Research, editing : Gan Yung Chyan, KUCINTA SETIA
Without specifying where the reactor will be built, he said the Atomic Energy Department of the junta-controlled Ministry of Science and Technology will establish a “nuclear information technology center” in Yangon, which will be assigned to gauge and influence public opinion on nuclear energy.
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Myanmar’s bid to acquire nuclear technology dates back to the time of former military dictator Than Shwe, who also sought to build a nuclear research center with the help of Russia. The latest plan for a nuclear power plant follows the regime’s recent signing of a nuclear roadmap agreement with Russian state-owned nuclear agency Rosatom on further atomic energy cooperation including the possible implementation of a modular reactor project in Myanmar.
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Myanmar Junta may produce nuclear weapons to target civilians
Though the regime says nuclear energy would be used for peaceful purposes in Myanmar, which has been hit by chronic electricity shortages, many believe it is just an initial step in a plan to utilize nuclear energy for military purposes including production of nuclear weapons.
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Image : The anti-regime Federal Wings Drone UnitThe Myanmar military regime is installing anti-drone guns at important buildings and places, junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun said at the regime’s regular press conference on Tuesday, an indication that the resistance’s drone warfare against the regime is working effectively.
A little over a year ago, when resistance fighters collectively known as the People’s Defense Force started fighting back against the regime, they were armed only with homemade guns and rudimentary hunting rifles. Today, many resistance groups are employing drones to bomb military targets on both land and water.
At the 16th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime on Thursday (22 September 2022), the junta’s deputy home affairs minister and police chief, Major General Zin Min Htet, admitted that PDF groups are using improvised explosives and drones to create ever more powerful explosions.
Drones are among the weapons the junta’s frontline troops most fear, as they can inflict damage on a wide area beyond the specific target, according to defectors. PDFs are also using drones against junta ground assault troops in Karen State and Sagaing Region. Five regime soldiers were killed in a resistance drone attack in Karen State on Wednesday (23 September 2022).
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Threats fall on deaf ears
Speaking at the same press conference, Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun threatened supporters of the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) with charges punishable by death.
Those who donate even a penny to the NUG, its parliamentary wing the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), or its armed wing the People’s Defense Force (PDF) could face the death penalty, the junta spokesman warned, adding that netizens who like and share Facebook posts of the NUG and its affiliates faced charges carrying up to 10 years in prison.
The military junta has labeled the NUG, CRPH and PDF as terrorist organizations, and junta-controlled newspapers have featured reports on the theme of “identifying and taking legal action against those who support the NUG and its affiliates” since January. Nearly 100 people have been prosecuted under the Counterterrorism Law, Penal Code and Electronic Transactions Law for their alleged ties to the groups.
To see whether such threats are having the desired effect, one need look no further than the arsenals of the PDF groups. Initially armed with homemade rifles when they formed last year, many of the groups are now equipped with automatic assault rifles. Some are better dressed than the regime’s forces and many are well fed by supporters at home and abroad. To the regime’s dismay, a recent raffle of a wood panel created by detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s son raised more than US$1.7 million in less than two weeks to help the Myanmar people fight the regime. The amount exceeds the $1.3 million Daw Aung San Suu Kyi received for winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
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Myanmar military defector reveals how Junta killed Sagaing school kids
A helicopter pilot who defected from the Myanmar military has told how junta pilots attacked a village school in Sagaing Region last week, killing 11 children. “They [the pilots] dropped bombs despite seeing kids running on the ground,” said the defector.
Some 11 children, including some as young as seven, were killed and more than a dozen were wounded when two Russian-made military regime Mi-35 helicopters opened fire on a school in Let Yet Kone Village in Sagaing’s Depayin Township on the afternoon of September 16. Junta soldiers then attacked on the ground. Around five adult villagers were also killed in the assault.
In an exclusive interview with The Irrawaddy, Captain Zay Thu Aung, a Myanmar Air Force pilot who defected from the military soon after the February 2021 coup, talked about how he thought the attack on Let Yet Kone Village unfolded.
He said that, given the situation on the ground, the helicopters wouldn’t have flown higher than 300 to 400 meters. And as the village school was surrounded by fields, and not hills or forest, the helicopter pilots would have clearly seen the children in the school compound.
“There is no reason that they [the pilots] wouldn’t see the children below them,” said Zay Thu Aung.
A volunteer teacher at the school also told The Irrawaddy that children were playing in the schoolyard when the helicopters arrived. The teachers shouted to the children to come into the classroom to stay safe. But as the children were running inside, the teacher heard a loud explosion. The blast was from a rocket fired by one of the regime helicopters.
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Photographic evidence of the attack
Zay Thu Aung explained that photos of the aftermath of the attack give clues about how the school was targeted.
He said the helicopters would calmly aim at the school building, as there was no fire directed at them, and open fire with rockets and machine guns.
“In the photos, we can see roofs ripped off, concrete pillars destroyed and we can also see pieces of human bodies. All these prove that the school was hit by rockets,” said the defector.
Teachers and villagers said the helicopters fired at least three rockets, as well as firing machine guns for nearly an hour. At the time of the attack, about 200 young students were attending classes.
“I feel ashamed to say that I flew Mi-35. People who were once friends of mine are committing such disgusting crimes,” Zay Thu Aung wrote on his Facebook immediately after the incident.
While denouncing the attack as a war crime during his interview with The Irrawaddy, Zay Thu Aung said the major culprit responsible for the carnage was the regional commander who ordered the attack and the pilots themselves.
