Myanmar

Bangladesh Roundly Criticized as it Begins Moving Rohingya to Remote Island

International criticism grew louder as Bangladesh began moving more than 1,000 Rohingya refugees to a flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal on Thursday.

The government had said the move to Bhashan Char Island was voluntary and would ease crowding at camps housing hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in Cox’s Bazar, a southeastern district.

International humanitarian and rights organizations said no one should be relocated until United Nations experts certify that the remote island is habitable, and a mechanism is in place to ensure that refugees are accorded basic human rights.

“The Bangladesh government is actively reneging on its promise to the U.N. not to relocate any refugees to Bhashan Char island until humanitarian experts give a green light,” Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Thursday.

“If the government were genuinely confident in the habitability of the island, they would be transparent and not hastily circumvent U.N. technical assessments.”

Fortify Rights, a Southeast Asian group, said Bangladesh had coerced the Rohingya into moving to Bhashan Char, an allegation that the government forcefully denied.

“All of them are going voluntarily. We will not force anyone to go to Bhashan Char,” A.K. Abdul Momen, the foreign minister, told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, on Thursday.

The Rohingya have a right to consent, yes, but it should be informed consent and they didn’t have enough information, Amnesty International said on Thursday.

Momen said the Rohingya who agreed to move were fully apprised of the conditions on Bhashan Char.

“They can move freely at Bhashan Char. They can engage in farming, fish cultivation, cattle rearing and other agricultural activities, which are not possible in Ukhia and Teknaf,” Momen said, referring to the refugee camps in sub-districts of Cox’s Bazar.

“The Cox’s Bazar region has become an environmentally risky zone. Trees, hills, canals and natural resources are totally damaged due to the huge pressure of the Rohingya,” he added. “That is why we have taken the measure to decongest the camps in Ukhia and Teknaf, and relocate some 100,000 to Bhashan Char.”

Bangladesh houses some 1 million Rohingya, who fled from violence in neighboring Myanmar, in 34 refugee camps in and around Cox’s Bazar. Of those, more than 740,000 escaped a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, beginning in August 2017.

Anticipating that their repatriation to Myanmar would be a while coming, Bangladesh’s government ordered the navy to construct a refugee complex in Bhashan Char.

The refugee settlement was ready in 2018, but no Rohingya were moved to Bhashan Char amid controversy over whether it was habitable.

The government had said it spent about U.S. $280 million to construct housing, a large embankment, and other infrastructure on the island. Authorities said the facilities on the island were better than in the refugee camps.

‘Let us go to Bhashan Char’

Buses carrying Rohingya families and government officials left Ukhia in Cox’s Bazar at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Mosharraf Hossain, an additional inspector general of the Armed Police Battalion, told BenarNews.

A total of 1,501 Rohingya were packed into 42 buses to be transported to the island, a government official who requested anonymity told BenarNews. The official was not authorized to talk to reporters.

The buses were plastered with stickers that said, “Let us go to Bhashan Char.” The government had organized trucks to carry the refugees’ meager belongings to the island.

“The first batch of Rohingya who voluntarily consented to shift to Bhashan Char started for Chittagong on Thursday,” Hossain said.

“In Chittagong, the Rohingya people will be handed over to the Bangladesh Navy officials on Friday morning. Then they will be taken to Bhashan Char by a Navy ship.”

The ship will likely reach Bhashan Char on Friday afternoon, Mohammed Khurshed Alam Khan, the deputy commissioner of Noakhali district, told BenarNews. The island is part of Noakhali.

Early on Thursday morning, relatives of the Rohingya who were leaving gathered in Ukhia to see their loved ones off.

Rahima Khatun had come to see off her son Omor Hamza and his family.

“I did not realize how painful it would be to say goodbye to my son. I do not know when I will see him again,” Khatun told BenarNews.

“I hope he will be happy in Bhashan Char.”

Mohammad Toyub, one of the Rohingya who was set to leave on Thursday, told BenarNews he was hopeful.

“We had been leading a miserable life at the camp. So, I have consented to go to Bhashan Char with my family members. But sometimes I feel a little bit scared,” Toyub said.

“I do not know what will happen. But I hope we will be able to build a better life there.”

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

Rohingya Refugees Missing, Feared Drowned After Boat Capsizes off Bangladesh Island

Some two dozen Rohingya refugees were missing and feared to have drowned after their boat capsized in bad weather as they tried to flee from their confinement on a remote Bangladeshi island, local authorities and U.N. officials said Sunday.

Coast-guard and navy teams were searching Bay of Bengal waters for at least 26 Rohingya who were still missing as of early Sunday evening, Bangladeshi officials said.

Local fishermen rescued at least 12 other people from the boat a day earlier, including a man who said he survived by clinging to the vessel’s side after a wind gust caused it to capsize.

His wife and children were all missing after the boat capsized as they attempted to escape with other Rohingya to the Bangladeshi mainland from Bhashan Char Island, the survivor told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, on Sunday. The tiny island’s resident refugee population of about 19,000 is prohibited from leaving its confines.

“The incident happened between 11 p.m. Friday and 2 a.m. Saturday. The boat sank due to inclement weather. The local fishermen rescued, and left them at Bhashan Char,” Rear Adm. M. Ashraful Haq, director-general of the Bangladesh Coast Guard, told BenarNews on Sunday afternoon.

It was not immediately clear how many crew members were on the boat, which was operated by smugglers, according to the survivor who spoke to BenarNews.

The Rohingya people boarded the boat, which left the island via a canal located in a jungle where police vigilance is not as strong, Haq said.

“One of the rescued persons, Sanaullah, informed us that there were 38 people on board. And the local fishermen rescued 12 people; 26 people have been missing,” Haq said.

The boat capsized approximately 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) southeast of Bhashan Char, he said.

“Usually, wind speed in [that area] remains high during August. They chose the route to avoid Coast Guard vigil,” the rear admiral said.

Two coast-guard patrol boats and a Navy patrol boat and helicopters were searching for the missing people, he said.

“But so far, we have not found a single person either live or dead,” Haq said.

According to Imran Hosen, chief administrator of Hatya, a sub-district of the Noakhali district that surrounds Bhashan Char, “the rescued people informed us that they were planning to go to the Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar.”

He was referring to the largest of refugee camps in southeastern mainland Bangladesh, where about 1 million Rohingya refugees from nearby Myanmar are sheltering.

According to Bashir Ahmmad, the survivor from the boat interviewed by BenarNews, he and 10 family members boarded the boat after trekking for six hours through the jungle on Bhashan Char. Middlemen had charged each adult passenger 7,000 taka (U.S. $83) for the sea passage to the port-city of Chittagong on the mainland, he said.

“One and half hours after sailing, a strong wind overturned the boat. I caught a side of the trawler to keep me afloat,” Ahmmad, 22, told BenarNews by telephone.

“Some fishermen fishing nearby rescued us. Six of us are alive; others are missing,” he said.

Among his missing family members were his wife, their four children and his sister-in-law.

He said that his family dared to try to escape from Bhashan Char because they were fed up with eating the same food – a regular diet of rice and pulses, as well as potatoes and fried fish.

Since December 2020, Bangladesh has moved thousands of Rohingya refugees from the mainland camps to the low-lying island, where the government built a housing complex and infrastructure to accommodate as many as 100,000 refugees.

Human rights groups have criticized the government for relocating refugees the island, saying that they would be cut off from the rest of Bangladesh and exposed to potential cyclones. But the government has said that the refugees moved there voluntarily as part of Bangladesh’s efforts to ease congestion in the Cox’s Bazar camps.

When senior officials from the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR visited the island in late May, a violent protest broke out among hundreds of refugees who were complaining about living conditions there and being unable to earn any money through jobs, among other grievances.

Since Bangladesh began relocating refugees to the island, reports have emerged of some Rohingya trying to escape to the mainland.

On Friday, police caught eight Rohingya in Subarnachar, another upazila or sub-district of Noakhali, after they fled from the island, local authorities said.

Meanwhile in a statement posted on Facebook on Sunday, UNHCR said it had been notified on Saturday morning that “a boat carrying dozens of Rohingya refugees had capsized close to Bhashan Char island overnight.”

“We are devastated that reportedly many passengers, including women and children, have tragically drowned,” the United Nations agency said.

“We are grateful to local Bangladeshi fishermen who were first on the scene and alerted Bangladeshi authorities.”

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

Myanmar’s Junta Seen Moving to Dissolve NLD to Ensure Grip on Power

Myanmar’s junta is targeting members of the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD), including its leader Aung San Suu Kyi and dozens of lawmakers, in a bid to disband the party and secure its tenuous hold on power six months after overthrowing the government, ousted lawmakers and analysts said Monday.

