Articles

Mahn Nyein Maung, a former member of the Karen National Union’s Central Executive Committee, a member of Burma’s State Administrative Council (SAC), is included in a recent targeted sanctions list imposed by European Union (EU) on the military regime and its two military conglomerates. The EU’s announcement, made on the 19th of April, named 10 military junta leaders in the…

As a freelance photojournalist, Ng Maung has worked the frontlines of the protests since Myanmar’s military coup began on 1st February. Keeping low, behind flimsy barricades of wood, corrugated tin, tyres and bamboo, he photographed the hurts police and army inflicted on pro-democracy activists. Ng Maung told IFJ of the danger protestors and journalists are facing from heavily armed police…

Burma Army soldiers based at the Paw Khay Kho military camp in Mutraw district fired twelve artillery shells into Yeh Mu Plaw, Tae Boe Plaw and Saw Mu Plaw villages around 4:30pm on April 8. The shelling killed Saw Ki Bu, from May Pwae Hta village in Yeh Mu Plaw village tract in Lu Thaw Township, Mutraw (Papun) district. The…

The Free Burma Ranger, a frontline humanitarian group, reported on April 5 the military launched two airstrikes on Dwe Loe Township, Mutraw (Papun) District northern Karen State. On the same day as it announced its one-month ceasefire, Burma Army troops indiscriminately fired mortars into villages in Lu Thaw Township. The air strikes and Burma Army bombardments that began on 27th…

A local aid worker told Karen News since the airstrikes people live in fear of the Burma Army attacks and bombing raids from the air. “We estimates that there are now a total of 20,000 displaced villagers in the whole Mutraw district. This is since the beginning of the year.” Burma Army ground attacks began in December 2020 and the…

The villagers who were forced back by the Thai authorities to the Burma side of the border are now too afraid to go back to their homes in Ei Tu Hta because of the threat of airstrikes and are now taking refuge in makeshift jungle hideouts. Thai news media reported the Thai government said they were not prepared to interfere…

Airstrikes by Burma military jets in the Northern Karen State of Mutraw (Papun) district forced more than 10,000 villagers from their homes and as many as 3,000 of them cross the border for their safety into Thailand. The Karen Peace Support Network said in a media statement the Burma military’s nighttime bombings raids followed helicopter surveillance flights around 3.30pm, Saturday…

Saw Lin Htet was arrested by Burma’s security forces on March 23, 2021 while travelling home from a community meeting with villagers. Saw Lin Htet, a Karen youth activist is based in Hpa-An and was involved in many community works in the area. Close friends said security forces arrested him when he was coming back from a meeting in Don…

By Phil Thornton Freelance journalist Ko Wei Min* describes thick black smoke mushrooming over his home in Hlaing Tha Yar and reflects back to Sunday, March 14, when the “soldiers came in 20 trucks armed with machine guns.” The smoke that hung over Hlaing Tha Yar like a war zone came from Chinese-owned factories torched by unknown arsonists and resident…

*By Phil Thornton Six of the many journalists detained since the beginning of Myanmar’s coup on February 1. Credit: Facebook Myanmar’s military has intensified its efforts to dismantle the country’s independent media and to block journalists’ ability to work. Media covering the country’s nationwide protests told IFJ, ‘legal’ restrictions, harassment, arrests and increased violence by the military is intended to…