Myanmar army chief calls for decisive action to crush enemies

[image error]

BANGKOK — As Myanmar’s military carried out an annual show of force on Monday, its supreme leader told its assembled ranks that they must take decisive action against those who fight the country’s military rule.

Chief General Min Aung Hlaing speaks at a military parade on Armed Forces Day. At sunrise, members of all service branches marched in mass formations on a huge parade ground in the capital, Naypyitaw, supported by armored vehicles, missiles and artillery as well as fighter jets and helicopters flying overhead.

Myanmar’s military has been accused of indiscriminate killings of civilians as it engages in major offensives to quell armed resistance to its takeover two years ago. Min Aung Hlaing said in his speech that those who condemned his military government showed indifference to the violence committed by his opponents.

Armed Forces Day marks the anniversary of the start of a 1945 uprising by a ragtag army against the occupying Japanese forces. The country then called Burma gained independence from British colonial power in 1948 and has been ruled by a succession of military governments for most years since.

On February 1, 2021, the military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking peaceful protests that security forces suppressed with bloody violence. The escalation of violence since then has been described by UN experts and others as a civil war.

Opposition to military rule is led by a so-called National Unity Government, or NUG, which was established by elected lawmakers who were denied their seats by the military and claim status as a legitimate government administration. country.

Its armed wing, the loosely organized People’s Defense Forces, or PDF, and their armed ethnic minority allies regularly strike military columns, bases and outposts. At the same time, the army and air force are hitting villages with artillery and airstrikes, often causing civilian casualties and presumably being accused of other brutal human rights violations. Their crimes have displaced more than a million people, causing a humanitarian crisis.

“The terrorist acts of the NUG and its so-called PDF lackeys must be fought for good and for all,” Min Aung Hlaing said in his speech. “The (military) and the government must also take action against this terrorist group. , trying to devastate the country and kill people.

His government has declared that the main resistance organizations are terrorist groups, and anyone associated with them faces severe penalties.

While Min Aung Hlaing has said his army’s actions are necessary to achieve peace, his government is keen to dismiss allegations of human rights abuses by pointing the finger at the violence perpetrated by his opponents.

After security forces arrested, tortured and killed militants in cities, urban guerrilla groups responded with bombings and assassinations of army-linked targets. On Friday, a veteran corporate lawyer accused of being a military crony was gunned down in the country’s biggest city, Yangon.

Scattered protests were reported against the celebration of the army.

Independent online media reported that bomb blasts took place in at least three districts of the country’s largest city, Yangon, on Monday morning.

Yangon Revolution Force, a pro-democracy activist group, announced that they protested Armed Forces Day by performing a ritual at a Buddhist pagoda casting a curse on Min Aung Hlaing. Military leaders, like many other people in Myanmar, are known to be very superstitious.

In the Sagaing region in the northwest, a stronghold of armed resistance, people staged small protests against Armed Forces Day.

___

Find more AP Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

Not all news on the site expresses the point of view of the site, but we transmit this news automatically and translate it through programmatic technology on the site and not from a human editor.

goadnews

Victoriafox