A member of the NLD’s Central Committee told RFA’s Myanmar Service that the military regime has arrested a total of 324 NLD members—98 of whom are members of parliament (MPs)—since its Feb. 1 coup d’état. Among the detained are 15 members of the NLD’s Central Committee, as well as five regional and state chief ministers, the committee member said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

Other senior NLD members have died in detention since the coup, including Aung San Suu Kyi’s personal attorney Nyan Win on July 20 and Bago region MP Nyunt Shwe, who died of COVID-19 in prison on Monday. Three party members—Khin Maung Latt and Zaw Myat Lin of Myanmar’s largest city Yangon and Kyaw Kyaw from the capital Naypyidaw—were allegedly tortured to death at interrogation centers, according to the committee member.

Meanwhile, 10 people, including Magway Region Chief Minister Dr. Aung Moe Nyo, have been sentenced by the military to between two and three years in prison and face additional charges. NLD chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi, former president Win Myint, and several other party leaders remain in detention on a variety of anti-state charges after being rounded up in the aftermath of the coup.

The Central Committee member told RFA that the junta is targeting the NLD with the goal of removing the party from politics altogether.

“The junta is afraid of losing the state authority it unlawfully seized,” they said.

The committee member said they believe the military’s leadership was unhappy with the socio-economic development, transparency, and other reforms that the NLD delivered after winning the country’s 2015 elections, and afraid of being held to account for the corruption and other crimes it had committed during its 1962-2011 rule.

“That must be why they are trying to completely remove the NLD from Myanmar politics, hoping that afterwards they’d be free to do what they want,” the committee member said.

“[NLD] party leaders and party members are being unlawfully persecuted, and people are being brutally suppressed so that they cannot interact with the party.”

Holding on to power

The junta says a landslide victory by the NLD in the country’s November 2020 general election was the result of voter fraud, but has yet to provide evidence of its claims and has violently repressed widespread protests, killing 998 people and arresting 5,711 since the coup, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

The regime’s Union Election Commission (UEC) announced on July 26 that the 2020 election results had been officially annulled, although the NLD has dismissed the decision as illegal, saying it invalidates the will of the people. The military has called for a change in the format of the election to include proportional representation ahead of a new ballot.

Political analyst Than Soe Naing told RFA that the military’s actions are aimed at holding on to power.

“It doesn’t matter when elections are held—as long as the people wholeheartedly support the NLD, it will be difficult for the military to maintain power,” he said.

“This is why the junta is working towards the abolition of the NLD and the long-term imprisonment of its leaders.”

In the aftermath of the coup, the military raided NLD offices across the country, confiscating documents and office equipment and destroying party signboards. Party officials say grassroot-level NLD offices have since removed all signs, citing security concerns.

Aung Kyi Nyunt, a member of the NLD Central Committee, said that despite the military’s efforts, the party will endure because it continues to represent the will of the people.

“I don’t believe that the people will accept the annulment of the election results or participate in new elections, as they already made their decision,” he said.

“As long as the people are there, the party will be there.”

Little hope for justice

Meanwhile, family members of imprisoned NLD lawmakers told RFA on Monday that they have little hope for justice while the junta remains in charge of the country.

Lin Naing, the husband of jailed Taungup township MP Ni Ni May Myint, said that the military had arrested his wife and many other NLD members with complete impunity.

“We didn’t know where people were interrogated after being taken away—most were taken to court from interrogation centers and imprisoned straight away,” he said.

“There is no transparency. Those arrested were not allowed to speak with their lawyers and were jailed on random charges. Almost all the cases are like that. Anyone who is charged under Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code [for ‘defamation of the military’] has no legal protection.”

Ni Ni May Myint was arrested in Yangon on May 12 along with NLD youth leader Chit Chit Chaw and sentenced to three years in prison for defaming the military. The pair have been denied visits with family members, Lin Naing said.

Thant Zin Tun, a Pyithu Hluttaw member from Dekkhina Thiri township, has been in detention in Naypyidaw Prison since March 2, when he was arrested in the capital along with Naypyidaw Council Development Committee member Min Thu, NLD MP Kyaw Min Hlaing, and Amyotha Hluttaw member Maung Maung Swe.

A member of Thant Zin Tun’s family, who declined to be named, said the junta has been devoting a significant amount of effort to building a case against the MP.

“We were allowed to see him 12 days after his arrest, but we haven’t seen him since,” the relative said.

“They are meticulously constructing a case so that they can sentence him to prison. They have called in ‘witnesses’ that they want to testify in the case. There is nothing we can do for him.”

Attempts by RFA to reach junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment went unanswered Monday.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Scores of Myanmar Artists, Entertainers, Succumb to COVID Virus

Pop stars, celebrated comedians, and beloved poets are among 130 Myanmar artists to have died in the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic since the beginning of July — deaths that loved ones blame on poor medical treatment in a country in turmoil six months after a military coup.

The loss of life in the worlds of literature, film, music, and theater in the country of 54 million people comes at a time when artists and entertainers are struggling to make ends meet after 18 months of venue lockdowns to fight the pandemic, followed by chaos since the Feb. 1 military coup that overthrew the democratically elected government of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

According to an RFA tally, 73 writers and poets, 22 cartoonists and painters, 18 film stars and theater performers, and 18 singers and songwriters have died in recent weeks — a death toll that might undercount nationwide fatalities in the arts.

As of Tuesday, Myanmar recorded nearly 361,300 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 3,306 new ones, and 13,623 deaths, including 178 new related fatalities since the pandemic first hit the country in March 2020, according to figures from the Ministry of Health and Sports.

While a handful of artists died of natural causes, most succumbed to the COVID-19 virus, which has seen a resurgence in Myanmar with the highly contagious delta variant.

Family members and friends of the cultural figures who passed away said they died from a lack of proper medical care because hospitals and clinics were closed when the third virus wave began in early June. Many doctors and other health professionals had joined the nationwide anti-coup movement and were fired.

The deceased included writers Hsinbyukyun Aung Thein, Theik Tun Thet, Khin Saw Tint, Sindewa Myat Phone, Annawar Soe Moe, Nyi Zay Min, and Khin Maung Win, and poets Min Yu Wai, Aung Cheimt, Maung Thin Khine, and Lu Zaw Thit.

Poet Min Yu Wai was the founder of Ngwe Taryi, a once-popular magazine in Myanmar. Aung Cheimt, who was popular among young people for his poem “Let Me Lose, Let the Dhamma Win,” was recognized as a leading writer of modern Burmese poetry.

Popular female writer Thwe Sagaing said the deaths have been a great loss for the country’s cultural scene.

“It’s very sad that deaths of these leading people in the literary world, scholars, poets, and writers are a great loss for Myanmar’s literary world,” she said. “These are huge losses for the country as well.”

‘We’ve seen a lot of losses’

Cartoonist Zaw Weik, sculptor Sonny Nyein, and modern artist Dr. Ko Ko Gyi also died. Ko Ko Gyi, known for his abstract paintings, was also a practicing psychiatrist who treated traumatized political prisoners.

In the field of music, songwriters Tony Tin, Tetkatho Aye Maung, Yazar Win Tint, and Ohn Lwin of the Burmese band Gita Net Than, pop singer Raymond, and Zaw Min Oo, who became famous after appearing on the “Myanmar Idol” TV program, also died.

Sai Lay, a top pop singer, said the unexpected deaths of young people in the music industry would not have occurred if preparations had been made for the third wave of the COVID-19 virus.

“When these deaths occur, we can do nothing but grieve,” he said. “These deaths would not have come about if we had good health care.”

In the fields of film and theater, the virus claimed Nyunt Win, a veteran film star from the Academy of Performing Arts, famous comedians San Ma Tu and Maung Myittar, and Myanmar orchestra conductors Sayar Gyi and Sein Muttar, who was a two-time Myanmar Motion Picture Academy Award winner.

Comedian Maung Myittar was popular for performing thangyat, a satirical work akin to modern slam poetry that usually includes humorous criticism of politics, society, and the military, during the Thingyan Buddhist New Year. For several years, he had costarred in the “A Kyo Hmyaw, Hno Zaw Baya Zay” weekly features for RFA’s Myanmar Service.

Writer Kyaw Myo Khaing said both the military government and the shadow government comprised of ousted politicians failed to prevent further COVID-19 outbreaks.

“We’ve just had to watch helplessly,” he said. “The junta government couldn’t do anything, and the National Unity Government in exile could not manage [the situation] effectively.”

“They could only give guidance to people in theory. In the meantime, we’ve just had to stay healthy because no one knows what will happen next,” he added.

Moe Kyaw Thu, chairman of the Myanmar Poets’ Union, said that artists have their work cut out for them replacing the work of lost luminaries.

“We’ve seen a lot of losses in music, art, and literature. From an artistic point of view, it has hurt us a lot. It hurts so much that at some point they will have to restart it all over again, helping one another. They’d have to do it in every sector.”

“We now hear every day about the death of one or two, and then another the next day,” he said.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Myanmar Teachers Set up School For Children in Kayah State IDP Camp

Teachers who joined Myanmar’s civil disobedience movement following the military coup in February have set up a school for children displaced by conflict in a temporary camp in a rebel army-controlled area of eastern Kayah state near the Thai border.

