Myanmar convenes first parliamentary session since 2021
The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) Chairperson Khin Yi was elected as Speaker of the Pyithu Hluttaw, or lower house of parliament, and the regime’s Minister for Information Maung Maung Ohn was elected as his deputy speaker in the capital Naypyidaw on Monday. A total of 373 lawmakers attended the first session of the Pyithu Hluttaw since the 2021 military coup.
A source close to the regime Naypyidaw told DVB that the USDP’s Khin Yi had been tipped to be Burma’s fourth Speaker of the Pyithu Hluttaw since his military-proxy party won a landslide victory in the military’s 2025-26 elections. Khin Yi was elected to the Pyithu Hluttaw for Naypyidaw’s Zeyarthiri Township. Maung Maung Ohn was elected to the Pyithu Hluttaw for Naypyidaw’s Tatkon Township.
The Amyotha Hluttaw, or upper house of parliament, is scheduled to convene in Naypiydaw tomorrow, March 18. Regime leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is widely expected to retire from his role as commander-in-chief and assume the presidency. Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup that overthrew the National League for Democracy (NLD) government on Feb. 1, 2021. Read more
An attempt to legitimize the regime in Naypyidaw?
The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M), a group of international human rights experts on Burma, called on the international community to cut off the military’s access to munitions, cash and jet fuel by strengthening embargoes and financial restrictions, including sanctions against senior officials and military-owned and crony companies and their subsidiaries.
“Min Aung Hlaing has killed tens of thousands of civilians, set the country ablaze and destabilised the region, all in a selfish bid to anoint himself president,” said Yanghee Lee, a SAC-M member and a former U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Burma. “A confected title and a costume change won’t fool the Myanmar people or the international community or erase his crimes.”
SAC-M requested the international community and the U.N. back nation-building efforts put forth by the resistance to military rule in Burma by increasing financial, material and capacity-building support to ethnic organisations and councils, the National Unity Government (NUG), emerging state and federal units and alliances, as well as civil society organizations operating from exile.
MNDAA takes full control of Shan State’s Kutkai from TNLA
A source in the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) told DVB that its ally, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), carried out Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), or drone, strikes on the 12-mile area under TNLA control between Kutkai and Namhkam townships on Monday – one day after the MNDAA seized TNLA-controlled parts of Kutkai town in northern Shan State.
An MNDAA source told DVB on the condition of anonymity that its forces will continue to seize control up to 12 miles (19 km) north of Kutkai. The town, located 47 miles (75 km) north of the regional capital Lashio, sits on the road connecting Mandalay to the vital China-Burma border town of Ruili. No casualties have been reported. But around 70 TNLA members were reportedly taken captive by the MNDAA.
The MNDAA source told DVB that TNLA-controlled parts of Kutkai town were seized on March 15 – following two days of attacks. It also seized control of the road connecting Kutkai to the 105-mile checkpoint in Muse town, 55 miles (88 km) north of Kutkai. A TNLA source told DVB that it was given orders from commanding officers to withdraw from Kutkai to Namhkam and not to return fire at the MNDAA. Read more
News by Region
ARAKAN—A source close to the military told DVB that regime civil servants and their family members, who were evacuated from Kyauktaw in 2024, are being “forced” to return this month. The port town of Kyaukphyu is located 317 miles (510 km) south of the state capital Sittwe.
A source close to the military told DVB on the condition of anonymity that the military has sent in reinforcements to prevent Kyaukphyu from being seized by the Arakan Army (AA). Fighting between the AA and regime forces resumed in Kyaukphyu in February. The AA has seized 14 out of 17 townships in Arakan since November 2023.
MAGWAY—The People’s Defence Force (PDF) in Yesagyo Township told DVB that regime forces reached Myaing Township on Saturday, after raiding two PDF camps and killing six PDF members in Yesagyo March 12-13. Yesagyo and Myaing are located 130 miles (209 km) north of the region’s capital Magway.
A PDF member told DVB on the condition of anonymity that a member was detained for a “crime” but killed two other PDF members, escaped, and left his unit in February. The PDF in Yesagyo fears that he might become a regime informant. Myaing is partially controlled by the PDF.
NAYPYIDAW—Regime minister Ko Ko Lwin said that the Ministry of Energy has received a number of complaints from the public that taxi drivers across the country are “taking advantage” of passengers by overcharging. He warned that any taxi driver found doing so would face legal action.
A taxi driver told DVB that action against drivers who overcharge is needed to stop the practice. Ko Ko Lwin added that Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has been sold to taxis at 273 MMK ($0.13 USD) per kilogram since 2007 without any price increase since the fuel rationing system came into place on March 7.
(Exchange rate: $1 USD = 4,030 MMK)
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