UN flags ongoing concern over shrinking space for free expression in junta-run Myanmar

DMG 

DMG Newsroom
11 June 2021, Yangon

A United Nations official has said the UN country team in Myanmar “remains very concerned over continued efforts to undermine the freedom of expression and the freedom of the press through systematic imposition of restrictive policies and practices since the military took over” on February 1.

Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, urged the junta to release all people detained arbitrarily, including journalists, adding that “freedom of expression is the cornerstone of any democracy and must be protected.”

‘The darkest days are coming’: Myanmar’s journalists suffer at hands of junta

The Guardian

Guardian reporter in Bangkok 

Mon 7 Jun 2021

A protest against Myanmar dictator Min Aung Hlaing in Yangon in February. He has cracked down on dissent and ordered the arrest of dozens of journalists. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

As a cyclone rolled over the Bay of Bengal on 24 May, American journalist Danny Fenster, 37, contemplated the brooding skies near a terminal window at Yangon international airport.

For a while, the threat of foreigners being seized at the airport by Myanmar’s military was real, but after watching international reporters exit the country safely in April, the Michigan native was more worried about turbulence.

100 days in power, Myanmar junta holds pretense of control

The News & Observer

GRANT PECK ASSOCIATED PRESS
BANGKOK
MAY 12, 2021

FILE - In this March 30, 2021, file photo, anti-coup protesters stand beside burning tires as they fortify their position against the military during a demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar. One hundred days since their takeover, Myanmar’s ruling generals maintain just the pretense of control over the country. There are fears the military takeover is turning Myanmar into a failed state. (AP Photo, File) AP

After Myanmar’s military seized power by ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, it couldn’t even make the trains run on time. State railway workers were among the earliest organized opponents of the February takeover, and they went on strike.

Health workers who founded the civil disobedience movement against military rule stopped staffing government medical facilities. Many civil servants were no-shows at work, along with employees of government and private banks. Universities became hotbeds of resistance, and in recent weeks, primary and secondary education has begun to collapse as teachers, students and parents boycott state schools.

Forty Myanmar Junta Troop Deaths Reported After Clashes with Rebel Army and Local Militia

Radio Free Asia 

2021-05-08

The fledgling National Unity Government is trying to unify numerous local “People’s Defense Forces” that have sprung up across Myanmar.

Protester holding a placard supporting the Kachin Independence Army and Kachin Independence Organization during a demonstration against the military junta in Hpakant in Myanmar's Kachin state, May 3, 2021,

Handout from Kachinwaves website via AFP

A rebel army and a local militia have killed 40 Myanmar junta soldiers in two days of fighting this week in regions near the country’s northern and western borders, witnesses reported, in what would be the largest number of casualties inflicted on security forces since the Feb. 1 military coup.

The killing of 30 regime troops by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in the northernmost state of Kachin, and of 10 junta soldiers in the neighboring Sagaing region by a newly formed township militia were reported by villagers Friday and have not been confirmed by the rebels or the military regime.

Senators urge Biden to impose more sanctions on Myanmar junta

REUTERS
Timothy Gardner
April 28, 2021

Myanmar's junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (L) gestures as he is welcomed upon his arrival ahead of the ASEAN leaders' summit, at the Soekarno Hatta International airport in Tangerang, on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia, April 24, 2021. Courtesy of Rusman/Indonesian Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERS

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday urged the Biden administration to slap more sanctions on the military junta in Myanmar, including choking revenues to a state energy company, in response to its coup and violent crackdown on protesters.

Senators Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, and Marco Rubio, a Republican, and four others urged Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in a letter to "explore new avenues to support the people of Burma in their ongoing struggle for democracy in the face of escalating crimes against humanity."

Malaysia says meeting with Myanmar does not ‘construe a recognition’ of junta

COCONUTS

By Coconuts KL 

Apr 8, 2021

Zahairi Baharim, far left, meets with Aung Than Oo, far right. Photo: Myanmar Politics Watch/Facebook

The Foreign Affairs Ministry said today that the recent meeting between ambassador Zahairi Baharim and a Myanmar official was not a symbol of recognition of that country’s military junta.

The ministry was addressing reactions to photos of the meeting that had been circulating online and prompting concerns that Malaysia was officially recognizing and accepting Myanmar’s military as the country’s leaders. Zahairi met with Electricity and Energy Minister Aung Than Oo at the capital of Nay Pyi Taw yesterday to discuss an offshore project involving a subsidiary of Malaysia-owned Petronas.

