Kim Aris to run 80km ahead of Aung San Suu Kyi’s 80th birthday
The son of Myanmar’s jailed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, Kim Aris, announced that he will run six miles (10 km) per day for eight days in-a-row to raise funds to help the people of Burma and to commemorate his mother’s 80th birthday, which is June 19. Aung San Suu Kyi has been held in detention in Naypyidaw since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021.
“I’ve set myself a challenge to try and run 80 kilometers within eight days. And I’d like to get people to sponsor me to help raise more money for humanitarian aid [to Burma],” Kim Aris told DVB. “[It’s] hard, but it’s nothing compared to my mother’s 80 years of strength. Let’s show her that she has not been forgotten and that her vision for a peaceful, free Burma lives on through all of us,” he wrote on the campaign page.
Aris said that the funds raised during the Suu80 Challenge will go toward supporting the families of those detained by the military since the 2021 coup, as well as emergency humanitarian relief. He told DVB that he has raised $400,000 USD in donations during the Suu 80th birthday campaign launched in January. In May, he accepted the Citizen of Burma Award on behalf of his mother at a ceremony in the U.S.
Conscription fraud case reported in Ayeyarwady Region
Regime administration officials in Athoke town of Yegyi Township, Ayeyarwady Region, have been accused of acting as brokers and paying a man 15 million MMK ($3,300 USD) to serve in the place of another man who was conscripted into the military by a draft lottery recently under the conscription law, which requires all men aged 18 to 35 to serve in the military since Feb. 10, 2024.
“I learnt that the man’s family only received 9 million MMK [$2,000 USD]. The rest was shared between the broker and administration officials,” a Yegyi resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity, adding that the location of the man paid for entering the military under false pretenses is unknown. Yegyi is located 54 miles (86 km) north of the Ayeyarwady Region capital Pathein.
Yegyi residents told DVB that regime officials had collected at least 10,000 MMK ($2 USD) per household to “support” conscripts and to rent vehicles for military logistics in Ayeyarwady Region since June 6. Resistance forces led by the Arakan Army (AA) have been fighting against regime forces in Lemyethna Township, which is located 22 miles (35 km) north of Yegyi, since May.
Over 200 Rohingya arrested by regime since January
Aid groups told DVB that regime authorities in Ayeyarwady Region have arrested over 200 Rohingya, including 40 children, who are accused of leaving Arakan State with the intent to travel to regional countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, since January. More than 90 Rohingya have been sentenced 3-5 years in prison for violating immigration laws, a source close to the regime told DVB.
“They were trying to escape conflict and oppression in [Arakan],” an aid worker told DVB on the condition of anonymity. The AA has been accused of committing atrocities against the Rohingya since it took complete control of the 168 mile (271 km) long Burma-Bangladesh border by seizing Maungdaw Township in northern Arakan on Dec. 8.
Sources added that several Rohingya admitted to regime authorities that they were attempting to travel to Malaysia, via Yangon Region. Ayeyarwady is bordered by Arakan to the northwest and Yangon to the east. The AA controls 14 out of 17 townships in Arakan, as well as Paletwa in southern Chinland. It extended its offensive into Ayeyarwady in December.
News by Region
TANINTHARYI—Two civilians, including a 10-year-old, were killed and seven others were injured by airstrikes in Thayetchaung Township on Saturday. The Karen National Union (KNU) confirmed the attacks. Thayetchaung is 18 miles (28 km) south of the region’s capital Dawei.
A resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity that the airstrikes targeted two villages in the township. The regime has carried out 764 attacks since it began its ceasefire on April 2, which elapsed May 1-6 but was renewed and extended until June 30, according to DVB data.
SHAN—Over 1,500 residents of Pekon Township in southern Shan have fled a counteroffensive launched by pro-regime forces, including the Pa-O National Organization (PNO), in June. Sources told DVB that indiscriminate artillery killed one civilian in Pekon on Friday.
Pekon is located 104 miles (167 km) south of the state capital Taunggyi and 21 miles north (33 km) of the Karenni State capital Loikaw. The PNO signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) in 1991. It has fought alongside regime forces since the 2021 military coup.
In northern Shan, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) has been issuing border passes for its investors to be able to enter China since mid-May. A merchant told DVB that border passes allow travel from Chinshwehaw, Laukkai, and Mongkoe to China’s Montain (Minton), Nansan, and Mangshi.
Residents told DVB that at least 500,000 yuan ($70,000 USD) must be invested in MNDAA-controlled towns to receive a border pass. Chinshwehaw, Mongkoe, Hpawnghseng, Konkyan, Kunlong, Hsenwi (Theinni), Laukkai, and Pang Hseng (Kyukoke) were seized by the MNDAA since Oct. 27, 2023.
(Exchange rate: $1 USD = 4,430 MMK)
