Six arrested for association with Arakan Army amid fighting

Arrests come as UN rights envoy urged military not to target civilians.

Published on Jan 25, 2019

The court at Buthidaung Township (Photo by Phyo Thiha Cho/ Myanmar Now)

BUTHIDAUNG -- Authorities have arrested at least six men in Rakhine state this month on suspicion of associating with the Arakan Army (AA), amid fighting that has displaced at least 5,000 civilians.

The most recent known arrest was of Aung Tun Sein, a 10-household head from Alae Chaung village in northern Rakhine.

He was detained on January 20 under the controversial Unlawful Associations Act, upper house MP Maung Kyaw Zan told Myanmar Now.

The military made the names of four of the men public in a January 15 statement, while the lawmaker confirmed the other two arrests.

The arrests came as the UN’s human rights envoy to Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, urged the government and military not to target Rakhine civilians.

“The ethnic Rakhine population must not be demonised and targeted by the military on suspicion of association with the AA,” she said in a January 18 statement.

The Tatmadaw’s January 15 statement said four villagers were charged after interrogations revealed that they had been reporting the activities of Tatmadaw security officers to the AA. It also said accused two of the villagers had collected protection money on behalf of AA.

Maung Kyaw Zan said there had been previous cases in the area of people being charged “because of external pressure. I don’t want that to happen again,” he said.

But he added: “If they really violated the law, then they must be charged.”

The NLD government asked the military to “crush” the AA after its attacks on police posts killed 13 on January 4, a government spokesperson said earlier this month.

Lee said she was “seriously concerned about the dangerous rhetoric being used by the government.”

Aung Tun Sein was arrested while sheltering with 260 others at a monastery in Don Thein village, a week after he fled fighting in Alae Chaung village.

The other three accused of having connections with Arakan Army (AA) were Thayat Pin village administrator U Maung Tun Hlaing and the villagers Maung Kyaw Win and U Aung Htay, he said.

Ko Zaw Win Tun, Aung Tun Sein’s son, said his father and other villagers were interrogated at the local police station several times before his arrest.

“I’m worried about him,” he said.

Battalion Commander U Aung Kyaw Zaw, of Maungdaw district’s Security Police Battalion Number 3, said he did not have an update on the case when contacted by Myanmar Now.

Photo caption: The court at Buthidaung Township (Photo by Phyo Thiha Cho/ Myanmar Now)

Phyo Thiha Cho

Phyo Thiha Cho is Senior Reporter with Myanmar Now.

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Puma halts petrol supply to Myitkyina airport

The KIA welcomes the suspension, following more than 100 airstrikes in Kachin State by military helicopters

Myanmar Now

Published on May 29, 2021

The opening ceremony of Puma Energy in Thilawa industrial zone in Yangon on May 6, 2017 (EPA)

Puma Energy informed authorities that it would be suspending petrol sales at the Myitkyina airport in Kachin State as the trucks carrying the petrol have not been able to arrive on schedule.

According to a letter sent by Puma Energy to the Myitkyina airport authorities on May 26—which Myanmar Now has seen—the petrol supply to the airport has been suspended from that day onwards, until the supply becomes more reliable.

The Singapore-based company started distributing aviation fuel under the name National Energy Puma Aviation Services as a joint venture with the state-owned Myanmar Petroleum Products Enterprise (MPPE) in 2015.

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) welcomed Puma’s suspension of the petrol supply in the state, which has seen more than 100 airstrikes carried out by the Myanmar military since the February 1 coup.

“It’s good that the company is having difficulties supplying it. We welcome it for sure,” KIA spokesperson Col Naw Bu told Myanmar Now.

The KIA seized the military’s strategic Alaw Bum base in Kachin State’s Momauk Township in March. Since early April, the military has been attempting to reclaim the post by launching airstrikes on the area from helicopters.

Trucks assumed to be carrying aviation fuel were also attacked by Kachin forces in Kachin and northern Shan states after the airstrikes around Momauk.

The KIA confirmed that it has given its soldiers instructions to destroy and cut off the supply route of petrol trucks that are literally fuelling the military’s atrocities.

The military council claimed that the trucks destroyed were not carrying aviation fuel but were private trucks carrying gasoline for public use.

The military announced that two vehicles carrying fuel were destroyed when the KIA launched an attack near Zanankha and Suyang villages in Sumprabum Township on May 19.

