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Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)


April 2022 - Myanmar Special Weapons News

  • Myanmar Rebel Group Denies Role in Alleged Drugs-for-Weapons Scheme VOA 29 Apr 2022 -- A prominent armed group in Myanmar fighting the military regime that seized control of the country's government last year denies claims in a U.S. court complaint of conspiring with Japan's yakuza crime syndicate to buy surface-to-air missiles with a mix of cash and drugs.
  • Myanmar Junta Hits Opposition Forces with Communications Blackouts VOA 29 Apr 2022 -- In a move that is starving the resistance and hurting businesses, Myanmar's junta has been cracking down on opposition forces by cutting off mobile internet service and telephone lines in the war-torn areas of the Sagaing and Magway regions and Kayah and Chin states, all strongholds of local armed groups, local defense forces and aid groups say.
  • Junta troops torch 500 homes in 3 days in Myanmar's Sagaing region Radio Free Asia 28 Apr 2022 -- Junta troops torched more than 500 homes in five villages over the past three days in Myanmar's Sagaing region, residents said Thursday, where nearly three-fourths of townships have been cut off from internet access since early March amid ongoing military raids.
  • Pro-junta 'Blood Comrades' claim killings of 8 opposition members in Mandalay Radio Free Asia 27 Apr 2022 -- A newly formed pro-junta militia is terrorizing members of the deposed opposition party in Mandalay, residents of Myanmar's second largest city said, claiming responsibility for eight brutal killings over the past week by placing a signature badge on the bodies of its victims.
  • Myanmar/Burma: Statement by the Spokesperson on the latest sentencing of State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi European External Action Service (EEAS) 27 Apr 2022 -- On 27 April, a court set up by the Myanmar State Administrative Council in Naypyitaw sentenced detained State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to an additional 5 years' imprisonment. The EU's position, as expressed on 6 December 2021 and 11 January 2022 remains that the trial was politically motivated. It represents another step towards the dismantling of the rule of law and a further blatant violation of human rights in Myanmar and yet another major setback for democracy in Myanmar since the military coup on 1 February 2021.
  • Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi gets jail term for corruption Press TV 27 Apr 2022 -- A court in Myanmar has reportedly sentenced former elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi to a five-year prison term after finding her guilty of the first of 11 corruption charges filed against her by the country's military junta.
  • Myanmar military court sentences Aung San Suu Kyi to 5 more years in jail Radio Free Asia 27 Apr 2022 -- A military court sentenced deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to five years in jail on Wednesday finding her guilty of corruption in closed-door proceedings, a source familiar with the trial said.
  • Deposed Myanmar Leader Aung San Suu Kyi Convicted on Corruption Charges VOA 27 Apr 2022 -- Deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been convicted of one of several corruption charges brought against her by the military junta that overthrew her civilian government last year.
  • Myanmar Civil Disobedience Movement 'losing steam' amid junta crackdowns Radio Free Asia 26 Apr 2022 -- Myanmar's Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), a popular strike movement that at its peak brought the administrative machinery of the military regime to a halt, has lost more than one-third of its active members amid a crackdown by the junta, organizers and the country's shadow government said Tuesday.
  • Nearly 40 Buddhist clergy killed and 40 jailed since Myanmar coup Radio Free Asia 25 Apr 2022 -- Nearly 40 Buddhist clergy have been killed, and 40 others jailed, since Myanmar's military took control of the country in a coup last year, according to data compiled by RFA's Myanmar Service.
  • Malaysia contacts Myanmar's shadow govt as ASEAN fails to implement 5-point consensus Radio Free Asia 25 Apr 2022 -- Malaysia's top diplomat has revealed he's had contact with the Burmese shadow government, the first ASEAN country to acknowledge such an interaction, as activists lambasted the bloc on the anniversary of its failed five-point plan to restore democracy in Myanmar.
  • Soaring unemployment in Myanmar follows junta rollback of labor rights Radio Free Asia 23 Apr 2022 -- Thu Thu, a 37-year-old laborer living in Shwepyithar township on the outskirts of Myanmar's commercial capital Yangon, has been trying to find work at one of the Industrial Zone's garment factories for more than two weeks with no luck. Using a pseudonym, she told RFA's Myanmar Service that she was unlawfully terminated from her job nearly a month ago and needs to care for her elderly parents and two daughters but said no one wants to hire a woman over the age of 30.
