Myanmar people’s army aims wishfully at Tatmadaw

ASIA TIMES

DAVID SCOTT MATHIESON
JUNE 8, 2021

National Unity Government will be hard-pressed to form a force that can credibly challenge the 350,000-strong Tatmadaw

A screen grab from a video provided to AFPTV from an anonymous source and taken on May 23 shows a People’s Defense Force fighter shooting during clashes in Moebyel in Shan state, in which dozens of Myanmar security force members were killed and a police station seized, according to rebel fighters. Photo: Handout via AFP

If Myanmar’s security landscape was devilishly complicated before the February coup d’etat, the growing national-level armed resistance to the military-formed State Administration Council (SAC) junta has rendered it almost incomprehensible.

In recent weeks, veteran ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) such as the Karen National Union (KNU) and Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) have ramped up attacks on the military, or Tatmadaw. Peasant revolts using flintlock rifles and muskets in the hills of Chin state have likewise seen locally raised defense forces inflict major casualties on army units.

Why the Tatmadaw won’t crack in Myanmar

ASIA TIMES

By BERTIL LINTNER
APRIL 20, 2021

 

While the world gasps at the Myanmar military's brutal crackdown, there is little hope for a soldier-led mutiny or countercoup

Myanmar troops march in formation in a file photo. Photo: Twitter

CHIANG MAI – A military coup that overthrows a democratically elected government and sparks three months of nationwide protests and strikes. More than 700 people including children as young as five shot and killed as security forces fire into crowds of anti-military demonstrators.

Thousands of people, among them not only politicians, activists and journalists but also some of the nation’s best-known singers, movie stars and celebrities arrested on various trumped-up charges. An economy on its knees with non-performing banks and foreign investors running for the exits.

Jokowi's ASEAN leadership

ELEVEN

THE JAKARTA POST/ANN

7 APRIL 2021

Police personnel stand guard during a demonstration by supporters of detained Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu in front of a court house in Yangon on November 3, 2020. (AFP/Sai Aung Main)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has received a strong mandate to host an ASEAN special summit to discuss how the regional grouping should deal with the crisis unfolding in one of its member states, Myanmar, after the military seized power from the democratically elected government on Feb. 1.

This is a diplomatic scoop for Jokowi, who has previously shown little appetite for foreign affairs but now is taking firm action to assist the Myanmar people.

Myanmar’s Arakan Army, Allies Set to Resume Fight Against Tatmadaw Over Civilian Killings

THE IRRAWADDY 

30 March 2021

Arakan Army (AA) soldiers at their Kachin State headquarters in April 2019. / The Irrawaddy

The Arakan Army (AA) and its two partner ethnic armed groups in the Brotherhood Alliance said they are ready to join forces with all ethnic people in fighting against the Myanmar military regime if its brutal killing of anti-coup protesters continues.

The tripartite Brotherhood Alliance, which groups the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA); Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA); and the AA, condemned the military junta on Monday after the civilian death toll from its lethal crackdown on anti-regime protesters rose to at least 510 nationwide.

Senior Tatmadaw negotiator meets AA vice chair

MYANMAR TIMES

SAI WUNNA
10 DEC 2020 

Myanmar military commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (C), wearing a protective face mask, leaves the stage after delivering a speech during a donation ceremony by Myanmar military for the ongoing pandemic of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Yangon, July10, 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE

A senior Tatmadaw peace negotiator and a senior leader of the Arakan Army met on December 9 in Shan State as talks between the two sides intensifies, a source privy to the ongoing negotiations told The Myanmar Times.

The source said the meeting between a Tatmadaw major general and Nyo Tun Aung, the vice chair of the Rakhine ethnic armed group, was held in the headquarters of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in Pangkham township in Wa’s self-administered region in Shan.

UWSA, the country’s largest ethnic armed group and AA are holdover groups that refused to sign the government initiated Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).

ULA/AA holds online talk with Tatmadaw

BNI
By - Saw Thonya (NMG)

Friday, December 04, 2020 

The United League of Arakan (ULA)/ Arakan Army (AA) held an online discussion with the Tatmadaw on the IDP affairs, and the holding of elections in the canceled areas, according to the statement by the ULA/AA, on December 2.

