ICRC meets with Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw
Burma’s jailed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi met with Arnaud de Baecque, the Resident Representative and Head of Delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the capital Naypyidaw on Monday, regime spokesperson Khaing Khaing Soe shared on the social media app Telegram with photos but without disclosing the exact location of the meeting on Aug. 3.
The news comes amid mounting concerns over the deteriorating health conditions of the 81-year-old ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who has been held in detention and isolation since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021, which replaced her civilian-led NLD administration with a regime led by Min Aung Hlaing, who was inaugurated Burma’s president on April 10.
The meeting between the ICRC’s Arnaud de Baecque and Aung San Suu Kyi follows her reported transfer from prison to house arrest on April 30. Her son, Kim Aris launched a “Proof of Life” campaign demanding the regime allow independent verification that she’s still alive. Aung San Suu Kyi has been held incommunicado by the regime for over five years. Read more on our website
Read the response from Kim Aris, the ICRC, and the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
Chinese firms are helping the military build a jet-fuel refinery
The military is moving to produce Jet A-1 aviation fuel domestically, with Chinese companies supplying the design, equipment and infrastructure for the project, a DVB investigation has found. A review of publicly available company records, corporate websites and vessel-tracking data shows that the Thanlyin refinery in Yangon is being revived to reduce the military’s reliance on imported jet fuel.
This dependence has made it vulnerable to international sanctions, foreign-currency shortages and swings in the global fuel market. As fighting has intensified across Burma, aviation fuel has become one of the military’s most important strategic resources. The Burma Air Force provides support to military personnel and transports equipment, and strikes ground targets, including in civilian-populated areas.
The fuel that keeps those aircraft flying has become critical to sustaining the regime’s air operations. The project involves the state-owned Myanma Petrochemical Enterprise (MPE) and companies linked to the military’s existing aviation-fuel supply network. DVB also found that several Chinese companies are involved in the project. Read more on our website
Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun urges UN support for SCEF
Burma’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, wrote to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday, requesting support for the Steering Council for the Emergence of a Federal Democratic Union (SCEF)—Myanmar’s premier resistance alliance.
“The SCEF is committed to protecting and promoting the essence of federal democracy and self-determination,” Kyaw Moe Tun stated in a letter on July 31. He added that the SCEF is “rooted in the people, supported by the people and accountable for the people.”
The SCEF comprises lawmakers elected in 2020 but ousted in the 2021 coup, This includes the National Unity Government (NUG), and the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), along with the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), the Karen National Union (KNU), the Chin National Front (CNF), and the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP). Read more on our website
News by Region
ARAKAN—The Arakan Army (AA) stated on Monday that airstrikes were carried out by the Burma Air Force for several hours on multiple locations in Thandwe Township’s Ngapali town on Monday. Thandwe, located 150 miles (240 km) south of the state capital Sittwe, was seized by the AA in July 2024.
Ngapali residents told DVB that multiple areas of the town were hit during the airstrikes. “We can’t assess the full extent of the damage or casualties because military jets are still circling overhead,” one resident told DVB on condition of anonymity on Aug. 3. Read more on our website
AYEYARWADY—Four civilians were injured by an airstrike carried out by the Burma Air Force on Lemyethna Township’s Set Set Yo village on Sunday, compounding a humanitarian emergency triggered by catastrophic regional flooding. Over 14,000 residents were reeling from rising floodwaters.
A 50-foot (15-meter) breach in the Ngawun Dam on July 31 was caused by heavy rainfall. Residents reported that regime fighter jets targeted the village—located 75 miles (120 km) north of the region’s capital Pathein—destroying three makeshift shelters housing displaced persons. Read more on our website
CHIN—Members of the Chin resistance dismissed regime leader Min Aung Hlaing after he referenced the Chin National Organization and its armed wing, the Chin National Defence Force, as a “dialogue partner” in peace talks during his speech to Myanmar’s parliament on Friday.
A politician in Chin State told DVB on the condition of anonymity that Min Aung Hlaing mentioned one specific armed group as a “tactic” to divide the Chin resistance. The Chin National Organization—formed on April 13, 2021—is a member of the Chin Brotherhood. Read more on our website
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