Latest news with #junta
Bloomberg
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Mali Junta Courts US Business, Security Ties in Volatile Region
Mali's ruling junta is courting US investment and support for the fight against Islamist insurgents as it seeks to solidify a regional alliance of military-led West African states. US officials visited the country on Monday for talks with Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop. The American delegation included US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for West Africa William Stevens.
Bloomberg
17 hours ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Mali Court Rejects Appeal to Release Four Barrick Staff
A court in Mali rejected an appeal for the conditional release of four Barrick Mining Corp. employees detained since November. Its refusal comes as Mali's ruling junta placed Barrick's Loulo-Gounkoto complex under state control for six months. The junta earlier this month seized about a ton of gold from the biggest gold mine in Africa potentially for sale by the provisional administration to finance operations at the mine.
South China Morning Post
20 hours ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Trump's ‘diplomatic gift' to Myanmar junta via letter sparks US policy concerns
Myanmar has capitalised on a tariff letter from United States President Donald Trump that could have unintentionally legitimised its junta, according to observers, who warn that the 'huge diplomatic gift' risks undermining Washington's existing policy ahead of the Southeast Asian country's key election. While the election is not viewed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( Asean ) as a priority, the regime is not expected to further delay the polls, particularly given pressure from China. Trump had earlier informed the junta's leader in a letter on Washington's proposed 40 per cent tariff to be imposed on Myanmar, the country's state media reported on July 11. In response, Min Aung Hlaing proposed a lower tariff of 10 to 20 per cent, with the general's country slashing its levy on US imports to a range of zero to 10 per cent, according to a letter issued by Myanmar on the same day. The leader, who assumed power in February 2021 in a coup overthrowing the democratically elected government, also said his regime was ready to send a negotiation team to Washington if needed. Myanmar's state media has framed Trump's letter as an 'encouraging invitation' to engage with the US and reported the general as saying he received the letter from Trump with 'sincere appreciation'. Min Aung Hlaing said it was an 'honour' to be contacted directly by the US president, according to Global New Light of Myanmar, a state-run outlet. The US and most Western countries have not recognised the junta as Myanmar's legitimate government.
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Health
- Washington Post
The U.S. shouldn't ignore the starving Rohingya of Myanmar
In Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state, a new horror is unfolding largely unobserved. The long-persecuted Rohingya have been caught in the crossfire of the country's ongoing civil war, and now they are being deliberately starved. Recent reports from inside the mostly closed country, including from the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, detail how the ruling junta has imposed blockades that cut off virtually all vital supplies to the 145,000 Rohingya confined to overcrowded, squalid internment camps. At least 25 Rohingya adults are reported to have died this year from starvation, and seven died from a lack of medical care. Children are suffering from malnutrition.
Free Malaysia Today
5 days ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Myanmar junta offers cash rewards to anti-coup defectors
After suffering major battlefield reverses, the military has touted elections around the end of the year as a pathway to peace. (Reuters pic) YANGON : Myanmar's junta said today it is offering cash rewards to fighters willing to desert armed groups defying its rule and 'return to the legal fold' ahead of a slated election. The Southeast Asian country has been consumed by civil war since a 2021 coup, with the embattled junta facing an array of pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic armed rebels. After suffering major battlefield reverses, the military has touted elections around the end of the year as a pathway to peace, plans denounced as a sham by opposition groups and international monitors. State media, The Global New Light of Myanmar, said today, 'individuals who returned to the legal fold with arms and ammunition are being offered specific cash rewards'. The junta mouthpiece did not specify how much cash it is offering, but said 14 anti-coup fighters had surrendered since it issued a statement pledging to 'welcome' defectors two weeks ago. 'These individuals chose to abandon the path of armed struggle due to their desire to live peacefully within the framework of the law,' the newspaper said. 'The surrendered fighters included 12 men and two women,' it added. Nine were members of ethnic armed groups, while five were from the pro-democracy 'People's Defence Forces' – formed after the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected civilian government four years ago. The junta's offer of a gilded olive branch matches a tactic used by its opponents – who have previously tried to tempt military deserters with cash rewards. The 'National Unity Government', a self-proclaimed administration in exile dominated by ousted lawmakers, has called the junta's call for cooperation 'a strategy filled with deception aimed at legitimising their power-consolidating sham election'.