No one has identified the pilots responsible for the attack but the military currently has 13 Mi-35 helicopters and there are only 26 pilots who can fly them, said the defector.
Mi-35 helicopters are mainly used to support infantry columns involved in heavy fighting. Now, though, the regime is using them along with MI-17 helicopters to launch surprise attacks in Sagaing Region, one of the strongholds of the resistance movement.
Right after the Mi-35 helicopters make their surprise attacks, Mi-17 choppers are then used to drop junta soldiers into the target area. The regime troops then kill and detain villagers and torch houses.
That is exactly what happened in Let Yet Kone Village.
“They [the Myanmar military] don’t launch such raids in Kayah and Chin states and areas controlled by ethnic armed organizations. The military fears that, even after the Mi-35 attacks, the 75-odd soldiers that are usually dropped by the Mi-17 helicopters won’t be able to survive on the ground in those areas,” said Zay Thu Aung.
But in Sagaing the regime believes that 75 soldiers is enough to combat People’s Defense Forces (PDF) so the troops can easily exit the target area, added the defector.
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Resistance forces should join together to control Sagaing
Captain Zay Thu Aung suggested that resistance groups in Sagaing come together as a collective force to control the territory strategically.
“What we need to understand is that for the military, they have only one combined force regardless of the fact that the military is divided into the army, navy and air force. They all operate as one,’” he said.
“While PDFs need weapons that can shoot down helicopters, what is more important is that they need to form a collective force under a strong chain of command and operate strategically,” added Zay Thu Aung.
“National Unity Government leadership is also important for this,” he noted.
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A big new threat—SU-30SM fighter jets
Zay Thu Aung also warned of the threat of two newly-arrived SU-30SM jets, which arrived in Myanmar five months ago but have yet to be used in action. Russia delivered the multi-role jets to the regime in March.
Russia used SU-30SM in Syria in 2015. Zay Thu Aung said that the SU-30SM can carry up to eight tons of bombs, and so have far more destructive power than other planes used by the Myanmar military.
He said that the junta could use the SU-30SM to target PDF bases.
“For the junta, they will use all ways to crush the PDFs. International sanctions haven’t worked on them [the military] since 1988 and now they have Russia to provide them with weapons,” he said.
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Words for those who are still serving in the Myanmar military
“You will have seen the news that innocent children were killed. All the people of Myanmar now know that military pilots will even kill innocent children. Be aware that you can’t even call yourself a human being if you continue to follow the barbaric regime and harm innocent civilians. See the truth, get out quickly and avoid committing crimes that will haunt you all your life,” said Zay Thu Aung.
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Junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun said on Tuesday that coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing personally inspected the production and testing of the planes at the Irkustsk Aviation Plant during his visit to Russia this month.
“They all will be delivered soon,” said the junta chief.
Russia has been assembling the six fighter jets for Myanmar under a contract worth around US$204 million that was signed in 2018.
The first two jets were delivered in March this year, so the remaining four will likely be delivered soon.
Myanmar’s military has long been a patron of Russian military hardware. Russia is also one of the few countries Min Aung Hlaing can visit, as most nations have shunned him and his regime since last year’s coup, which was followed by bloody crackdowns that have killed over 2,000 civilians so far.
Min Aung Hlaing has visited Russia three times since the military takeover and is a fan of Russian weapons saying “I like them”.
Stockholm’s International Peace Research Institute said that Russia also sold US$247 million worth of arms to Myanmar between 2015 and 2021.
Among the hardware purchased by Myanmar’s military are MiG-29 fighter jets, Yak-130 combat trainers, Mi-17, Mi-24 and Mi-35 combat helicopters and other weapons.
The regime’s revelation of the impending delivery of new warplanes comes as Myanmar is mourning the death of 11 school children, some as young as seven, killed last Friday in junta airstrikes and ground assaults on a monastic school in Sagaing Region.
Witnesses said that Russian-made MI-35 helicopters opened fire on the school, which the regime claimed was harboring resistance fighters, an accusation rejected by local people.
Amnesty International has documented eight airstrikes on villages and a refugee camp in Kayah and Karen states in southeast Myanmar in the first three months of 2022. The attacks, which killed nine civilians and injured at least nine more, destroyed homes and religious buildings. In almost all the documented attacks, civilians are the only people who appear to have been present.
The arrival of new Russian SU-30M jets comes also as the junta is increasingly reliant on air power to attack resistance forces, as its ground troops suffer defeats and defections. The regime is also using airstrikes against ethnic armed organizations like the Arakan Army in western Myanmar, where the junta is struggling to control the region.
On Friday, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Office called on countries to do more to prevent weapons and revenue from reaching the regime, while urging UN member states to impose a ban on arms sales to Myanmar.
While the United States and other western democracies have imposed sanctions on the regime, countries like Russia and CCP China are continuing to supply military hardware to the junta.
The UN Human Rights Office said on 23 September 2022 in its report that while Russia had supplied fighter jets and armored vehicles to the regime, CCP China had also sent fighter and transport planes. Other countries like Serbia have provided rockets and artillery shells, while India has provided a remote air defence station.
Refs: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/russia-building-six-advanced-fighter-jets-myanmar-military.html, https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-junta-to-receive-new-russian-jet-fighters.html, https://www.dhakatribune.com/asia/2022/09/20/myanmar-air-attack-kills-13-including-7-children
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