The internally displaced persons (IDP) camp where the school is located hosts more than 1,000 civilians, mostly ethnic Karennis, who fled their homes to escape fighting between the Myanmar military and Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) troops since May.

The KNDF is a new network of civilian resistance fighters that includes existing ethnic armed groups in the state and Karenni organizations.

Violent clashes between rebel and junta forces erupted in Kayah state’s Loikaw, Demoso, and Shadaw townships after the military coup on Feb. 1 overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Some 100,000 residents have fled their homes amid fighting in the state, taking shelter in Buddhist monasteries or in nearby hills and jungles.

The Education Department of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), the dominant ethnic political organization in the state, opened the school to provide uninterrupted instruction to the children, said Hsu Bu Rel, the department’s vice minister.

Children displaced by the conflict have not been able to attend classes for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic, which hit Myanmar in March 2020 and now is in its third wave. They then lost a second year of education because of political unrest in the country, Hsu Bu Rel said.

“We want the IDP children in our camp to have an opportunity for schooling,” he told RFA. “In addition, this school gives us opportunities to learn from the CDM [civil disobedience movement] teachers and to try out the new curriculum and teaching methods of the Karenni Education Department.

For security reasons, RFA is identifying the location of the camp school only as being in a KNPP-controlled area near the Thai border in Kayah state.

School principal Hla Moe Myint said more funding is needed for educational materials for the IDP children, school buildings, and additional teachers.

“Teachers can perform fully only if they have these materials in hand,” she said. “There are so many needs. Besides, we want to set up a library as they [the teachers] have expected. We have difficulties in fulfilling their needs.”

Teacher Hsu Khu Rel said the school serves students from grades one through 11 and uses both a national curriculum and a new one created by the Karenni Education Department.

Another teacher named Josephine said many educators from government schools, who walked out of work to join the CDM protests against the junta and fled arrest in their hometowns have joined the school.

“They have different teaching methods and a different schooling system,” she said, pointing to the teachers’ more sophisticated grading system that makes it tougher for students to pass tests because it is not based on traditional rote learning.

About 265 students had enrolled in the IDP camp school by the end of June, though additional ones were incoming, teachers said.

Eighth-grader Cherry Phaw said she was pleased to continue her education at the school.

“For more than two years I couldn’t go to school,” she told RFA. “We were on the run whenever there was fighting, so I couldn’t go to school. I am grateful to the teachers for enabling me to learn in school. I am happy here.”

Thoe Mel, the parent of students who attend classes at the school, said she is glad that she could enroll her children in school at a time when other schools across the country are closed because of ongoing crackdowns by the military regime and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“My children haven’t gone to school for two years,” she said. “I am so happy now they are going to school. I am very optimistic.”

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Karenni Army Marks Anniversary With Vow to ‘Fight to The End’ Against Myanmar Military

The ethnic Karenni Army (KA) marked the 73^rd anniversary of its founding Tuesday vowing to “fight to the end” to rid Myanmar of its military dictatorship and create a federal union with like-minded groups in the multi-ethnic country.

The KA is one of at least 16 ethnic armed organizations thought to be active in Myanmar, a country of 54 million people with 135 official ethnic groups. The insurgent groups control territory along Myanmar’s borders with Bangladesh, China, India, and Thailand. Their histories – and grievances with the national military – stretch back to when the then Burma gained independence from British colonial rule in 1948.

“We were once a separate state but came under the rule of Burmese dictators,” KA leader Col. Phone Naing told a ceremony in in territory in Kayah state it controls along the border with Thailand, referring to the junta that has led Myanmar for nearly 50 of the country’s 73 years of independence.

“Under their rule, everyone knows how we have suffered bullying and oppression. The world knows. The reason for the formation of KA was to free ourselves from that situation and live in peace.”

Phone Naing said that the Karenni had always been able to overcome military invaders in the past and would do so again with the current junta, which seized power from Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government in a Feb. 1 coup.

The KA, the armed wing of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) with a force estimated at 1,500 troops, was joined by representatives of KA allied groups and members of the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).

The KNPP urged its military wing to stay dedicated to the goal of forming a federal democratic union in Myanmar along with allied groups.

Collaboration between anti-junta movements made up of ethnic majority Bamars and longstanding ethnic armies, including military training in remote regions, has enabled opponents of the military regime to inflict casualties on better armed junta troops and sustain opposition to the coup, analysts say.

Speaking to RFA’s Myanmar Service after Tuesday’s ceremony, a CDM police officer who joined the KA after the Feb. 1 coup said nothing would deter the ethnic army from its fight against the military regime.

“For more than 70 years, we have been fighting to regain a Karenni state,” said the officer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“Together with the Karenni people, we will fight together to the end.”

A young KA soldier told RFA that a federal union is the only way to ensure adequate representation for Myanmar’s many indigenous groups.

“Only through such a system would we be able to protect our basic rights and achieve equality,” he said.

“We have made our decision to fight until the end to get rid of the military dictatorship.”

Peace efforts

The KNPP signed a regional state-level ceasefire agreement on March 7, 2012 under previous President Thein Sein’s military-affiliated civilian government, but has yet to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) that 10 other ethnic parties have signed beginning in 2015.

The 10 rebel groups that signed the NCA suggested in June that the deal—inked in the presence of international observers and Myanmar’s highest legislature—remains in place, despite an already flailing peace process that was all but destroyed by the unpopular junta’s coup. However, they say they will not pursue talks with the military, which they view as having stolen power from the country’s democratically elected government.

Kayah state was relatively free of fighting until late May, when the military launched an offensive in the region. There are now daily clashes between junta troops and Karenni forces in the state’s Demawso, Phrusoe and Mobye townships, as well as in Phekone township on the border with southern Shan state.

An activist who declined to be named for safety reasons recently told RFA that around 1,000 refugees have fled to Karenni refugee camps on the border with Thailand since the last round of largescale clashes in the region, although he said that many more are living with close relatives or in the jungle to avoid the fighting.

“There are a lot of people left in the jungles since the last big clashes,” he said, adding that many are living in makeshift camps there because they “don’t dare return home.”

“Others have no home to return to. Some are staying in the forests because their families are separated. Some did not return because their loved ones were killed during the fighting.”

RFA has documented that more than 170,000 people have been displaced by fighting in Kayah state in the more than six months since the coup.

They join more than 500,000 refugees from decades of conflict between the military and ethnic armies who were already counted as IDPs at the end of 2020, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, a Norwegian NGO.

The junta says a landslide victory by the NLD in the country’s November 2020 general election was the result of voter fraud, but has yet to provide evidence of its claims and has violently repressed widespread protests, killing 999 people and arresting 5,712 since the coup, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

Amid nationwide turmoil, the military has stepped up offensives in remote parts of the country that have led to fierce battles with several local militias.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Bangladesh Recovers Refugees' Bodies From Sunken Rohingya Boat

Bangladeshi authorities said Wednesday they had recovered the bodies of 11 Rohingya who drowned in the Bay of Bengal after their boat capsized in bad weather as they tried to escape from an island housing refugees over the weekend.

A search was going on for 15 other Rohingya still missing from the boat after it sank off Bhashan Char Island on Saturday, said Lt. M. Abdur Rauf, a Coast Guard public relations officer. Twelve others were rescued by local fishermen, who brought the survivors back to the island later that day.

“Seven bodies including six minors were recovered from the Chittagong part of the sea on Tuesday while four other bodies were recovered two days earlier,” Abdur Rauf told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, adding he did not know when joint rescue efforts by the Coast Guard, Navy, and police would end or if they would be changed to a recovery mission.

The bodies of the 11 Rohingya were turned over to their families and buried on Bhashan Char, said Muhammad Rafiqul Islam, chief of the police station on the island.

One of the rescued people, Bashir Ahmmad, said that of his 11-member family, he and five others were rescued while five others were still missing.

“Bodies of 11 people were recovered in the last few days. None of them are my family members …. My wife and four children have drowned,” he told BenarNews by phone from the island.

Ahmmad said his family boarded the boat after trekking for six hours through a jungle on the island. Middlemen had charged each adult passenger 7,000 taka (U.S. $83) for passage to the port-city of Chittagong, he said.

The motorized boat carrying 38 Rohingya and crew members left Bhashan Char from a jungle canal that does not have a strong police presence, Rear Adm. M. Ashraful Haq, the Bangladesh Coast Guard chief, told BenarNews. He did not release information about the number of crew members but said they were Rohingya.

“Survivors are unable to identify the middlemen who arranged the deadly trip. We are conducting an investigation into it,” Rafiqul Islam told BenarNews.

Since December 2020, the Bangladesh government has moved nearly 19,000 from camps in and around Cox’s Bazar that are home to about 1 million Rohingya to the low-lying and remote island. A housing complex to accommodate as many as 100,000 refugees was constructed on the island.

