In what appears to be reviving harsh practices of the former Burmese military dictatorship, police in Yangon, Myanmar arrested at least six people yesterday in the first major forced eviction of slum residents under Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government.
At least 30 people are dead after a day of intense fighting between Myanmar’s security forces and ethnic rebels in the town of Laukkai in northern Shan state, government officials reported Monday evening. The conflict is the worst to hit the Chinese-speaking Kokang region since 2015, stoking fears of escalation and another mass exodus of refugees into neighboring China.
Humanitarian agencies are pleading with the government of Myanmar to let them help the displaced people of strife-torn Rakhine state, where a recent severe military crackdown has prevented the delivery of aid.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry used his official visit in Myanmar to raise the issue of the continued attacks…
Zin Mar wasn’t famous like Suu Kyi and wasn’t allowed to remain at home under house arrest. She was thrown in prison at age 22 in 1998 for her role as a student activist critical of the military regime. She spent 11 years in prison, nine of them in solitary confinement. Released in 2009, her spirit was hardly broken.