At least 30 killed in Depayin following junta raid on local village

Around 10,000 people have reportedly fled the area following clashes between regime troops and local resistance fighters that began on Friday

Myanmar Now

Published on Jul 4, 2021

Villagers in Sagaing Region’s Depayin Township flee their homes for safety following raids by junta soldiers. (Supplied)

Junta troops have killed more than 30 people, including local resistance fighters, in Sagaing Region’s Depayin Township since raids in the area began on Friday, according to local sources.

The Depayin People’s Defence Force (PDF), an armed group formed to resist crackdowns by the coup regime’s forces, announced on social media on Saturday that about 150 soldiers came to the village of Satpyarkyin at around 6am on Friday.

When residents there and in nearby villages started to flee, junta soldiers opened fire with heavy weapons, the group said in its statement.

This set off a clash between PDF members and regime forces that lasted until around 10am. Fighting later resumed at around 2pm and continued for four hours, according to the statement.

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By Saturday afternoon, 31 bodies, including both PDF members and local civilians, were retrieved, according to a Depayin resident.

“Those who went back to collect the bodies reported that there were a total of 31,” said the local, who added that it was unclear how many of the dead were actually involved in the fighting.

However, according to the statement released by the Depayin PDF, 27 of those killed were members of the group.

The PDF said it initially counted 18 dead and at least 10 injured, but later found the bodies of nine more of its members on Saturday afternoon.

The group also claimed that four regime soldiers were killed and seven injured in the clashes.

There were also reports that six injured members of the local PDF were shot at close range after the fighting on Friday. Their bodies were piled inside the compound of a monastery, said a Satpyarkyin local who asked not to be named due to security concerns.

“One was shot in the leg but still alive. The troops captured people like him who couldn’t run and shot them all in the head at close range,” the local told Myanmar Now.

About 10,000 residents of 11 villages in Depayin Township have fled their homes since the raid began early Friday, according to the Satpyarkyin local.

“Everyone fled because the soldiers were raiding not only the villages, but also going into the surrounding forest,” the local told Myanmar Now. “Elderly people are in so much trouble now. Young people are carrying them away in cow carts or on their backs.”

A junta mouthpiece, the Global New Light of Myanmar, reported on Sunday that “armed terrorists” ambushed soldiers patrolling in Depayin, Mingin, Kawlin and Htigyaing townships in Sagaing on Friday. One soldier was killed and six were injured in the attack, the report said.

It added that the local resistance groups had to retreat after retaliation by the junta troops and “four mortars and six percussion lock firearms” were confiscated during the clash.

Fighting also broke out between local PDF members and junta troops in mid-June following raids on villages in the area. The deaths of a former local administrator in Inpin and two daughters of a junta-allied administrator in the village of Kyi sparked the raids.

After the attacks, junta troops raided the villages of Satpyarkyin and Boke, two miles west of Kyi, and fatally shot a local.

Since April, the junta’s troops have been deployed frequently to villages in Depayin, Yinmabin, Kani, Taze, Ayataw and Mingin townships, which have seen strong resistance to the February 1 military coup.

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Entire population of Chin village sheltering along Indian border, in need of aid

The 900 who fled Lungler, where resistance forces overran a junta outpost last week, expect more violence to erupt in the village soon

Myanmar Now

Published on Sep 16, 2021

CAPTION: Thantlang locals prepare to flee their homes in early September (Thantlang Placement Affairs Committee)

The entire 900-strong population of Lungler village in Chin State’s Thantlang Township is sheltering along the Indian border after residents fled their homes last week ahead of an attack by resistance forces against a military outpost, an aid worker has said.

The displaced include elderly people and children and are in urgent need of supplies, said Aung, who is helping the villagers and asked to be referred to by one name for security reasons.

“We need a lot of help,” he told Myanmar Now. “We’re in need of both food and medicine.”

The villagers fled a few days before a coalition of fighters from the Chin National Army (CNA) and the Chinland Defence Force (CDF) raided a junta outpost just outside Lungler, killing 12 soldiers and seizing weapons before burning the base down.

Some made their way to other villages on motorcycles and others went on foot, the aid worker said. Around 800 are staying in monasteries and farms on the Myanmar side of the border, in villages including Ralpel and Zaantlang, while another 140 have made their way to Mizoram in India, he added.