Rohingya are trying to leave Bhashan Char because Bangladeshi leaders were not honest about conditions on island, one of the island’s inhabitants said.

“The commitment by the government is not matching with reality. We feel like prisoners here. As a result, people are always trying to flee from here,” Rashida Begum told BenarNews.

The government has denied that it has forced Rohingya to move to the island, saying they moved there on a voluntary basis as part of Bangladesh’s efforts to ease congestion at the mainland camps in Cox’s Bazar.

Begum said her sister, Sona Maher, along with five other family members, had boarded the boat.

“They all are still missing. I don’t know whether they are alive or not,” she told BenarNews.

“Rohingya people are regularly trying to flee from the island and are losing their lives. I do not want such deaths of Rohingya people,” she said in a telephone interview.

Another resident, Md. Hamid, said some of his neighbors had drowned.

“A boy was rescued beside my cluster. He is the lone survivor of his six-member family. Now he is crying and searching for his parents,” he told BenarNews.

Bhashan Char residents are prohibited from leaving the island’s confines. Still, nearly 300 have fled in the last few months, local Rohingya leaders claimed, while local police have said the actual number is lower.

“We have no specific number of the refugees who fled from the island but the number is increasing,” said Rafiqul Islam, the Bhashan Char police chief, without elaborating.

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

Cambodia’s PM Hun Sen Acknowledges Myanmar Junta Chief Min Aung Hlaing as Head of State

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen has acknowledged Senior General Min Aung Hlaing as the head of state in Myanmar in an open letter sent to the junta chief pledging to help control a deadly third wave of the coronavirus that has ravaged the country amid the political unrest of a coup d’état.

In the missive, dated Aug. 17 and addressed to “His Excellency Senior General Min Aung Hlaing” from Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hun Sen says that he has “closely observed your country’s effort to fight against the outbreak” and offers U.S. $200,000 in cash to the regime leader “in the spirit of friendship and solidarity between our two countries.”

He also announces plans to donate medical equipment, including face masks, rapid COVID-19 tests, personal protective equipment (PPE), oxygen supplies, and ventilators.

Minister of Health and chair of the Inter-Ministerial Committee to Combat COVID-19 Mam Bunheng will lead a delegation to deliver the donations by a special flight arranged to Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw “soon,” the letter says.

“I am firmly convinced that with our joint efforts, we will overcome this global pandemic in one piece,” Hun Sen writes, offering “the assurances of my highest consideration and wishes.”

Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in November 2017 and barred its members from taking part in political activities, two months after the arrest of party president Kem Sokha for his role in an alleged scheme to topple Hun Sen’s government.

The ban, along with a wider crackdown on NGOs and the independent media, paved the way for Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) to win all 125 seats in the country’s 2018 general election. The strongman has ruled Cambodia for some 36 years, making him one of the world’s longest-serving leaders.

Hun Sen’s letter comes nearly six months after Min Aung Hlaing led Myanmar’s military in a Feb. 1 coup d’état, claiming that Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) won the country’s November 2020 election by rigging the ballot. The junta has yet to provide evidence of its claims and has brutally repressed anti-coup protests, killing at least 1,006 people and arresting 5,730, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

Rights groups have condemned the junta for cracking down on protesters, while Western governments have leveled sanctions against the military and demanded that it end its campaign of violence and release all political prisoners.

Efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus in Myanmar were dealt a serious blow when the military seized power in February. The country’s healthcare system is now at the brink of collapse due to a poorly managed third wave of COVID-19 that has killed more than 8,600 people in the past month.

The official number of infections rose Wednesday to a total of 360,291 since Myanmar’s first recorded case in March last year, with at least 13,623 dead, although the actual numbers are believed to be substantially higher, based on reports by aid groups.

The country’s public hospitals are operating at maximum capacity and have been turning away all but the most seriously ill. Other patients are being forced to settle for treatment at home amid shortages of basic medical necessities, including oxygen supplies critical to mitigating hypoxia, when oxygen fails to reach bodily tissues.

Tens of thousands of people, including many healthcare professionals, have left their jobs to join a nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in opposition to junta rule. Many have faced arrest for voicing criticism of the regime.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen arrives to receive a shipment of 600,000 doses of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines donated by China from ambassador Wang Wentian, at the Phnom Penh International Airport, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia February 7, 2021. Reuters

‘No reason to boast’

Dr. Seng Sary, a Cambodian political commentator, told RFA’s Khmer Service Wednesday that Hun Sen’s gesture was appropriate “from a humanitarian perspective,” but noted that the reason the aid is needed is because Myanmar’s government is “incapable of effectively containing the virus amid economic sanctions and a deteriorating political crisis.”

“The Burmese people no longer respect their government since the leader grabbed power via a coup,” he said.

“There is no reason that the Cambodian government should boast about supporting the Burmese government in combating COVID-19.”

Seng Sary went on to note that Hun Sen’s government has failed to control the coronavirus in its own country and should be spending its time supporting Cambodians who face food shortages and unemployment because of the pandemic.

Dr. Sophal Ear, associate dean at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, told RFA that Hun Sen may have sought to instill a debt of gratitude in Min Aung Hlaing and his embattled government.

“On the surface, it appears philanthropic. Underneath, it’s about creating links. But this amount, especially for a country the size of Myanmar, is not much,” he said.

Sophal Ear agreed that Hun Sen was wrong to assist the junta at a time when the citizens of his country are still suffering from his inability to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.

“Of course, rural Cambodians and migrant workers are not high priority for the authorities, so while Myanmar’s junta gets these donations, rural Cambodians and migrant workers suffer,” he said.

“It’s about power and who is useful. One day, the Myanmar junta will be useful to Phnom Penh. Rural Cambodians and migrant workers do not have the influence or the power to do much for Phnom Penh. However, we know that they number millions. If democracy prevailed in Cambodia, they would have real power at the ballot box.”

Attempts to reach Cambodia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as Myanmar junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Tun and officials with Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) for comment on Hun Sen’s letter went unanswered Wednesday.

Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Myanmar’s Elderly COVID-19 Patients Dying Alone at Home During Third Wave Outbreak

Ye Thurein remembers the first time he led a rescue team to break down the doors of an elderly COVID-19 patient’s home in Myanmar’s largest city Yangon after a third wave of the coronavirus began to ravage the country in late May amid a shortage of hospital beds and medical supplies.

“At first, we noticed a strange smell when we got there, but I didn’t know what it was,” the head of Sangyaung township’s Wailuwun (North) Ward Reserve Fire Brigade told RFA’s Myanmar Service.

“When we opened the door, it became stronger. The pungent odor was coming from the bedroom. I remember exactly how I vomited right there. It was an utter nausea I had never felt before.”

Efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus in Myanmar were dealt a serious blow when the military seized power in a Feb. 1 coup d’état. The country’s healthcare system is now at the brink of collapse due to a poorly managed response to a third wave of COVID-19 that has killed more than 8,600 people in the past month alone.

Amid the disorder, Ye Thurein said that his fire brigade is increasingly being called to investigate strange smells and missing person reports, only to find the remains of elderly COVID-19 patients who have died alone in their homes because they lacked access to treatment and caretakers.

He said he had personally handled eight such cases in Sangyaung township from mid-July to mid-August out of around 130, retrieving the bodies of people in their 60s or older for cremation after having to force his way into their homes.

“Some of them have two or three layers of locks inside. There are often wrought iron gates on the outside and then more two or three locks inside, so we have to force them open to get in,” he said. “We have to do it because if we can get there in time, we might be able to administer oxygen to the patient if required … But often we get there too late.”

Ye Thurein said that his team had encountered the remains of several residents who had contracted COVID-19 and were unable to leave their homes or suffered from mental health issues. In some cases, the deceased were found in a sitting position and already in an advanced state of decomposition.

Reaching out to neighbors

A resident of the township named Tun Zaw Oo told RFA that he recently noticed that a neighbor who was living alone had gone missing and called for assistance because of a putrid smell in the area.

“I didn’t know where the smell came from and so I went out looking for it. There was only one person living there, but the door was closed, and no one came out. The next day, the smell got stronger. I didn’t see anyone going or coming from that apartment, so I informed a rescue team that something was wrong,” he said.

“There were three doors. The first was an iron grille. The second was a glass door. And then his bedroom door. The rescue team had to force all of these open. When they entered, he was found dead in his bedroom.”

Tun Zaw Oo urged elderly neighbors to reach out to their neighbors if they require assistance.

“People living in flats who are not well and need help should let their neighbors know,” he said.

“In fact, in this time of the pandemic, they should regularly talk about their situation to neighbors—especially when they live alone. If they do so, people can help them get food or necessary medicines. It’s better to say something.”

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Myanmar Migrants Struggle to Escape Joblessness, COVID Shutdowns in China And Laos

Running out of money and pinned down by border closures and bureaucratic hurdles, tens of thousands of Myanmar migrant workers remain trapped in China and Laos long after they lost their jobs when host countries shut down factories and businesses to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Many of the Myanmar migrants have worked for years in China and are returning reluctantly to a country being ravaged by the third wave of the coronavirus and engulfed in political and military conflict in the wake of the Feb. 1 military overthrow of the elected government.