  • Malaysian media, officials urged not to fan hatred of Rohingya amid hunt for escapees Radio Free Asia 22 Apr 2022 -- Malaysian police have detained two Rohingya they suspect of having instigated a riot and mass breakout at a detention center that led to six escapees being fatally struck by vehicles on a highway in the middle of the night, authorities in northern Kedah state said Friday.
  • Junta chief offers Myanmar's ethnic armies rare in-person peace talks Radio Free Asia 22 Apr 2022 -- Myanmar junta chief, Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, on Friday offered to meet with leaders of armed ethnic groups to end conflict in the country's remote border regions but was met with a mixed response from the armies, who said the military has broken vows in the past and needs to deliver on promises of peace.
  • Bangladesh extends road near Myanmar, NE India to combat cross-border smuggling Radio Free Asia 20 Apr 2022 -- Bangladesh officials on Tuesday announced an extension until 2024 for a road-building project in the remote Chittagong Hill Tracts and Cox's Bazar, saying the improved infrastructure would help combat illegal smuggling across the nearby frontiers with Myanmar and India, among other uses.
  • 1 in 100 displaced by conflict since Myanmar coup, UN says Radio Free Asia 20 Apr 2022 -- One out of every 100 citizens of Myanmar became displaced by conflict in the nearly 15 months since the junta seized power, according to the United Nations, pushing the total number of internal refugees to a staggering 912,700 and pushing the country ever closer to the brink of a humanitarian crisis.
  • Rewards for jets, helicopters will test loyalty of Myanmar military: former soldiers Radio Free Asia 19 Apr 2022 -- A reward program offered by Myanmar's shadow National Unity Government (NUG) to junta soldiers who defect with jets, helicopters and other vehicles is likely to test the loyalty of the military's lower ranks, according to former servicemen.
  • Junta pledges 'year of peace' after Thingyan, but opposition says fight just starting Radio Free Asia 18 Apr 2022 -- Junta chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing marked the end of Thingyan on Sunday by declaring the Myanmar New Year a "year of peace," even as the military continued an offensive in nine of the country's 14 regions and armed resistance groups vowed to fight harder than ever.
  • Monasteries, churches are not spared from Myanmar's conflict Radio Free Asia 17 Apr 2022 -- Nearly 100 religious buildings have been destroyed in two regions and two states in Myanmar more than a year after the military seized control from the elected government and plunged the Southeast Asian country into chaos and violence, according to data compiled by RFA.
  • Rebel soldiers push back Myanmar forces from strategic town in Kayin state Radio Free Asia 15 Apr 2022 -- Karen rebels used heavy artillery to beat back a push by Myanmar junta forces to take Kayin state's "peace town" of Lay Kay Kaw late Thursday and early Friday, with reports of heavy casualties among regime soldiers.
  • Myanmar anti-junta leader said to have been tortured to death Radio Free Asia 15 Apr 2022 -- An anti-regime People's Defense Force leader in Yangon was allegedly tortured to death by members of the Myanmar military and pro-junta groups, one of the man's colleagues told RFA on Friday.
  • Junta forces burn Myanmar villages to weaken anti-coup resistance Press TV 14 Apr 2022 -- Satellite images have shown widespread torching of villages in the central part of Myanmar where junta forces are using arson to crush resistance in the Sagaing region.
  • Nearly 100 arrested ahead of Thingyan in Myanmar's Yangon, Mandalay Radio Free Asia 14 Apr 2022 -- Authorities in Myanmar arrested nearly 100 people in the country's two largest cities and the Myawaddy township in Kayin state in the first 10 days of April as part of a pre-Thingyan crackdown, according to data compiled by RFA's Myanmar Service.
  • Myanmar's largest cities empty amid call to boycott Thingyan festivities Radio Free Asia 13 Apr 2022 -- Yangon and Mandalay were eerily quiet on Wednesday despite the start of the three-day Thingyan holiday in Myanmar, as residents chose to boycott junta-led festivities and heed warnings by armed opposition forces that the cities could become the target of attacks.
  • Bangladesh home minister: Rohingya have babies to get more food aid Radio Free Asia 13 Apr 2022 -- The way food aid is distributed to Rohingya needs to be adjusted because it is driving population growth in the country's sprawling refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, a senior Bangladesh government official said.
