Regime orders formation of militias nationwide
Min Aung Hlaing ordered the formation of new militias in each neighborhood and village nationwide during a meeting with his officials in Mandalay on Aug. 25, regime media reported. Men aged 35 to 65 will be recruited to form militias, regime spokesperson Zaw Min Tun told BBC Burmese.
The regime’s People’s Security and Counter-Terrorism Central Committee will supervise the militias. “They cannot leave older men alone [as conscription is carried out among younger men] since [the military’s] strength is currently weak. They plan to provide military training to them to ensure security [at the local level],” a political analyst told DVB on the condition of anonymity.
The order to form militias comes six months after the military activated its conscription law on Feb. 10. The law stipulates that men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 are required to serve up to two years in the military. Specialists such as doctors up to age 45 must serve for three years. Anyone caught avoiding conscription could face up to five years in prison or a fine.
Fortify Rights report implicates Arakan Army in massacre of Rohingya
Human rights group Fortify Rights called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate attacks which targeted hundreds of Rohingya in Maungdaw Township, near the Bangladesh border in northern Arakan State, on Aug. 5-6. It implicated the Arakan Army (AA) in a report released Tuesday.
“Arakan Army leaders must prevent mass atrocity crimes at all costs and should be put on notice that the ICC already has indefinite jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute forced deportation of Rohingya civilians from Rakhine State to Bangladesh,” said Matthew Smith, the chief executive officer at Fortify Rights.
The ICC was authorized on Nov. 14, 2019 to investigate alleged war crimes committed against civilians in northern Arakan after a 2017 military “security clearance” operation killed thousands of Rohingya and forced over 700,000 to flee into neighboring Bangladesh. Read more here.
Rohingya genocide commemoration in Thailand
Nearly 100 people, including members of the National Unity Government (NUG), attended a ceremony in Mae Sot, Thailand on Sunday to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Rohingya genocide. On Aug. 25, 2017 the military killed thousands of Rohingya civilians living in northern Arakan and forced over 700,000 to flee into Bangladesh.
“Military domination has brought disaster to all the ethnic people of the union, including the Rohingya,” stated the NUG on Aug. 25. It added that the military is continuing to forcibly recruit young people, including from the Rohingya community, which have been deprived of citizenship and freedom of movement.
The NUG pledged to seek justice and accountability for the crimes committed by the military. The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement on Aug. 25 honoring the Rohingya victims, adding that America stands with the survivors in their quest for justice. The U.S. labeled the attacks against the Rohingya a genocide in 2022.
News by Region
AYEYARWADY—The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) has documented that 500,000 people have been impacted by flooding caused by heavy rains across the region. It has started distributing humanitarian assistance to families affected by the flooding over the weekend.
“Recent flooding threatens to significantly reduce monsoon rice yields,” said Sheela Matthew, the WFP representative in Myanmar. She added that the destruction of crops by floods may increase food insecurity nationwide. Around 1.5 million people in Ayeyarwady Region are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance, the WFP added.
Regime authorities transferred more than 200 political prisoners from Pathein Prison, located in the region’s capital, to Myaungmya Prison on Sunday. “I believe it is because of security concerns,” an anonymous source close to Pathein Prison told DVB.
Pathein is the home of the Southwestern Regional Military Command (RMC) headquarters. Authorities there usually transfer inmates from other prisons to Pathein. A relative of a political prisoner told DVB that rumors are circulating that the prisoners may be forced into the military.
SAGAING—Kanbalu Township residents told DVB that a military column, including a pro-military Pyusawhtee militia, killed three civilians during a raid on U Kinkyi village on Sunday. “They arrested four people, including three young men. They cut the throats of the three young men,” recounted a Kanbalu resident.
The military and its proxies burned down five homes. A 50-year-old man who was arrested is still missing. Many residents of northern Kanbalu have been forced to flee their homes due to a military offensive launched on Aug. 17.
YANGON—A resistance group calling itself Operation Flame claimed that it had attacked the security gate of the Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) 435 and 456 in Mayangon Township on Monday. “We used two remote-controlled explosives,” said the group’s spokesperson.
The exact number of casualties or the extent of damage is unknown. The group stated that it will accelerate attacks against the military in Yangon. The LIB 435 and 456 allegedly killed more than 10 civilians when they used live ammunition to suppress a peaceful protest in North Okkalapa Township on March 3, 2021.