More than 60,000 Myanmar workers are caught in the southwestern Chinese border towns of Ruili (in Burmese, Shweli) and nearby Jiegao, chafing under onerous medical examinations with no way to earn income to survive, the workers told RFA.

The two border trading hubs are magnets for workers from Myanmar seeking better-paying construction, textile, and farming jobs in China.

Moe Pwint from Myanmar’s northern Shan state worked at a wok factory in Ruili for more than a year, earning 1,600 yuan (U.S. $250) a month until April, when she was told to stop working and remain at home. The factory closed two months ago, and now she is stuck in China waiting to return home.

“When the border crossings were closed and the goods were not coming in, the boss couldn’t pay our salaries,” she said, adding that she could not subsist on the 15 yuan a day for food she was given by her employer.

The pandemic and lockdowns have driven up food prices and rents, worsening the situation for Myanmar migrant workers trying to get home, Moe Pwint said.

The complicated repatriation process requires factory owners or landlords to accompany migrant workers to the police station to fill out forms, but a positive COVID-19 test result gets them sent into quarantine, she said.

“People can leave only after getting permission,” she said. “I was told to wait for about a week.”

As she waits, Moe Pwint said she still must come up with 800 yuan a month for rent and 60 yuan daily for food.

‘No money, no food’

Chinese authorities have set up COVID-19 test centers outside Ruili and the border town of Wanding to test Myanmar nationals and isolate them in quarantine facilities, while Chinese nationals are monitored at home and in hotels, migrant workers said.

Myanmar migrant worker Tin Zar Nwe said she worked in a Chinese garment factory in Ruili for about a decade before returning to Muse on the Myanmar side of the border on Monday.

Before going back, she spent 28 days in a quarantine facility on the outskirts of the city, where Myanmar nationals were charged 60 yuan a day for food, with those who could not pay provided only with instant noodles.

“On the day we arrived, we didn't have anything to eat,” Tin Zar Nwe said.

“The next day, they sent food and then after four or five days, they began collecting money. We told them we had no money. We have been out of work for four or five months. They said, ‘No money, no food,’ and didn’t feed us for two days.”

Some migrant laborers who have legal documents to work in China did not want to return to Myanmar but were forced to do so, she said

“Those who do not want to return are kept in the quarantine center,” Tin Zar Nwe said. They were asked for money and if they didn’t pay, they got yelled at and left without food.”

Kyaw Soe, an unemployed laborer from central Myanmar’s Mandalay region, said he was frustrated at having to undergo medical checks every other day.

“I couldn’t care less how much it costs as long as I could get back home, [but] it doesn't work here anymore,” Kyaw Soe said.

“I had to get my throat checked every day recently,” he said. “Now with the lockdown, I was checked last evening, and I’ve got to get checked again today.”

Myanmar migrant workers returning from China amid the coronavirus pandemic board a vehicle at the China-Myanmar border crossing in Muse, northern Shan state, May 12, 2020. Credit: AFP

No agreement on migrant workers

As if the frequent and mandatory health checks weren’t bad enough, workers must pay heavy fees to get back to Myanmar.

Before the border lockdown, a worker had to pay smugglers about 350 yuan to get out of China and back home. Ferries that shuttle workers across the Shweli River between Ruili and Muse charge 300-600 yuan per person at the border.

Myanmar and China have not signed an agreement on migrant workers, so Myanmar workers usually come to a verbal understanding with their Chinese employers, and are often exploited, laborers said.

A Muse district administration official said the Chinese side reopened the Muse border gate on July 26 after Myanmar border authorities demanded the Chinese government allow its citizens to return legally.

Nearly 5,000 Myanmar migrant workers have returned home since July 26, according to the Muse Humanitarian Aid Network, which assists returnees. But on Tuesday, China again closed its land borders with Myanmar.

Ko Htay, chairman of the Muse Humanitarian Aid Network, said officials from the two countries need to renegotiate the return of Myanmar nationals through legal channels.

“I want to see people who wish to return come back in dignity with their personal belongings from the border gate,” he said. “Right now, they can’t bring their belongings if they have to come back secretly. That's what we are asking for — to make the transfers quickly.”

A Muse district administration official said charity groups are also helping make arrangements for the workers’ return home.

In July, Chinese border authorities in Ruili announced that they would provide 100 yuan to migrant workers without legal documents and those who could not afford to return home.

Laos repatriates workers

In Myanmar’s neighbor Laos, where between 5,000 and 7,000 Myanmar laborers work in a special economic zone that serves mainly Chinese tourists, authorities are set to begin repatriating the migrants to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

RFA’s Lao Service reported last week that hundreds of workers from Myanmar staged a protest on Aug. 6, demanding that Lao and authorities from the Bokeo Special Economic Zone (SEZ) allow them to return home or provide them with food and financial aid enabling them to remain in Laos. The construction businesses and casino venues that employ them were closed under policies to combat the pandemic.

After a meeting on Aug. 8, officials from Laos and Myanmar agreed on policies on repatriating the laborers, said an official from the Bokeo SEZ.

All Myanmar workers are required to register and be tested for the coronavirus before they can leave Laos. Those who test positive must remain in the country for treatment and will be provided with food, while others can return to Myanmar, said the official, who declined to be named in order to speak freely.

“The process of repatriating Myanmar workers is continuing daily, following inspections,” he said on Wednesday.

Officials do not know the number of Myanmar workers still in the province or how many have been repatriated, he added.

The Lao government has sent many Myanmar workers home already via the Mom village port close to the special economic zone in Ton Pheung district, though the exact number is unknown, said an official from Bokeo province’s labor department on Wednesday.

“They send them back via the port at Mon village, where boats come to get them,” said the official, who declined to be named.

“We don’t know the details of how many they have already sent back and how many are still waiting,” the Bokeo official added.

Up to 250 Myanmar migrant workers can be repatriated daily if they do not test positive for the coronavirus and then meet with an SEZ officer and a Myanmar government representative, according to a report from Ton Pheung district’s Office of Information and Culture.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar and Lao Services. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane and Sidney Khotpanya. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.

Myanmar Junta Targets Mobile Banking in Bid to Cut Off Opposition Funding

Myanmar’s military regime is working to block the flow of funding to the country’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) and other anti-junta organizations by shutting down mobile banking accounts and forcing private lenders to submit daily reports on account activity, according to sources.

Public confidence in the government and banking sector was shattered on Feb. 1, when Myanmar’s military seized control of the country in a coup d’état and began a campaign of violent repression that has led to at least 1,007 civilian deaths and 5,747 arrests.

Lines now form daily for A.T.M. withdrawals, which have been capped at around U.S. $120 to help prevent a run on the banks, and fewer than 100 A.T.M.s carry cash on any given day, according to a recent report by the New York Times.

Amid the political chaos, account holders have increasingly turned to mobile banking services to bypass the country’s cash shortage, including the NUG the various People’s Defense Force (PDF) militias formed to protect the public from the military, and the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).

The shift has drawn greater scrutiny and restrictions from the junta.

On Aug. 17, the junta’s Central Bank vice-chairman Win Thaw announced on the official MRTV that financial services, and particularly mobile payment and mobile banking services such as Wave Money’s WavePay and Kanbawza Bank Ltd.’s KBZPay, will be “closely monitored” by the government.

He said that the NUG and parliament’s Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Committee of Representatives (CRPH) are “illegal organizations” and specifically warned of “legal action” against banks whose mobile services are used to facilitate a NUG-led CDM campaign known as the Aung Lan Lwint Chi Spring Lottery organized to raise money for the shadow government.

“The CRPH and NUG are actually illegal organizations, and the Central Bank needs to report this to the Ministry of Planning and Finance, as illegal cash transactions have to be stopped,” he said. “If financial institutions fail to report remittances, legal action will be taken against them under the Financial Institutions Act.”

The vice-chairman also said that authorities are monitoring transactions related to the NUG’s lottery sale, which began on Aug. 15 and offers a payout of up to 1.5 million kyats (U.S. $910) on monthly drawings for winning tickets that can be purchased through mobile banking platforms. He warned that individuals purchasing tickets could be charged under anti-terrorism and anti-money laundering laws.

Win Thaw’s comments came days after the Aug. 13 leak of a Central Bank letter instructing all banks and financial service providers to restrict almost all transactions related to the lottery, under orders from the Ministry of Planning and Revenue.

NUG Finance and Investment Minister Tin Tun Naing told RFA’s Myanmar Service that the lottery had been planned with the public’s safety in mind and said the junta’s threats are empty.

“They said they are going to monitor all these accounts, but in reality, there are hundreds of thousands of monetary transfers each day,” he said.

“How are they going to find out which are meant for our lottery, and which are not? I don’t think they can do anything to actually trouble the people other than issuing threats.”