On May 17, the KIA attacked six trucks carrying fuel through Kutkai Township along the national highway from the Myanmar-China border town of Muse, and another truck between Kutkai and Hsenwi the next day.

Two fuel trucks assumed to be carrying aviation fuel were burned down three miles from Zinbon village in Shwegu on Thursday, a local told Myanmar Now.

Puma Energy’s website said that the company currently provides services to 22 international airlines, 10 domestic airlines, four charter service groups and six fuel agents in Myanmar. It operates at 11 airports in Myanmar, including Yangon International Airport.

The company made an announcement on February 10 that it had decided to suspend its operations in Myanmar following the military’s seizure of power.

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Three men dead as regime soldiers open fire on villages in Gangaw

Junta troops burn houses and raid villages after military trucks passing through the Magwe Region township were struck by explosives on the same day

Myanmar Now

Published on May 29, 2021

Three houses were set on fire by regime soldiers on Friday in Magwe Region’s Gangaw Township (Supplied)

Regime forces shot three people dead in Magwe Region’s Gangaw Township and set houses on fire at random during raids on three villages on Friday afternoon.

The crackdown on villagers was unleashed after military trucks passing through the township were struck by explosives on the same day.

One of the victims was Saw Min Hlaing Oo, a 33-year-old primary school teacher participating in the nationwide general strike against the coup regime; he was shot in the waist and the thigh. The two other casualties were men aged 50 and 33, but whose names were not known at the time of reporting.

A Gangaw local said he did not know why the houses—three in total—were burned down.

“Soldiers opened fire, aiming at the villages from a road. Many bullets landed in my village,” a local man told Myanmar Now, asking not to mention the names of the targeted villages out of fear of reprisal. “Bullets passed just over the heads of some people who were running from the gunshots. The whole village had to run.”

One woman was injured by a gunshot wound to the arm, and a woman in her 70s slipped down a hillside and broke one of her legs while fleeing the regime forces’ attack, the local added.

Villagers reportedly returned to their houses at around 5:30pm after the soldiers had left.

Residents of southern Sagaing Region’s Kani and Yinmabin townships, which border Magwe Region, have been resisting the junta rule with homemade guns and explosives since April.

In retaliation, the military raided several villages in those areas to crush the locals’ armed resistance, forcing more than 15,000 residents to flee to the forests to hide or to seek refuge in other towns.

Myanmar Now

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Detained protest leader Wai Moe Naing meets with his lawyer for the first time, says mother

The prominent activist, who has been accused of treason and murder, among other charges, was arrested more than a month ago

Myanmar Now

Published on May 29, 2021

Monywa-based activist Wai Moe Naing (centre, holding microphone) is seen at an anti-coup rally in April. (Monywa Gazette)

Prominent anti-coup protest leader Wai Moe Naing met with his lawyers for the first time on Thursday, more than a month after his arrest, according to his mother.

The meeting took place during a court hearing in Monywa Prison, where he is currently being held, said his mother, Moe Sandar Kyu.

The protest leader from Monywa in Sagaing Region faces a total of 10 criminal charges, including treason, murder, incitement, unlawful association, wrongful confinement, and armed robbery.

“It was the first time for him to have his lawyers representing him at a hearing,” said Moe Sandar Kyu.

Thursday’s hearing was specifically related to the charges of incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code, she said, adding that he had already appeared before the same prison court to face other charges.

“The lawyers told me he is in good health and that there are no more injuries [on his body],” she said.

A day after his arrest, a photo of him in regime custody with a bruised eye and swollen face went viral on social media, raising fears that he had been tortured.

Plainclothes regime officials detained him on April 15 after ramming him with a car while he rode a motorbike during a rally in Monywa.

Moe Sandar Kyu had expressed concern about her son’s wellbeing and health since he has suffered from high blood pressure for about six years.

On Thursday, family members were also allowed to send him personal items, she said.

A hearing related to the murder charge against him is scheduled for next Wednesday, while another hearing on the incitement charge will be held the following day.

Wai Moe Naing rose to prominence for his role in organising daily anti-coup protests in Monywa, which sits on the eastern bank of the Chindwin River.

The cheerful, round-faced leader came to be known affectionately as the “Panda of Monywa”.