According to the ULA/AA’s statement, the 30-minute-long discussion mainly focused on the timely holding of elections in the areas excluded from voting in last month’s election and also paying attention to the speedy transportation of medicine and rations to all villages which face a shortage of food, rations and medicine due to military roadblocks and barriers and maintaining the existing mutual understanding and trust.

How a new Amnesty report sheds light on Myanmar’s civil-military relations

ASEAN Today

Umair Jamal
July 15, 2020

Photo: juls78 / CC BY-SA

The recent Amnesty International report about the Myanmar military’s alleged war crimes highlights the country’s civil-military imbalance and the significant impact it will have on the country’s general election.
What is the Rakhine and Chin situation all about?

In a recent report, Amnesty International said the Myanmar military’s indiscriminate use of airstrikes on unarmed civilians in Rakhine and Chin states amounts to “war crimes.”

Armed conflict has raged between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) in Western Myanmar since 2018. The last two years of intense fighting has displaced thousands of people in these states.

UN Human Rights Council 44 Interactive Dialogue with Special Rapporteur on Myanmar

Mirage
July 15, 2020 

Thank you, Madame President.

Thank you Special Rapporteur for your update. We welcome you to the role and encourage Myanmar to work with you as you fulfil your mandate.

Across Myanmar, the indiscriminate targeting of civilians remains a military tactic. The physical and mental suffering those civilians face, including sexual violence, is deeply disturbing.

The Tatmadaw’s ‘four cuts’ strategy endangers lives disproportionately and causes lasting damage to property and livelihoods. This month in Rakhine, Tatmadaw ‘clearance operations’ saw villages shelled and burnt, with reports suggesting the displacement of at least 10,000 civilians.

Done Paik and Kyein Karli residents flee as fighting erupts between Inn Dinn and Koe Tan Kauk

Narinjara
Kaing Lu Hla (Yoe Ma Myay)
Narinjara News,
13 July 2020

Clashes between the Tatmadaw and the AA took place today on the border between Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships, according to reports from locals. Fighting occurred between Maungdaw’s Inn Din village and Ko Tan Kauk which lies in Rathedaung.

One resident from Koe Tan Kauk says he heard the sound of shooting from around 10am to around midday. After a heavy downpour the shooting had stopped, he said.

Lawmakers Submit Urgent Proposal to Resume Internet Services in N. Rakhine

The Irrawaddy

By Min Aung Khine 

25 June 2019

The session of Rakhine state parliament in Sittwe, Rakhine State on June 24, 2019. / Min Aung Khine / The Irrawaddy

SITTWE—An urgent proposal regarding the shutdown of internet services in eight townships in Rakhine State was submitted to the state parliament on Monday.

Lawmaker U Hla Thein Aung of Minbya Township submitted the proposal urging the Union government to resume internet services in eight Rakhine townships where the Tatmadaw (or Myanmar Army) and the Arakan Army are fighting.

AA Naval Attack Kills 2 Tatmadaw Fighters

The Irrawaddy 
By Htet Naing Zaw
24 June 2019

A piece of artillery shell that fell in the village of Kyay Taw Ywa Ma, opposite a creek from Sittwe. / Aung Than Wa / Faceboo

 

NAYPYITAW—The Tatmadaw (or Myanmar military) suffered two casualties in a navy tugboat attack by the Arakan Army (AA) in the creek of Set Yoe Kya, near Sittwe, in Rakhine State.

The attack is the first on a navy vessel in the state, Tatmadaw spokesperson Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy, adding that two died and one was injured in the attack.

Tatmadaw Sanctions Bill Heads for Vote in US Congress

The Irrawaddy
By Nan Lwin
21 June 2019

Rohingya Refugees stand in a queue to collect meat from a relief distribution center in the Balukhali refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, August 23, 2018. / Reuters  

YANGON—A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has advanced legislation in the U.S. Congress to impose new sanctions on the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw—the latest foreign effort to put pressure on the military in response to the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine State.

AA Abducts Five Chin Ethnic Villagers, Leaving Death Threats to the Rest (Chin World)

BNI Multi Media Group
Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Chin World

 

The Arakan Army (AA) abducted five Chin Ethnic villagers in Rakhine State’s Minbya Township on May 15 and dissuaded the remaining villagers with death threats from notifying the incident to authority and media, a villager told Chin World Media.

