Six civilians killed by airstrikes on Mandalay Region
The Taungtha Township People’s Strike Committee told DVB that six civilians were killed and at least 20 others were injured by airstrikes carried out by the Burma Air Force on Natsaunt village in Taungtha, Mandalay Region, on Tuesday. Taungtha is located 82 miles (132 km) southwest of Mandalay.
“A bomb dropped by a fighter jet landed on a home, killing five family members and one other instantly. Their home and their lives were destroyed,” said a Taungtha Township People’s Strike Committee spokesperson. The village is under the control of the National Unity Government (NUG).
A spokesperson from the People’s Defense Team (PDT) under the NUG said that the airstrike caused a fire, which forced an unknown number of residents to flee their homes for their safety. Thirty homes were destroyed. Resistance forces claimed that there was no recent fighting with regime forces in the village.
Myanmar women dismantling patriarchy and dictatorship
Ma Nandar, a theatre director, writer, poet, translator, host of the G-Taw Zagar Wyne podcast, and founder of the Purple Feminists Group, joined the DVB Newsroom to discuss how the patriarchy in Burma sustains military dictatorship and how women have led the pro-democracy struggle against it, and the 2021 military coup.
“Patriarchy and dictatorship, both of them thrive in oppression, oppressing other people’s voices [and] rights,” Ma Nandar told DVB. “Feminism and democracy think about inclusion, equality and decision making together while the dictatorship and patriarchy do the other way around, do the opposite.”
Watch DVB Newsroom podcast season 2 episode 9 featuring Ma Nandar on Myanmar women fighting against patriarchy and dictatorship on DVB English News YouTube or Spotify. Listen to the interview on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Audible, Amazon Music, or wherever you get podcasts.
Food aid to be cut for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it will need to reduce monthly food rations for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh from $12.50 to $6 USD per person in April if funding from donor countries is not forthcoming, Reuters reported. A WFP spokesperson said that the food aid cuts could be averted if $81 million USD is secured in the coming weeks.
“What [Rohingya] are receiving now is already not enough, so it’s hard to imagine the consequences of this new cut,” Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC), told Reuters. According to WFP, a cut in rations to anything less than $6 USD per person would “fall below the minimum survival level and fail to meet basic dietary needs.”
The U.N. stated that a previous round of cuts to Rohingya food aid in 2023 lowered the amount to $8 USD per month, but this caused a “dramatic rise” in hunger and malnutrition so it was reversed. Approximately 70,000 Rohingya fled their homes in northern Arakan State into Bangladesh last year. Over one million Rohingya live in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, according to Bangladesh.
News by Region
NAYPYIDAW—The Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) announced on March 3 that it plans to sell $23 million USD and 150 million Thai Baht (THB) to import fuel. The CBM recently liquidated its reserved $23 million and 151 million THB on Feb. 26. A total of $46 million USD and 300 million THB has been sold to the fuel sector over the last two weeks.
In an attempt to control surging commodities prices caused by rising fuel costs, the CBM put up hundreds of millions of USD for sale in the financial market since the 2021 coup. The price of basic commodities have risen two to three times. Prior to the coup, one litre of petrol cost 600 MMK but this has increased five times to 3,000 MMK.
KARENNI—No casualties were reported by residents of Demoso Township after eight airstrikes and two “kamikaze” drones struck a market at a camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on Tuesday. Demoso is located 11 miles (17 km) south of the Karenni State capital Loikaw. The Karenni Interim Executive Council (IEC) called the attack a war crime.
“I don’t know what a kamikaze drone is, but yesterday’s explosion was terrifying,” said a witness to the attack. “This is the first time we’ve seen the use of kamikaze drones,” Banyar Aung, the IEC second secretary, told DVB. This type of drone is designed to carry explosives or other payloads and detonate upon impact.
The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) claimed on Tuesday that the regime indiscriminately targeted civilians and IDPs with air, artillery and drone strikes in Loikaw, Demoso and Hpruso in Karenni, as well as Pekon and Moebye in southern Shan last month.
Demoso reportedly hosts around 100,000 civilians in 80 IDP camps. The Progressive Karenni People’s Force (PKPF) released a report documenting that 536 civilians have been killed in 1,765 airstrikes carried out by the regime on Karenni and southern Shan since the coup on Feb. 1, 2021 up to Dec. 1, 2024.
ARAKAN—Sources close to the Arakan Army (AA) told DVB that four sentry posts guarding the Danyawaddy Naval Base and the No. 32 Police Battalion in Kyaukphyu Township were seized by the AA during fighting with regime forces on Tuesday. Kyaukphyu is located 315 miles (506 km) south of the Arakan State capital Sittwe.
“The regime launched airstrikes,” said the source on the condition of anonymity. Residents of more than 20 villages in Kyaukphyu have fled their homes due to fighting since Feb. 24. Khaing Thu Kha, the AA spokesperson, told DVB that the AA has increased attacks on Sittwe and the vital port town of Kyaukphyu since January.
(Exchange rate: $1 USD = 4,450 MMK)
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