Myanmar’s junta arrests Swiss filmmaker, 13 cast members for defaming Buddhism

August 22, 2023

NEWS DESK Myanmar junta officials arrested a Swiss filmmaker and 13 cast members, accusing them of defaming Buddhism in informational videos posted on YouTube, according to a statement published by junta-controlled state media, RFA Burmese reports. The Swiss Embassy in Yangon told Radio Free Asia on Monday that it has asked Myanmar authorities to clarify […]Continue Reading

Myanmar junta declares support for Niger military coup

August 22, 2023

NEWS DESK Myanmar’s military junta has publicly declared support for the military coup in Niger, and even compared the two countries’ coups, The Irrawaddy reports. August 6 issues of junta newspapers carried a propaganda article arguing that the Niger and Myanmar armed forces had staged coups not because of their thirst for power, but to […]Continue Reading

Myanmar shadow government official apologises to Rohingya

August 18, 2023

NEWS DESK In an interview with VOA, the humanitarian minister in Myanmar’s anti-junta shadow government has apologized for failing “to bring justice to the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State,” where Myanmar’s military launched a brutal crackdown in August 2017, VOA News reports. Dr. Win Myat Aye served as social welfare minister in the administration of […]Continue Reading

Myanmar arrests nearly 150 fleeing Rohingya

August 15, 2023

Myanmar authorities have arrested nearly 150 Rohingya suspected of trying to flee the country, an official told AFP yesterday. The mainly Muslim Rohingya are seen in Myanmar as interlopers from Bangladesh. They are denied citizenship and require permission to travel. The military launched a crackdown on Rohingya in 2017, and thousands now risk their lives […]Continue Reading

Some 48,000 people in Myanmar flee homes amid deadly flooding, landslides

August 12, 2023

Floods and landslides caused by monsoon rain have killed five and forced around 48,000 people to flee their homes, Myanmar’s relief ministry said, AFP reports. On Saturday in Bago city, northeast of Yangon, children floated on rubber tyres squealing with joy, while adults paddled wooden canoes with supplies through the murky brown and yellow water […]Continue Reading

‘We are no longer part of nationwide ceasefire agreement’: Myanmar’s KNU

August 11, 2023

NEWS DESK As the junta’s military has already destroyed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), it no longer needs to be abided by, the Karen National Union (KNU), one of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armed groups, said at a press conference on Aug. 10, The Irrawaddy reports. “We no longer have any cause to abide by the […]Continue Reading

At least 17 dead after Rohingya boat breaks up off Myanmar: rescuers

August 10, 2023

At least 17 people drowned when a boat carrying Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar’s Rakhine state broke up at sea this week, rescuers said Thursday. Thousands of Rohingya risk their lives each year making perilous sea journeys from camps in Bangladesh and Myanmar to try to reach Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia, AFP reports. Byar La, a […]Continue Reading

War crimes by Myanmar’s military ‘more frequent and brazen’, UN probe finds

August 9, 2023

War crimes committed by Myanmar’s military, including the bombing of civilians, have become “increasingly frequent and brazen”, a team of United Nations investigators said in a report published on Tuesday, Reuters reports. The report by the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), which covered the period between July 2022 and June 2023, Continue Reading

Myanmar poet turned rebel leader seeks new territory; worries about ‘ephemeral revolutionaries’

August 5, 2023

Poet turned militia leader Maung Saungkha, one of the most prominent figures fighting for democracy in Myanmar, says his armed group plans to start carving out territory in the country’s heartlands to confront the junta more directly, Reuters reports. Maung Saungkha said the move is a key strategic aim for his Bamar People’s Liberation Army […]Continue Reading

Myanmar’s civilian government releases blacklist of junta collaborators in Yangon

August 5, 2023

NEWS DESK Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG) has blacklisted 49 government officials in Yangon Region—including former military personnel transferred to the civil service, deputy director generals, and directors of the Yangon City Development Committee—for collaborating with the junta to persecute striking civil servants, The Irrawaddy reports. The 49 personnel are Continue Reading