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The Independent
12-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Myanmar's Min Aung Hlaing posed in a suit – it should have been a prison uniform
Arguably, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar 's military dictator, belongs in the dock in The Hague and not at summits shaking hands with other world leaders. Yet, a week after the devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck his country, causing a death toll that has exceeded 3,000 and continues to rise, the head of the illegal military regime was welcomed in Bangkok for a regional economic summit. This man who, four years ago, overthrew the legitimate civilian government, has plunged Myanmar into a brutal civil war that has displaced over 3.5 million civilians. He has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, and he leads a regime that continues to bomb civilians even after the earthquake struck. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is not a world leader. He is a wanted criminal. While, in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, the junta made a rare appeal for international assistance, it very quickly reverted to type by refusing, restricting, misappropriating, politicising or weaponising aid. Foreign journalists have been banned from Myanmar, and Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams were rejected, presumably to avoid angering the junta's major allies in Beijing. And yet, it is not even adept at keeping its few friends on side. Last week, its troops shot at a Chinese Red Cross convoy carrying aid to earthquake victims – not a wise move, given that Beijing is its major provider of economic, political, and military life support. In the days following the earthquake, the UN reported that the military conducted over 60 attacks on civilians. These include airstrikes and ground offensives, with reports of the junta's planes bombing from the sky and its troops on a rampage of looting and burning through villages. As if a natural disaster were not enough to destroy lives and livelihoods, its barbarity and inhumanity add to the tragedy. This litany of horror only adds to the atrocities witnessed in Myanmar in recent years. According to the United Nations and respected international human rights organisations, including the human rights NGO Fortify Rights where I am Senior Director, the junta has perpetrated atrocities that include mass killings, beheadings, sexual violence, and torture. Approximately 20,000 political prisoners languish in jail, including Myanmar's democratically-elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and thousands have been killed – executed, tortured to death or denied adequate medical treatment. Thousands more civilians have been killed in Myanmar's ongoing war in ethnic states. In Bangkok, Min Aung Hlaing may have posed in a suit and tie, instead of his usual army uniform bedecked with unearned medals, but he merits a convict's attire. Likewise, he may seek to cloak himself in some semblance of legitimacy by calling new elections, but the world should know that they are a sham. Last month, his regime announced that fresh elections will be held between December and January. But as things stand, one can be certain that they will not be free and fair but rather designed to deliver the military's desired outcome. Aung San Suu Kyi is serving multiple sentences that amount to over 27 years. She turns 80 in June. If she serves her full term, she will likely die in jail. Other senior leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party are also imprisoned. Several have already died. The NLD is now banned and disbanded, and key opposition leaders who are not behind bars are in hiding, in the jungle or in exile, with treason charges on their heads. The country's ethnic leaders are also treated as criminals by the junta. Without the participation of the NLD, the National Unity Government (NUG), which consists of Parliamentarians elected in the last election in November 2020, and representatives of Myanmar's ethnic nationalities, or other legitimate democratic political parties, and with the continuing civil war, any election will be a sham. It will be a 'selection' under rigged rules. Rather than a general election, it will be an election of generals. The international community cannot and must not accept this. On the contrary, while international donors must do everything possible to deliver aid to the victims of the earthquake through local humanitarian groups, it must do nothing to legitimise or recognise the junta. Instead, the perpetrators of mass atrocities before, during and after the earthquake must be brought to justice. Impunity must not prevail. On 1 April, a court in Argentina officially sent notice to Interpol of their arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing. The Argentinian court requested that if the dictator was found in any Interpol member state, he should be arrested and extradited. Other jurisdictions should follow Argentina's example. Member states which are party to the International Criminal Court should refer the situation in Myanmar to the Chief Prosecutor under Article 14 of the Rome Statute, encouraging him to investigate all atrocities in the country. Min Aung Hlaing, the mass murderer, should not be legitimised through the disaster wrought by the earthquake. Instead, he should be treated as the pariah and criminal that he is – and, above all, brought to justice for his regime's crimes.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
China pledges $137 million for Myanmar earthquake relief
BEIJING (Reuters) -China has pledged emergency humanitarian assistance of 1 billion yuan ($137 million) to earthquake-stricken Myanmar, its embassy in the southeast Asian nation said. The March 28 quake of magnitude 7.7 was one of Myanmar's strongest in a century, killing 3,645, as it toppled buildings, flattened communities and deprived many of food, water and shelter. In a statement on Thursday, the Chinese embassy said the funds would provide urgently needed food, medicines and prefabricated homes, as well as pay for medical, epidemic prevention and disaster assessment expert groups. Beijing has sent first-response teams, including dozens of medical workers, earthquake experts, field hospital workers and rescue dogs to alleviate the suffering. China, which has sent more than 30 rescue teams to Myanmar, has said it would participate in disaster loss assessment and reconstruction. The Chinese Red Cross has also provided about 1.5 million yuan ($206,000) in cash. China's search-and-rescue team left Myanmar on April 9 upon completing its mission, the embassy said. ($1=7.3230 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Reuters
11-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
China pledges $137 million for Myanmar earthquake relief