Tin Tun Naing also said that the junta is unlikely to shut down mobile banking entirely because it would impact its own administration system and suggested that a more secure payment system is “in the pipeline.”

A young woman named Htet Myat Thaw told RFA that despite the threats posed by the junta, she would not hesitate to support the CDM.

“I'm one of those people who is waiting for the Spring Revolution lottery—it’s not only me, but people all over the country are waiting,” she said.

“We are concerned about our security but we also need to support our CDM movement and so we’ve got to participate in this lottery, setting aside our fears. The CDM is a major part of the fight against junta rule.”

People wait for a branch of the AYA Bank to open in Yangon, April 12, 2021. AFP

Other accounts targeted

Other sources told RFA that bank accounts used to donate to CDM staff, assist political prisoners, and provide aid to refugees of fighting between the military and the PDF in Myanmar’s remote border regions were shut down between Aug. 9 and 13.

Ei Pyae Sone, a resident of Mandalay, said that she and a friend had both had their KBZPay accounts closed, adding that when she contacted Kanbawza Bank to inquire why, employees told her it had been done on the order of the authorities.

“I was told to come to the bank with my ID card and to sort it out, but I didn’t go,” she said.

“There was a little over 3.8 million kyats (U.S. $2,310) in my account. A friend of mine also had her account blocked [on Tuesday]. We called the bank and they said it was done on orders from the authorities. We asked who the authorities were, and they couldn’t give a specific answer. Reporting our details to the junta and blocking the accounts like this is totally unacceptable.”

Ei Pyae Sone warned that if Kanbawza and other banks operate on the orders of the junta, the people will boycott them.

A senior manager at a well-known private bank, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal, recently told RFA that junta scrutiny of the banking sector began as early as one week after the coup, with the military regime ordering all private lenders to “send details of deposits and withdrawals to the Central Bank” every day at 4:00 p.m.

“Bank employees, especially top officials, followed the instructions mainly out of fear,” the manager said.

“Interfering in the banking system is not good, but the banks have no choice but to follow orders. It’s the norm in our country to do what one is told because everyone is afraid.”

He warned that the people “will surely lose confidence” if banks refuse to let them withdraw their money and restrictions on online payments continue.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Increased Controls on Myanmar’s Banking Sector Stokes Fears of Lender Defaults

Nearly seven months after Myanmar’s junta seized power in a coup d’état and amid a new outbreak of the coronavirus, the country’s banking sector is in shambles and cash is in short supply, leaving account holders fearful about the security of their savings.

Public confidence in the government and banking sector was shattered on Feb. 1, when Myanmar’s military took control of the country and began a campaign of violent repression that has led to at least 1,007 civilian deaths and 5,759 arrests.

Lines now form daily for withdrawals, which have been capped at 300,000 kyats (U.S. $180) per day from A.T.M.s and 200,000 kyats (U.S. $120) per week from savings accounts to help prevent a run on the banks.

Meanwhile, the country’s healthcare system is now at the brink of collapse due to a poorly managed response to a third wave of COVID-19 that has killed nearly 8,400 people in the past month alone.

Amid the political and health crises, the kyat is depreciating while commodity prices are rising, leaving people struggling to make ends meet. New restrictions on banking have made cash transfers even more difficult and rumors abound that the junta plans to withdraw 5,000 and 10,000 kyat (U.S. $3 and $6) currency notes from circulation and that private lenders may go belly up.

Lin Htet Aung, a resident of Myanmar’s largest city Yangon, told RFA’s Myanmar Service that he is terrified that his savings will disappear due to the instability of private banks.

“In recent months, as COVID cases have risen, people have needed cash for hospital payments and other expenses like oxygen tanks, but it’s been nearly impossible to get cash out of A.T.M.s,” he said.

“It’s infuriating. Many people are now unemployed, and they are relying on the money they have deposited in the banks. Now they are afraid of losing their savings. Everyone, including me, is worried about the situation.”

Even with caps on withdrawals, some people have been forced to wait for months to access their money.

An official at Kanbawza Bank No. 1 in the Rakhine state capital Sittwe recently told RFA on condition of anonymity that his bank only gives out cash to up to 20 people per day and said the waitlist for withdrawals is full until November.

Many people are instead turning to moneychangers, who haunt the sidewalks around banks, providing cash up front for hefty fees.

A senior official at a private bank in Yangon who declined to be named said the Central Bank’s restrictions had eroded public confidence in the banks.

“It has become very difficult to rebuild trust between the people and the banks because no one can withdraw their own money,” he said.

“The banks don’t care about customers anymore and you can no longer make withdrawals at A.T.M.s. So, people have lost a lot of confidence in the banks. They mistrust the Central Bank, which controls the private banks.”

The bank official added that although the central bank still allows mobile payments, it will be impossible to rebuild public trust for as long as cash withdrawals are hampered.

Additionally, he said, private banks have been forced to send daily reports of transactions to the Central Bank, in what is seen as a bid by the junta to block funding to entities that oppose its rule. He said the regime is more concerned with its own survival and has little interest in keeping private banks afloat or improving cash flow.

Political exploitation

Myanmar is home to four state-owned banks, 27 private domestic banks and branch offices for 20 foreign banks.

Article 7 of the Central Bank of Myanmar Law, enacted in July 2013, allows the Central Bank to freely exercise its mandate in the performance of its responsibilities in order to achieve its main objectives and objectives.

However, observers say the junta has been politically exploiting the law since at least Feb. 4, when it directly appointed two deputy governors to the Central Bank.

Dr. Sai Kyi Zin Soe, a political and human rights researcher, said the Central Bank now appears to be following the orders of the junta without any independent decision-making procedures.

“When we were under [the prior] military rule [from 1962-2011], the monetary policy and all the related systems were controlled by the military leader,” he said. “The exchange rate had been redesigned only recently to become a truly independent central bank management system connected to the world market.”

“At the moment, I don’t think the Central Bank is allowed independent decision-making power. They must make policies based on orders from the upper echelon when it comes to making necessary decisions. It is clear that they have to get permission before they can make any decision.”

Dr Sai Kyi Zin Soe said it was clear that the central bank had begun controlling the money circulation after the military decided to restrict the flow of money to supporters of the anti-junta CDM movement as well as to the NUG and the CRPH.

Myint Zaw, a businessman based in Sittwe, said the current problems were not just about private banks, but about political exploitation of the financial sector.

“Money is the main commodity in our businesses. If this product is no longer operating effectively, then things go very badly,” he said.

“Some people have speculated that if all the deposits were to be withdrawn, the Central Bank and private banks would not be able to meet the challenge. But it is wrong to think so ... This is not a monetary [supply] issue, just a political one. The Central Bank and the financial sector are being used as hostages in a political crisis."

Myint Zaw said it is easy for banks to claim that the restrictions are imposed in accordance with Central Bank directives, but the people are being left to suffer.

Additional controls

According to the Central Bank, the amount of money circulating in the Myanmar’s economy—outside of the banking system—increased each year until 2019, when it reached 13 trillion kyats (U.S. $7.9 billion).

But business owners say many cash-strapped businesses have been forced to shut down amid the junta’s restrictions on money flows.

At a press conference in the capital Naypyidaw on July 12, junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun said there were “fundamental reasons” behind the banking restrictions, without providing details, adding that there were no immediate plans to lift them. He also vowed that withdrawal difficulties would be resolved by the end of the month.

However, as of late August, there has been no easing of restrictions on private banks and earlier this week, Central Bank Deputy Chairman Win Thaw announced additional controls, warning that any mobile banking accounts found to be involved in transactions with the country’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) would face unspecified legal action.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Facebook Campaign For Myanmar Shadow Government at UN Garners Millions of Supporters

A Facebook campaign in support of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, when U.N. member states will select the country’s ambassador, has garnered more than 3 million participants, according to a campaign organizer.

The General Strike Coordination Body (GSCB) launched the “Accept NUG, Reject Military” campaign on Aug. 9, which called on Facebook users to replace their profile pictures with an image of a person raising the NUG flag in front of the U.N. crest in support of the shadow government and its U.N. Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun.

As of the weekend, more than 3 million users had added the image to their profile, despite a directive by the military regime for authorities to take legal action against anyone who had done so, Mandalay-based GSCB member Ma Aye Myint told RFA’s Myanmar Service.

“On Aug. 11, the military announced that it would prosecute those who joined the campaign. So, after that announcement, many people started changing their account profiles [to the NUG image],” she said.

“Before that, many people did not know they could be tracked down by the authorities because of their profile pictures. But after the military directive, they realized they had to change their profiles and then more and more people started doing it.

She added that although the campaign is currently on Facebook, it will soon be added to Twitter to reach more of the international community.

Meanwhile an Australian-based support group has launched a petition campaign online calling for recognition of the NUG by the U.N. General Assembly. According to the group, more than 175,000 international supporters, including former East Timorese President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta, former U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar Derek Mitchell and Czech diplomat Pavel Fisher, have signed the petition. The campaign aims to obtain 200,000 signatures in seven languages.