An Indian official told local media last week that there are now over 700 refugees from Chin staying in Mizoram’s Hnahthial district.

Before Lungler’s residents fled, there were some 2,000 displaced people in Thantlang Township, according to Salai Lian, an officer with the Thantlang Placement Affairs Committee, a local charity.

Junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the military could not confirm if the Lungler base had been completely taken over.

The displaced people have no plans to return to Lungler yet as they fear there will be more fighting; the military appears to be preparing for an attack in the area, Aung said.

A spokesperson for the CDF in Thantlang said that 80 junta troops had arrived in Thantlang as reinforcements from the town of Hakha and that there were now around 200 troops staying in the town of Thantlang.

“There aren’t any battles yet but we need to stay vigilant as the troops in Thantlang are planning something,” he said.

A military jet has been hovering over the captured Lungler base everyday and appears to be inspecting the area, he said.

Before seizing the base on Saturday, CDF fighters killed two junta soldiers who had been conducting security checks in Thantlang on September 9. Four civilians were injured when junta soldiers returned fire, the CDF said.

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Business

‘Almost half’ of Yangon’s hotels have closed amid collapse of tourism industry, says junta official

Those that have remained open are barely staying afloat by hosting long-stay guests or offering Covid-19 quarantine services

Myanmar Now

Published on Sep 16, 2021

Almost half of Yangon’s hotels have shut down amid a near total collapse of Myanmar’s tourism industry, according to figures provided by an official from the junta’s tourism ministry.

The devastation to the industry has been caused by the combined impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the military’s February 1 coup.

Of the 483 hotels registered in the former capital, 225 have now ceased operations, said Nyo Aye, the director of the ministry’s Yangon office.

Tourism businesses in many parts of the world are looking tentatively towards a recovery amid vaccine rollouts, while Thailand and Vietnam have announced pilot programs to welcome vaccinated travellers.

But the instability and nationwide conflict sparked by the coup has extinguished hopes that Myanmar will be able to follow in the footsteps of its regional neighbours.

Nyo Aye, who made no mention of the military’s power grab in his assessment of the problem, said the hotel closures would only be temporary.

“Almost half of the hotels had to take a break as the operation costs were high and there were no guests. They’re going to open again once guests come back in,” he told Myanmar Now.

Those hotels that have remained open have done so by downsizing and slashing costs while providing quarantine services for people returning to Myanmar on relief flights, he said.

Of the roughly 3,000 tour operators based in Yangon, all but seven have shut down their businesses, he added.

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The hotel closures include the five-star Sule Shangri-La, which announced just before the coup in January that it would shut its doors for nine months.

The Sedona Hotel remains open to current guests but has stopped receiving new guests and suspended meal services.

May Myat Mon Win, the general manager of the luxury Chatrium Hotel, said her establishment is still hosting some long-stay and local guests, as well as those returning from abroad on relief flights.

“We have made very little to no profit during this time but we don’t want to give up yet because we believe that a hotel can contribute a lot to the community,” she said. “So we will keep on operating.”

There is still some business for hotels in Yangon because of the presence of international companies in the city, she said, noting that establishments in tourist hotspots like Inle Lake and Bagan have suffered even worse.

The Lotte Hotel near Inya lake in Yangon has also remained open by offering services to staff members of businesses closely associated with its parent company, a staff member there said.

Employees from the South Korean petroleum company Posco are using the hotel to quarantine when they travel to Myanmar, where Posco operates the Shwe Natural Gas project in Rakhine. Posco also partly owns the hotel.

Myanmar’s annual tourism revenue reached $2.8 billion in 2019, then plummeted by 80% the following year after most international flights were banned in March 2020.

Before the February coup plunged the country into chaos, the industry had been hoping for a recovery this year.

“It’s hopeless for us local business owners,” said an officer from the Union of Myanmar Travel Association, who also owns a tour company and asked not to be named.

“To be honest we don’t know when this is going to end.”

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Interview

Khun Myint Htun: ‘All Political Processes Need Sincerity’

Khun Myint Htun is the chairman of the Pa-O National Liberation Organization (PNLO), which signed the recent ceasefire agreement with Burmese government and seven other non-state armed groups on Oct. 15.

Phyo Thiha Cho

Published on Oct 24, 2016

Pa-O National Liberation Organization chairman Khun Myint Htun discusses the armed group’s decision to sign the government’s ceasefire agreement.