BEIJING, April 11 (Reuters) - China has pledged emergency humanitarian assistance of 1 billion yuan ($137 million) to earthquake-stricken Myanmar, its embassy in the southeast Asian nation said. The March 28 quake of magnitude 7.7 was one of Myanmar's strongest in a century, killing 3,645, as it toppled buildings, flattened communities and deprived many of food, water and shelter. Make sense of the latest ESG trends affecting companies and governments with the Reuters Sustainable Switch newsletter. Sign up here. In a statement on Thursday, the Chinese embassy said the funds would provide urgently needed food, medicines and prefabricated homes, as well as pay for medical, epidemic prevention and disaster assessment expert groups. Beijing has sent first-response teams, including dozens of medical workers, earthquake experts, field hospital workers and rescue dogs to alleviate the suffering. China, which has sent more than 30 rescue teams to Myanmar, has said it would participate in disaster loss assessment and reconstruction. The Chinese Red Cross has also provided about 1.5 million yuan ($206,000) in cash. China's search-and-rescue team left Myanmar on April 9 upon completing its mission, the embassy said. ($1=7.3230 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Myanmar military declares temporary pause in war with rebels to aid earthquake recovery
April 3 (UPI) -- Myanmar's ruling military junta declared a three-week-long unilateral cease-fire to aid the humanitarian and rebuilding effort five days after a devastating earthquake that killed at least 3,085 people and left the country's second-largest city in ruins. The government's State Administration Council said in a statement Wednesday it would pause its military offensive against rebel groups through April 22. "For paying sympathy to the victims of the earthquake across the country, for providing the effective rescue operation and rehabilitation," state-run television reported. The country's military rulers extended the olive branch after international condemnation of its decision to continue airstrikes on rebel targets, including in Sagaing Province where the epicenter of Friday's 7.7 magnitude quake was located, and calls by China for all sides to "prioritize earthquake relief efforts." The Chinese Foreign Ministry made the appeal Wednesday hours after Myanmar government forces opened fire on a convoy of Chinese Red Cross vehicles delivering disaster relief equipment and supplies in Shan State in the east of the country. The ministry said none of the rescue personnel were hurt and their mission went ahead unhindered following the incident. Ta'ang National Liberation Army rebels said junta troops opened fire with machine guns on the nine-vehicle convoy as it was en route to Mandalay on Tuesday -- but the government said it was all a misunderstanding and insisted troops fired their weapons in the air and only after the convoy ignored orders to stop. A government spokesman appeared to blame the Chinese Red Cross contingent for failing to inform the government of its movements, saying that international organizations must notify Naypyidaw of their presence. The rebels who were providing security for the convoy insisted they had provided the military council with advance notice of the route being taken to Mandalay. The country's military leader Min Aung Hlaing was due to meet Thursday with regional leaders at a summit 800 miles away in Bangkok, Thailand, which is still recovering from the impact of the quake in the capital where at least 22 people were killed, 15 of them construction workers caught in the collapse of an unfinished skyscraper. It was unclear if Min would be seeking assistance from his counterparts at the seven-nation summit amid United Nations reports that more than 1.7 million people in Mandalay were without power or running water. Severe diarrhea and heat-related disease were on the rise amid humanitarian efforts that were being hampered by ongoing aftershocks and an acute shortage of resources, according to the United Nations. Medecins Sans Frontieres told CNN that severe shortages of clean water were a particular problem, both in quantity and in quality, in earthquake-impacted areas but also country-wide. "The lack of water is creating an issue in terms of immediate survival, but could also create an issue in terms epidemics in the future that we definitely want to avoid," said MSF Field Coordinator Mikhael De Souza. Secretary-General Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday that 45,000 people in and around Naypyitaw were receiving deliveries of drinking water after water-trucking operations began in the capital region, but that the assistance was only reaching a fraction of the more 300,000 who needed it. The disaster struck when Myanmar is very poorly placed to cope, mired as it is in deep crisis due to an ongoing civil war ignited after the military overthrew the elected government, led by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, in a military coup in February 2021. Four years of fighting has displaced huge numbers of people with the number in desperate need of humanitarian assistance standing at more than three million even before the earthquake, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Saudi Gazette
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Saudi Gazette
Myanmar leader heads to Bangkok as quake deaths climb to 3,000
BANGKOK — Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is in Thailand for a regional summit as his country reels from an earthquake that killed thousands and left cities in ruins. The earthquake in central Myanmar last Friday killed 3,085 people and injured 4,715, the junta has said. Hundreds more are missing and the toll is expected to rise. Min Aung Hlaing arrived in Bangkok on Thursday, according to AFP, on the eve of a summit that will gather leaders of the seven countries that border the Bay of Bengal. His attendance, which was earlier confirmed by a spokesman for the Myanmar army, will be unusual as sanctioned leaders are typically barred from these events. Host Thailand, where the earthquake was felt and killed 21 people, has proposed that the leaders issue a joint statement on the disaster. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka are also part of the summit. In Myanmar, many earthquake-hit areas have yet to be reached by authorities, meaning the death toll figures are unlikely to be around the world have sent aid and rescue teams to Myanmar since the quake, but poor infrastructure and an ongoing civil war has complicated relief junta announced a temporary ceasefire late on Wednesday to expedite these efforts, after earlier rejecting proposals from armed ethnic rebel this, the military had continued its airstrikes in rebel-held areas, including those badly hit by the Tuesday night, troops opened fire at a Chinese Red Cross convoy carrying relief supplies. The junta said the troops fired after the convoy refused to stop despite being signaled to do Aung Hlaing is also expected to speak to Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on the sidelines of the meeting in Bangkok, according to a Thai foreign ministry has been gripped by a bloody civil war since the military seized power in 2021, which led to the rise of an armed resistance that has been fighting alongside armed ethnic groups, some of which have been fighting the military for of violence have crippled the economy, supercharged inflation, and plunged the country into a humanitarian the earthquake has worsened the crisis. Humanitarian groups have urged the junta to lift any remaining obstructions to UN has also urged the global community to ramp up aid before the monsoon season hits in about a month. — BBC