The two campaigns are underway to show support for the NUG at the 76th U.N. General Assembly in New York, which on Sept. 14 will elect a government and a permanent delegation to represent Myanmar.

A nine-nation Representation Committee that includes permanent member states the U.S., Russia and China, is to make recommendations to the U.N. General Assembly for a vote on Myanmar. The committee is currently chaired by The Maldives and each member state can only vote once, with permanent member states unable to veto, unlike at the U.N. Security Council. If any one country does not agree with the recommendation of the Representation Committee to the U.N. General Assembly, all 193 U.N. members will have to cast a ballot.

Ko Harry, a young protest leader from Myanmar’s largest city Yangon, said the GSBC campaign was aimed at regaining the people’s elected government and power, after Myanmar’s military seized power from the democratically elected government through a coup on Feb. 1, claiming voter fraud in the country’s November 2020 ballot.

The junta has yet to produce any evidence of its claims and has violently repressed protests, killing at least 1,007 civilians and arresting 5,759 others, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).

“The General Strike Coordination Body is now taking the lead to show the world our people’s support for the NUG,” Ko Harry told RFA.

“Our aim is for everyone to take part in helping our government and our people return to power.”

Political analysts told RFA the campaign is vital, as there is also a possibility that both sides may be rejected and the post left vacant.

Ko Nang Lin, a protest leader and member of the University Alumni Movement, called the GSCB campaign “an important turning point for our Spring Revolution.”

“After [promoting domestic awareness], the next campaign will seek to unite all people of Myanmar throughout the world and obtain their support to push the governments of the countries where they reside to recognize that crimes against humanity are being committed in Myanmar,” he said.

“That could sway their votes in our favor at the U.N. We will also continue to push further to get our NUG government and Kyaw Moe Tun recognized when the UN makes its decision.”

Celebrities targeted

Meanwhile, the junta is preparing to charge 63 celebrities involved in the campaign under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

A directive from the junta appeared on social media on Aug. 11, instructing the military and police to take systematic action against those who had changed their profiles. The next day, 63 artists who supported the movement were charged under Section 52 (a) of the Anti-Terrorism Law by the military. It said those who had changed their profiles were supporting the “terrorist group NUG,” and are “spreading propaganda for terrorism.”

Some of the 63 artists charged are those already charged with “defamation of the military” under Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code for protesting the coup.

Nang Lin, a protest leader, said people had joined the campaign in the millions because they want to protest the military in any way they can.

“These are typical tactics from the military—they intimidate people with weapons and threaten them with various laws. Now, they are using the charge of associating with illegal terrorist groups,” he said.

“This online campaign has awakened an awareness in people about the election of the NUG delegation and it’s a significant blow to the junta. People are involved in any way they can to show their opposition by using ‘Likes’ or ‘Comments’ or ‘Shares’ on social media.”

Myanmar faced a similar situation at the U.N. General Assembly in 2008. At that time, the U.N. Credentials Committee accepted the junta’s representative instead that of the opposition National Coalition Government of Burma (NCGUB).

NUG radio program

Also on Friday, the NUG launched a 30-minute shortwave radio program called “Radio NUG,” which it plans to air twice daily at 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. on 17.71 mhz, according to NUG defense minister U Ye Mon.

Radio NUG was launched in response to the need for “emergency communications,” as the “next milestone of the Spring Revolution approaches,” he said.

The program’s first broadcast included a report on alleged massacres discovered in Sagaing region’s Kani township, which the NUG said should be classified as war crimes, given that they were allegedly carried out by junta soldiers amid an offensive in the region.

Myanmar’s junta issued a statement on Friday evening through state broadcaster MRTV, saying the Ministry of Information had declared the program illegal and warning that “anyone who, without permission, works with, supports or assists it will have action taken against them in accordance with the law.”

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

UN: Asia-Pacific Nations Must Vaccinate Migrants Against COVID-19

The coronavirus pandemic has stigmatized and stranded migrants who should be vaccinated promptly and valued as essential contributors to the region’s economic recovery, a senior United Nations official said Wednesday as an international conference on migration opened in Bangkok.

The Asia-Pacific’s migrant work force – which comprises 40 percent of the world’s migrants – symbolizes the region’s dynamism, said Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, a U.N. undersecretary-general and executive secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

“The effects [of the pandemic] on migrants have been devastating. … They have lost jobs and livelihoods,” Armida said in a speech to open the three-day intergovernmental meeting here.

“They have been stranded by closed borders. They have been forcibly returned to countries of origins and have faced discrimination, stigma and xenophobia.”

Migrants faced all these problems even as they were more susceptible to being infected by COVID-19 because of the kind of work they do, Armida added.

“Migrants will be crucial to the long-term recovery of countries and their contribution to our society must be recognized and valued. They must be included in vaccination programs because … we are only safe when everyone is safe,” she said.

In Thailand and its neighbors, shutting the borders was the main method of controlling the pandemic, but poor messaging implied that the migrant community was a threat to public health, Don Pramudwinai, Thailand’s foreign minister, said in a speech at the forum.

“Cross-border movement was halted and when the challenges in migrants began in earnest. In fact, this pandemic has increased their vulnerability, especially the obstacle to access health care and social security,” Don said.

“Worse still, misinformation and insensitive messaging in some cases have cast migrants as a threat to public health and security. This must be rectified.”

In December, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and health officials had said that foreign workers who entered the country illicitly were the likely source of a record outbreak of coronavirus cases detected then at the country’s largest seafood market complex.

The complex in Samut Sakhon province near Bangkok is staffed mostly by hundreds of migrants from Myanmar, many of whom were found infected with COVID-19.

Thailand hosts some 2.2 million legal migrant workers.

BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service, contacted Samut Sakhon health officials to find out whether, and how many, migrants had been inoculated against coronavirus since vaccinations began in late February, but they did not have that information.

As of Wednesday, some 70,000 doses of the two-dose Sinovac vaccine have been sent to the province, and 33,621 people there have been administered the jab, officials said.

The meeting in Bangkok, which goes through Friday, aims to review progress made and identify challenges in implementing the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, a non-legally binding intergovernmental agreement struck in 2018 under the auspices of the United Nations, organizers said.

The compact is the first-ever U.N. global agreement on a common approach to international migration. It aims to ensure that migrants have sustainable livelihoods, are provided basic services and are not discriminated against.

In 2019 alone, there were almost 65 million international migrants in the region, according to ESCAP. Thailand is a regional magnet for migrants who come from neighboring countries including Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos. Thailand’s next-door neighbor to the south, Malaysia, attracts large numbers of migrants from Bangladesh and Indonesia.

Burmese migrants enter Thailand

Thai authorities, meanwhile on Wednesday, defended their decision to block eight people from Myanmar from entering Thailand this week, saying they were being illegally smuggled across the border and that three showed signs of fever, which is a symptom of the coronavirus disease.

“With regard to the incident, officials found them illegally entering the country without medical screening, therefore, the officials enacted disease prevention measures and deported them to where they were from,” Col. Sirichan Ngathong, the Thai army’s deputy spokeswoman, told BenarNews via text message.

“We do the same at all border fronts to prevent COVID spread.”

According to a statement from Human Rights Watch on Wednesday, Thai authorities intercepted eight Burmese as they were crossing from Myanmar’s Tachileik district into Thailand’s Chiang Saen district in Chiang Rai province.

HRW did not say the eight Burmese nationals were asylum seekers, but noted that Thai authorities did not verify whether anyone in the group was fleeing the ongoing violence in Myanmar after last month’s military coup.

“Thai authorities have closed land borders with Myanmar and other neighboring countries,” HRW said, citing the country’s pandemic response.

“However, this policy violates international refugee law’s nonrefoulement principle, which provides that no one should be returned to a country where they are likely to face persecution, torture, or other serious harm, even during a pandemic.”

HRW said that Thai media reported that the government had set up facilities along the border to accommodate asylum seekers from Myanmar, but that these facilities were empty.

The Thai Ministry of Foreign affairs responded to that claim, saying there had been no sign of asylum seekers from Myanmar entering the country.

“To date, there is no indication of any large groups seeking asylum across the border in relation to recent developments in Myanmar,” Tanee Sangrat, a spokesman for the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters on Wednesday.

“Rest assured that preparations are being made in terms of different scenarios that would warrant a closer look at the reasons for fleeing over the Myanmar border, as we have always done in the past, according to our humanitarian tradition,” Tanee said.

“Our security agencies are monitoring the situation closely and preparing accordingly.”

For more than 30 years, Thailand has maintained nine temporary shelters for Burmese that currently host 90,000 displaced from the country, he said, adding this “is a solid testament to that and our resolve to offer solace to displaced persons in need.”