Myanmar junta offers ceasefire to some, as UN envoy warns of 'bloodbath'

CNN
Richard Roth, Caitlin Hu and Taylor Barnes,
April 1, 2021

UN envoy says a 'bloodbath is imminent' in Myanmar 04:51

(CNN)As the United Nations Security Council discussed Myanmar's military coup on Wednesday, the country's junta declared a "ceasefire" -- though it said it would continue to respond to "actions that disrupt government security and administration."

The ceasefire appeared to refer to actions taken against ethnic armed groups, where fighting has increased since the junta's seizure of power in a coup on February 1. The statement, carried on Myanmar's state television MRTV, called on ethnic armed groups to "keep the peace" and said the military would "suspend its operations unilaterally from April 1 to April 30."

Excluded from the peace, however, are those who "disrupt" government security.

Western Governments Intensify Diplomatic Pressure on Myanmar Junta

THE I DIPLOMAT

Sebastian Strangio
March 22, 2021

As Myanmar’s junta digs in, the ultimate end goal of the growing international pressure remains unclear.

Western governments are continuing to tighten their positions on the Myanmar junta, with the European Union set to impose sanctions on leading members of the security forces, after the U.S. Congress passed a resolution condemning the escalating use of violence against protesters.

European Union foreign ministers are today expected to approve sanctions against 11 Myanmar officials following the military’s seizure of power and deposition of the elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government.

Myanmar junta's civilian rivals promise justice for Rohingya

REUTERS
Reuters Staff

(Reuters) - One of the leaders of a group of civilian rivals to Myanmar’s military junta promised on Wednesday to deliver justice for the country’s Rohingya minority, saying they had also suffered at the hands of the military.

“We will not rest until we bring these military generals into justices for the war crimes, atrocities and the crimes against humanity they have committed against the great and brave people of Myanmar,” Dr Sasa said in a Facebook post.

Why Myanmar’s Junta Might Give Brief Reprieve to Embattled Muslim Minority

VOA

SOUTHEAST ASIA
Ralph Jennings
17 March 2021

In this June 26, 2014 photo, a girl, self-identified as Rohingya, stands close to her family's tent house at Dar Paing camp for refugees, suburbs of Sittwe, Western Rakhine state, Myanmar. Suu Kyi's many supporters overseas have been dismayed by her…

TAIPEI, TAIWAN —

Myanmar’s military government, seen as the chief force behind previous long-term violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority, is leaving the population alone for now as it battles protesters. But analysts say the junta is expected to resume the old crackdown over time.

The junta seized power in a February coup from a civilian government and has been focused on quelling protesters, rather than the Rohingya minority that lives in a western region of Myanmar and continues to push for civil rights. At least 11 protesters were killed on Monday and 57 over the weekend in the bloodiest period since the military coup last month, the United Nations says on its website.

UN: Killings of Peaceful Protesters by Myanmar Junta Soaring

VOA

By Lisa Schlein
March 16, 2021 

People carry a wreath as they attend the funeral of Khant Nyar Hein, a medical student who was shot and killed during the security force crackdown on anti-coup protesters in Yangon, Myanmar, March 16, 2021.

GENEVA - Human rights officials are expressing alarm at the soaring death toll in Myanmar as the military junta’s security forces intensify their brutal crackdown on protesters.

The past week has been particularly deadly. The U.N. human rights office says 11 people were killed on Monday and 57 over the weekend by security forces that used live ammunition against peaceful protesters.

Brazil Should Call Out the Myanmar Junta in No Uncertain Terms

Human Rights Watch

Maria Laura Canineu
Brazil Director, Americas Division

@mlcanineu
Renata Escudero
Brazil office coordinator

Police use a water cannon on a crowd of protesters in Naypyitaw, Myanmar on Monday, February 8, 2021. ©2021 AP Photo

The death toll keeps rising in Myanmar as security forces open fire on peaceful protesters. Yet the demonstrations across the country continue.

Masses of people in Myanmar have made it clear that they reject the military’s February 1 coup that overthrew the democratically elected government. Despite the increasing violence by the security forces, the people are showing that they will not be intimidated.

The generals seized power after Myanmar’s electoral commission dismissed their allegations of fraud in last November’s election in which Aung San Suu Kyi led her National League for Democracy party to win re-election in a landslide, and swept both houses of parliament.

The United Nations Human Rights Council unanimously adopted a resolution on February 12, expressing deep concern over the situation in Myanmar, calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all those arbitrarily detained, and for the junta to cooperate with international rights entities.