A former youth leader in the National League for Democracy (NLD), he was elected to parliament in the 1990 election, the results of which were ignored by the then ruling junta. He was held in prison for more than seven years, and on his release he joined the insurgent arm of the Pa-O people.

Speaking to Myanmar Now this week, the 52-year-old discussed the reasons the PNLO joined the ceasefire accord, relations between the group and the military, and his views on the 2015 general election.

Why did the PNLO decide to sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA)?

Our unwavering ideology is to solve political problems through political means. In accordance with the NCA, prior discussion will be needed before making any decision. However, both sides are required to negotiate a political roadmap. Neither side should try to take advantage. So we decided to sign the NCA.

What were the fundamental reasons for the PNLO to sign the deal?

Our decision was a reflection of the existing political and military situation, as well as our policy and the national interest. We can hold political dialogue during the term of the next government. We can imagine the next administration will be influenced by civilians. It is not certain that the next government will have good relations with the military. So we decided to sign peace deal during the term of present government.

We fought against the military under the lead of the Karen National Union (KNU) when the junta made the 2004 roadmap. But the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and northern rebel groups, including the Kokang and SSPP/SSA accepted this roadmap. However, this time we and the KNU signed the peace deal, but the KIO and northern rebel groups are fighting. We expect all-inclusiveness in the roadmap.

Those armed groups which have not signed in the deal did not say they would never sign in the deal. They will sign the peace deal at an appropriate juncture. Both the government and the ethnic armed groups need to persuade them to join the NCA. Although they want to sign the deal, political and military situations in their respective areas are blocking them from doing so.

Which side has compromised in the NCA—the government or the ethnic armed groups?

Both sides have made adjustments. The senior military officers of the government are the same age as us. As the ideology to wipe out all the ethnic rebels has been rooted in their minds for many years, they seemed to regard us as the rebels until now. The government defines ‘disarmament, demobilization and reintegration’ as abandonment of weapons. We assume the government and the military are on the same side in accordance with NCA. The government side has made these adjustments.

All political processes need sincerity. If all stakeholders can implement the points in the agreement, we can reach the final goal. They must guarantee the establishment of a federal union with rights on equality, democracy and self-rule. We all will take responsibility for national security by establishing a single military under a single order. However, we will not accept the formation of militia and border guard forces.

Could there be conflicts in the future, as the demarcation lines have not been drawn up for armed groups?

We will have more discussions about this issue. But the armed groups outside the NCA cannot discuss it.

Do you think the details in the deal could be discussed in the term of next government?

President Thein Sein signed the deal as a president of Republic of the Union of Myanmar. The existing government will remain during the first parliamentary session after the elections. The government will have to submit this NCA to the parliament for approval. After it is approved, the deal must be adhered to in favor of the national interest.

Has the NCA made political capital for the ruling party?

The public doesn’t show that much interest in the peace deal. They will vote for the party they believe in. People have the right to choose the party they like. We never considered that any political party would win in the elections on the basis that they signed the peace deal.

Do you think clashes will erupt while decisions are made for the drawing of demarcation lines?

Clashes will decline, but it cannot be said they will stop entirely. Both the military chief and deputy military chief signed the deal. They are accountable and responsible for their promises. The president, the speaker of parliament and the military chiefs signed the deal.

What outside pressures will come up, given that international diplomats also signed as witnesses in the deal?

Some diplomats signed the NCA as witnesses. The government of the United States and the United Kingdom commended the peace deal. They have pledged to support the peacemaking process. They are also responsible for their financial and political contributions.

What are the building blocks for the establishment of a federal union?

We will try to amend the 2008 Constitution. Our political dialogue should not deviate from mainstream politics. While the national (constitutional convention) in 1993 backed by the junta did not take into account existing situations, future dialogue should not ignore it.

Is the PNLO enthusiastic about the prospect of merging with the government military?

I will not take any military rank or title in front of my name. We have a policy that the military wing of PNLO must be under the management of political wing. I have no plan to take any positions in the future military, but we might take responsibilities for national security.

Some candidates have reportedly been threatened by some ethnic armed groups. What is your view on this?

We expect a free and fair election. The results of election must be recognized. We never disclose our support for any political party or organization. Our members will have individual ideas. We have never disturbed any candidates as we value the upcoming elections.