Reported by BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

Myanmar Anti-Junta Activists Mount Boycott of Chinese Goods as Protesters Face More Repression

UPDATED at 3:40 A.M. EST on 2021-03-11

As protests and violent suppression by troops grind on in Myanmar, coup opponents are stepping up a campaign to make China rethink its support for the military junta, including a boycott of imports from their giant neighbor and threats against a major Chinese energy pipeline and port.

China, along with Russia, have been seen as the main stumbling blocks to a meaningful response to the Myanmar crisis at the U.N. Security Council, which last month voiced concern over the state of emergency and called for the release of all those detained, but stopped short of condemning the coup.

Late on Wednesday, the Council issued its strongest statement since the Feb. 1 coup.

“The Security Council strongly condemns the violence against peaceful protestors, including against women, youth and children,” the statement said. “It expresses deep concern at restrictions on medical personnel, civil society, labor union members, journalists and media workers, and calls for the immediate release of all those detained arbitrarily.”

“The Council calls for the military to exercise utmost restraint and emphasizes that it is following the situation closely,” said the statement, which was agreed after accepting the objections of China, Russia, and Vietnam to language calling the takeover “a coup.”

Myanmar activists' threats to attack the dual oil and gas pipelines, which run from southwest China’s Yunnan province to a U.S. $1.3 billion deep-sea port at Kyaukphyu in southern Rakhine state along the coast of the Bay of Bengal, have emerged on social media.

The pipeline and port are part of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC), a key component of Beijing’s multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of trade-facilitating infrastructure projects worldwide that is the signature initiative of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Perceptions that China supports the coup among Myanmar’s population, which was angered when Beijing official media called the Feb. 1 ouster of Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government a “cabinet reshuffle,” drew hundreds to protest at China’s embassy in Yangon last month.

Following the blockade and arrests of protesters by soldiers and police in Yangon’s Sanchaung township on Monday, posts appeared on Facebook saying that China is providing support to Myanmar’s military regime, which is using lethal force to quell peaceful protesters.

Some posts warned that there could be no guarantee for the security of the Kyaukphyu pipelines.

“The military that is trying to crush us violently has great fear of China. Every word from China counts,” said a young man from Kyauktada township in Yangon.

“We very well know that they are afraid that plans with China will be disrupted,” he said of the military regime. “And since we have no weapons to fight the military, we want to let them know we can cause disruptions in our own way to the give-and-take relationship with China.”

Anti-junta protesters shout slogans against Myanmar's military regime during a demonstration in North Dagon township, Yangon region, March 10, 2021. Credit: RFA

No goods from China

An online campaign calling for a boycott of Chinese goods in protest of Beijing’s support for Myanmar’s military junta has begun in the Southeast Asian country.

“We feel sorry for the traders who have already imported Chinese goods, but we will try to boycott Chinese imports,” said a young man from Yangon’s Insein township. “We will only buy fruits and vegetables locally produced or imported from other countries, but not from China.”

“Merchants should be frank and honest and tell their consumers which produce is from China and which is not,” he said. “We want to advise them not to import any more from China during these difficult times.”

Traders in the border town of Muse in northern Shan state said there now are nearly no fruit imports from China.

“Usually, we will see a lot of trucks bringing in fruits like oranges during this time of the year, but now we hardly see any,” said a produce wholesaler from the area.

“The truck drivers also told us there are very few fruit trucks coming in from the other side,” he added. “Actually, the goods that come in depend on orders from Mandalay and Yangon, and I think the trucks now are not coming in due to the lack of orders.”

RFA was unable to obtain comparative trade statistics across the Myanmar-China border, which has been closed or restricted for long periods over the past year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Some urban residents said they would join the boycott and stop buying Chinese products.

A young man from Yangon’s Yankin township said that he asks shop owners where their merchandise comes from before he buys a product.

“If the shop is selling Chinese imports, then I won’t buy anything from it,” he told RFA. “I don't mind products from Taiwan or Hong Kong, but I don’t want anything from mainland China.”

An unnamed man from a Yangon IT store said nearly all the products in local markets are from China.

“But now with this Boycott China program, we are not buying Chinese software,” he said. “We don’t want our money or information about us going to them.”

Anti-coup activists have been shunning products, such as Myanmar Beer, Andaman Gold Beer, Mandalay Rum, MyTel mobile phone service, and Ruby cigarettes, made by domestic military-related industries since February.

Last month, the activist group Justice For Myanmar listed major Chinese business partners of the military junta, including big arms suppliers, mining firms, and textile companies. A “Dirty List” published by the Burma Campaign UK listed 12 Chinese companies as having ties to the Myanmar military.

Myanmar railway workers stand by a roadside after being forced out of their homes by security forces in Yangon, March 11, 2021. Credit: RFA

Raids on railway worker housing

Police and soldiers continued violent crackdowns across the country on Wednesday, arresting at least 150 people in Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon, were they sustained the use of tear gas, smoke bombs, and live ammunition against defiant protesters.

Residents in urban areas and towns have become incensed over reports of soldiers stealing rice, jewelry, and gold from homes they raid while searching for protesters in hiding. They also complain about security forces firing their rifles indiscriminately and throwing flash grenades to terrorize them.

Police and soldiers also have been entering private homes to arrest protesters sheltering inside as well as the families who gave them a place to stay, locals said.

Policemen raided the housing units of state railway workers in Yangon on Wednesday and drove the occupants out of their homes for refusing to quit the broader civil disobedience movement (CDM) of strikes and other actions that have supported the street protests.

Authorities arrested 17 rail workers who had joined the CDM when hundreds of police and soldiers raided the staff quarters at the Mahlwagone Railway Station, though they could not find train conductors already in hiding elsewhere.

“We are angry that they used force to pressure those of us who have not committed any wrongdoings,” said a relative of one of the railway workers.

The junta warned workers who joined the CDM to leave their housing quarters, previously provided by the Railways Department.

“They underestimated us when they took over state power,” said one of the striking workers. “We joined the protests because we want our president U [honorific] Win Myint and the state counselor [Aung San Suu Kyi] to be freed. We will carry on with the movement until our leaders are released.”

Police and soldiers not only made the arrests but also took away rice supplies and foodstuffs distributed by NGOs to support workers who joined the CDM, witnesses said.

Myanmar police seal off a major street in Sanchaung township, Yangon region, March 10, 2021. Credit: RFA

Protesters chased in North Okkalapa

Anti-junta protestors meanwhile continued their rallies in other townships in Yangon region.

Several demonstrators were injured when police and soldiers cracked down on them with tear gas and stun grenades in Yangon’s North Okkalapa township. Some 150 protesters, mostly teenagers, who ran into nearby houses were chased down and arrested.

“Most people in houses along the streets called in the young protesters and closed their doors,” said an area resident, adding that he saw police breaking down the door of one house and taking away student protesters and three family members.

“They also ransacked the house and took cell phones and other stuff,” he said.

In Sanchaung township, scores of young people gathered on Baho Street and chanted anti-military slogans in protest, though no incidents were reported.

Several groups of protesters in Mandalay staged cat-and-mouse demonstrations as soldiers patrolled the main roads in large numbers. A group of people participating in a sit-in was dispersed quickly by police, witnesses said.

Police in Mandalay’s Myingyan township used gunfire to break up a protest march of over 20,000 people, injuring one man in the face and another in the thigh, witnesses said.

Security forces in Pathein, Ayeyarwady region, confronted and violently dispersed a large protest column comprising university students and ethnic Karen youths.

Police broke up another column of protesters under a “Spring Revolution” banner, using motorcycles to track down those hiding in nearby streets, witnesses said. They were no reports of casualties or arrests.

In Hpa-an and Kawkareik townships of Kayin state, hundreds of people continued anti-regime marches in nearby villages as police and soldiers occupied main roads in the cities. Similar marches also were reported in the towns of Ye and Kyaikto of neighboring Mon state.

In Magway, capital of Magway region, police and soldiers used tear gas to disperse anti-military protesters and arrested at least four demonstrators, witnesses said.

Striking Myanmar railway workers cross some tracks after being forced out of their homes by security forces in Yangon, March 10, 2021. Credit: RFA

‘Not ordinary human rights violations’

The extreme violence committed by police and soldiers against peaceful protesters and other civilians violates the law and human rights, activists said.

Groups of policemen and soldiers who severely beat protesters with batons and iron rods or arrest people who turn up dead a day later are committing serious human rights violations, said activist Nickey Diamond from the Southeast Asia-based Fortify Rights.

“If we are to use human rights terminology, these are crimes against humanity,” he told RFA. “These are not ordinary human rights violations.”

“Under international laws, we have terms like genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity,” he said. “These three are used to prevent crimes against ordinary people using extreme violence or brutality. Punishment for these crimes can be meted out at the International Criminal Court.”

In November 2019, the International Criminal Court, which tries individuals, authorized an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Myanmar military against Rohingya Muslims during a brutal crackdown in 2017 that drove 740,000 members of the minority group into Bangladesh.

Myanmar also faces genocide-related charges at the International Court of Justice, the U.N.’s top court, which settles disputes between nations.

Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.