  • Myanmar Central Bank official confirmed alive after assassination attempt Radio Free Asia 12 Apr 2022 -- The deputy governor of Myanmar's Central Bank is alive and recuperating at a military hospital in the country's commercial capital Yangon, junta officials said Tuesday, dispelling reports that she had died after being shot last weekend.
  • Myanmar's military reportedly suffers heaviest casualties since coup Radio Free Asia 11 Apr 2022 -- Heavy fighting between junta troops and a joint force of ethnic fighters and prodemocracy paramilitaries in Myanmar's Kayin state resulted in the largest number of casualties the military has suffered in clashes since it seized power last year, according to sources.
  • Junta forces kill 7 in Saigang village, torch hundreds of homes Radio Free Asia 08 Apr 2022 -- A joint force of junta troops and pro-military Pyu Saw Htee militiamen carried out a raid on a village in Myanmar's Sagaing region Thursday, killing seven civilians and setting nearly half of the tract's homes on fire, according to sources from the area.
  • Counselor Chollet's Meeting with NUG Representatives US Dept. of State 08 Apr 2022
  • Japanese gangster, 3 Thais 'brokered' heroin, meth deals for missiles, US alleges Radio Free Asia 07 Apr 2022 -- The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday announced the arrests of a suspected Japanese organized crime leader and three Thais who allegedly tried to sell large amounts of heroin and methamphetamine internationally to arm rebel groups in Myanmar and Sri Lanka with surface-to-air missiles and other weapons.
  • Deputy governor of Myanmar central bank shot by gunmen at her Yangon home Radio Free Asia 07 Apr 2022 -- The deputy governor of Myanmar's central bank was shot by unknown assailants on Thursday, according to sources and media reports, amid a public outcry over a new directive ordering the sale of all U.S. dollars and other foreign currency at a fixed rate to licensed banks.
  • Meeting may signal warmer relations between Myanmar and China Radio Free Asia 07 Apr 2022 -- A recent meeting between the Myanmar junta's foreign minister and his Chinese counterpart may signal China's softening to the military rulers who came to power in a coup last year and an eagerness to revive its own economic initiatives in the war-torn country, analysts said.
  • Prolonged Myanmar Blackouts Causing Major Problems for People, Businesses VOA 07 Apr 2022 -- Prolonged power blackouts and soaring fuel prices in Myanmar are hitting people in cities hard and increasing uncertainty for the country's businesses, according to interviews with people in Yangon and elsewhere in the country.
  • Myanmar junta metes out long prison terms for small donations to its opponents Radio Free Asia 06 Apr 2022 -- At least seven young Myanmar men and women from Tanintharyi region and Rakhine state have received long prison terms for donating money — U.S. $8 or less in a few cases — to opponents of the military junta that has ruled the country for 13 months, their lawyers and anti-junta activists told RFA.
  • Thousands flee junta raid that torched 250 homes in Myanmar's Sagaing region Radio Free Asia 05 Apr 2022 -- A joint force of junta troops and pro-military militiamen set fire to a village in Myanmar's embattled Sagaing region over the weekend, destroying around 250 homes and forcing more than 2,000 people to flee, residents said Tuesday.
  • Police detain over 300 Rohingya for venturing outside Cox's Bazar refugee camps Radio Free Asia 05 Apr 2022 -- Bangladesh authorities were holding more than 300 Rohingya in transit camps after police caught them working outside their refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, or while leaving their shelters for other purposes, officials said Tuesday.
  • Myanmar prison on lockdown after deadly response to inmate protest Radio Free Asia 05 Apr 2022 -- A prison in Myanmar's Sagaing region is under lockdown Tuesday after authorities opened fire on an inmate protest over the weekend, killing one prisoner and injuring as many as nine others, according to sources.
  • More than 130 journalists arrested in Myanmar, media group says Radio Free Asia 04 Apr 2022 -- A total of 135 journalists have been arrested in Myanmar since the Feb. 1, 2021, military coup that overthrew civilian rule in that country, according to a local press freedoms group.
  • Myanmar's Magway region suffers under military's March offensive Radio Free Asia 01 Apr 2022 -- Myanmar's military killed as many as a dozen civilians and arrested nearly 30 others in restive Magway region in the month of March alone, while junta troops torched more than 700 houses in 18 of the region's villages over the same period, residents said Friday.



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