This is part one of the DVB Newsroom interview with David Mathieson, an independent analyst on human rights and conflict in Myanmar. In it, he discusses the situation in Myanmar four years after the 2021 military coup. We recorded this interview before China brokered a ceasefire agreement between the regime in Naypyidaw and the Three Brotherhood Alliance’s Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) on Jan. 18.

The National Unity Government (NUG) President’s Office spokesperson Kyaw Zaw responded to Mathieson’s comments made in this interview: “We [didn’t] say that we control two thirds of the country. We say that resistance forces control two thirds of the countries. We [didn’t] say that we fully control and govern 144 townships. We’re saying that the resistance forces control, and we didn’t say that we fully control 95 townships, towns and cities. We clearly say that [the People’s Defense Force captured] and control eight towns and cities out of 95.”