UN Special Envoy Julie Bishop visits Naypyidaw

The U.N. Special Envoy on Myanmar Julie Bishop said during a meeting at the U.N. on Tuesday that she met with regime leader Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw, Reuters reported. She did not say which date the meeting took place, adding that she had previously met with representatives of the National Unity Government (NUG), National League for Democracy (NLD) party and ethnic armed groups.

“I have visited Naypyidaw and met with Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and I will return,” said Bishop after criticizing both the military and resistance groups for having a “zero-sum mentality” towards Burma’s conflict, which began after the 2021 military coup. “There can be little progress on addressing the needs of the people while armed conflict continues across the country,” she added.

Bishop discussed Burma’s crisis with China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi in August and has vowed to work with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to help implement its Five Point Consensus, which calls for an end to all violence and dialogue between the military and the resistance. Bishop was appointed to the role of U.N. Special Envoy on Myanmar by Secretary-General António Guterres in April. Her predecessor Noeleen Heyzer left the post in June 2023.

Sanctions imposed on fuel sector and Karen Border Guard Force

Canada and the U.K. announced on Tuesday that they had imposed sanctions on companies and individuals linked to the military, including the Asia Sun Network, which is the military’s main domestic partner for the import of aviation fuel. The E.U. sanctioned officials, including Saw Chit Thu, the leader of the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF/KNA) – which has rebranded as the Karen National Army – for its role in cyber scam operations in Karen State.  

“The junta’s campaign of terror depends on a vast network of businesses that provide it with funds, arms, equipment and jet fuel, and are complicit in the junta’s international crimes,” said Yadanar Maung, the spokesperson for the whistleblower group Justice for Myanmar. “The latest sanctions help disrupt the junta’s dirty business networks, but far more needs to be done.”

The Burma Air Force has conducted 3,292 airstrikes from February 2021 to August 2024, according to the independent research group Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica. At least 120,000 people in Burma may be forced to carry out online scams, including in areas controlled by the Karen BGF, according to the U.N. The Institute for Strategy and Policy – Myanmar (ISP Myanmar) has documented that there are nearly 50 cyber scam compounds operating along the Burma-Thailand border. 

Economist expects more inflation due to China border closures

Jared Bissinger, a development economist who has spent the last 15 years specializing in Burma’s economy, told DVB that inflation and shortages will occur due to China’s recent border closures. He added that this may not have an impact nationwide but will affect certain areas, as has been seen in Arakan State since the military shut down several trade routes.

“What’s driving the economic decline to me, it’s the regime. And I think that there’s numerous reasons for that. It’s the forex policy. It’s the money printing. It’s the instability they create. There’s so many things. I don’t see the avenue through which they fix it,” said Bissinger, who’s a visiting fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute (Institute for Southeast Asian Studies) in Singapore.

The U.S. dollar to kyat exchange rate, which had been strengthening since August, began depreciating last week. Beijing stated that it suspended trade with Burma over the past month due to “security concerns.” The Brotherhood Alliance and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) have seized control of most border gates in northern Shan and Kachin states since Oct. 27, 2023. 

News by Region

SHAN—The United Wa State Army (UWSA) stated that it sentenced a man to death for murder during a public trial in Hopang, located in the Wa Self-Administered Division of northern Shan State, on Wednesday, the Shwe Phee Myay news agency reported. The UWSA also sentenced six other men to 15 years in prison each for alleged cases of rape, on Oct. 30.

“The judgment has just been passed, and the killer was a young man, probably in his early twenties,” a Hopang resident told Shwe Phee Myay. Hopang was captured by the Brotherhood Alliance on Jan. 5, but it handed over control to the UWSA on Jan. 10. The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), which is a member of the Brotherhood Alliance and an ally of the UWSA, has also carried out public trials and executions in its territory. 

CHINLAND—Fourteen military personnel were killed and four officers were arrested after the Chin National Army (CNA) and Chinland Defense Force (CDF) seized control of a military outpost near the Chinland capital Hakha on Monday. 

“Fighting occurs daily in Thantlang town and in between Hakha and Thantlang. The military has sent reinforcements and conducted airstrikes in order to control Thantlang, but we still control 90 percent of the town,” a CDF spokesperson told DVB. The military recaptured a hilltop outpost, located seven miles (11 km) from Thantlang, last week. 

KACHIN—At least 50 civilians were killed and nearly 500 homes were destroyed due to retaliatory airstrikes and artillery shelling conducted by the military during fighting with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Hseng Taung (Saitaung) village, located around six miles (10 km) from the jade mining hub of Hpakant. The KIA took control of the village on Oct. 8. 

“We heard that half of the residents of the village returned but the rest cannot as their homes were destroyed during fires caused by the military’s retaliatory attacks,” a Hseng Taung resident told DVB. Other residents reported that they are in need of water and electricity, as well as assistance in reconstruction efforts. More than 5,000 people have been displaced from their homes by fighting between the KIA and military in Hseng Taung since Sept. 6.

MANDALAY—The Mandalay People’s Defense Force (MPDF) told DVB that at least 12 people were killed and nearly 60 others were injured during airstrikes conducted by the Burma Air Force on a makeshift jail at an undisclosed location on Monday. The MPDF claimed that most of the dead and injured were military personnel who were detained during fighting in northern Shan State and Mandalay Region. 

“Eight military personnel, including a captain, and four suspects who are still under investigation were killed. We kept the detainees in accordance with the Geneva Conventions but the military intentionally killed its own kind. We are providing treatment to the injured,” an MPDF spokesperson told DVB. A member of another PDF in Mandalay Region told DVB that the airstrike may have occurred in Nawnghkio Township, around 75 miles (121 km) northeast of Mandalay in northern Shan.

(Exchange rate: $1 USD = 4,580 kyat)