrawaddy could verify, and the actual number of those who were suspended could be much higher.
“Whatever happens, we will continue to engage in the civil disobedience movement until the end. We have to resist because we can’t leave our future generations under military rule,” said a striking assistant lecturer of Yangon University who has been charged with incitement by the regime.
Teachers are happy to be and take pride in being suspended from their duties for joining the CDM, he said, and striking educators who have not yet been included in suspension lists are even concerned that they will be mistaken as for supporters of the regime by the public.
The military regime’s push to reopen universities and schools is facing growing resistance, with anti-regime protesters calling for an education boycott as part of the nationwide CDM against the junta. Educators say the resistance is a sign that the coup is failing.
Facing a shortage of educators, the military regime is recruiting lecturers, and is planning to give promotions to non-CDM professors to replace striking rectors and deputy rectors, said the striking educators.
Meanwhile, it is also putting pressure on striking government employees including educators and health workers to return to work by prosecuting them for incitement and arresting their relatives.
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