Six people killed, eight injured in Rakhine unrest.

MYANMAR TIMES

NYAN LYNN AUNG| 03 MAY 2019

Members of the Myanmar Red Cross Society carry a wounded man from a boat to Sittwe Hospital in Rakhine State on Thursday. Photo - EPA

Six people were killed and eight others injured during a disturbance at a school compound where hundreds of villagers were being detained by government forces in a village in Rathedaung township, Rakhine State, a senior spokesman of the Tatmadaw (military) said on Thursday.

Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said the casualties happened before dawn on Thursday when some detainees crowded around the police officers guarding them, and the police fired warning shots to stop them.

EU extends sanctions against Myanmar over Rohingya.

PRESS TV 
Tue Apr 30, 2019

A Myanmarese border guard stands near a Rohingya Muslim family in front of their home in a village during a government-organized visit for journalists in Buthidaung Township in the restive Rakhine State, Myanmar, on January 25, 2019. (Photo by AFP)

The European Union (EU) has extended sanctions, including a weapons embargo, against Myanmar for one year over the Myanmarese military’s deadly crackdown on minority Muslims in the country.

The European Council said in a statement on Monday that the sanctions included restrictions on arms, dual-use products, and surveillance equipment that could be used for “internal repression” in Myanmar’s Kachin, Rakhine, and Shan states, where minority Rohingya Muslims have been subjected to state-sponsored violence.

Arakan Army’s allies threaten to join fight against Tatmadaw

MYANMAR TIMES

Nyan Lynn Aung  

29 Apr 2019

Some of the villagers displaced by the fighting. Nyan Lynn Aung/The Myanmar Times

Two armed ethnic groups allied to the Arakan Army (AA) have threatened to join the fight against the Tatmadaw (military) if the fighting escalates, according to a statement by the groups.

Red Cross saves elders trapped under artillery fire

BNI  
Monday, April 22, 2019

Development Media Group

Villagers from Nwayonetaung village in Buthidaung Township, who fled from their homes when the Tatmadaw launched artillery fire near their village since April 19 morning, said that they had to leave older villagers behind who couldn’t walk.

Arakan Army attacks police headquarters.

MYANMAR TIMES

NYAN LYNN AUNG | 11 APR 2019

Myanmar soldiers march during a parade commemorating Armed Forces Day in Nay Pyi Taw on March 27. Photo - EPA

Suspected Arakan Army fighters attacked the police regiment headquarters in Mrauk-U township in Rakhine State late Tuesday, and local residents said there were many fatalities.

Colonel Win Zaw Oo, head of the Tatmadaw (military) Western Regional Military Command, said on Wednesday the AA attacked police headquarters with “overwhelming force,” and the military provided the police with reinforcements.

AA Kills 20 Soldiers in N. Rakhine’s Ancient Capital Mrauk-U.

The Irrawaddy
10 April 2019
By MOE MYINT 

Police and Army personnel jointly patrol along a main road in downtown Mrauk-U in March 2019. / Moe Myint / The Irrawaddy

YANGON—About 20 government soldiers were killed when the Arakan Army staged attacks on two Myanmar Army artillery bases on the outskirts of Mrauk-U in northern Rakhine State on Tuesday night, the armed ethnic group’s deputy chief claimed.

Brigadier-General Nyo Tun Aung said the AA attacked the No. 31 Police Regiment because troops from Light Infantry Division (LID) No. 22 were firing 105-mm howitzer shells almost daily from the base and another Army base in Lay Hnyin Taung about 8 km from downtown Mrauk-U.

Tatmadaw invites evidence of terrorist attacks in Rakhine.

MYANMAR TIMES
THURSDAY, 04 APR 2019

NYAN LYNN AUNG

A file image of unexploded ordnance in northern Rakhine State. Photo - EPA

The Tatmadaw (military) set up a panel on Wednesday to investigate evidence of human rights abuses carried out by terrorists in northern Rakhine State on August 25, 2017, according to the military’s True News agency.

The agency said in a statement that the military invited submissions of evidence such as eyewitness reports, photos, documents, audio and video files related to the terrorist attacks.