Fierce clashes continue raging in Kayah States Hpaswang and Loikaw townships since the junta sent in heavy reinforcements on July 21 to resume its counter-offensive in the first state to establish its own interim government body.

Junta forces were supported by heavy shelling and airstrikes when fighting broke out near Kyauk Pe Nyo village Wednesday morning, residents of Hpaswang Township said. The Hpaswang Peoples Defense Force (PDF) said fighting had been constant on the east bank of Than Lwin River since last week.

Around 400 junta troops pushed further into Hpwaswang Township and resistance forces retreated from two villages about 48 kilometers from Mase town near the border with Thailand.

Kyauk Pe Nyo and Wan Aung villages were seized by junta forces last week. A resistance member was killed during the battle, according to the Hpwaswang PDF. Local media reported on Wednesday that tensions remained high in Loikaw Township as about 300 junta troops were sent as reinforcements to Loikaw town, the states capital, on Monday. Another two junta convoys, each consisting of about 40 trucks, were also sent to Loikaw. Skirmishes broke out on Loikaw-Moebye Road and near Nwar La Woe village since July 21, according to resistance forces.

The Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF) accused the juntas infantry on conducting indiscriminate shelling of civilian targets again. At least four villagers, including a pregnant woman and her child, were injured by shelling in Wan Kone village on Tuesday. Another artillery bombardment killed a 16-year-old boy and wounded two others in Pa Dar Ngay village on July 20. Two villagers including a child were wounded in Kone Thar village due to junta shelling, the KNDF said. Nwar La Woe residents were also forced to flee their homes when junta forces raided the village on July 23.

The KNDF has become the juntas most serious threat in the state bordering Naypyidaw. Although it was formed just two years ago, it has grown to 22 battalions with more than 7,000 troops.

At least 1,000 people from four villages were displaced in Hpaswang Township, residents said. The United Nations in Myanmar estimates that at least 98,400 people have been displaced in Kayah State as of June 17, 2023. Local aid groups put the number at more than 270,000 people in Kayah State and neighbouring Pekon Township of southern Shan State.

About 100,000 people are in urgent need of food and healthcare, they say.

The United Wa State Army (UWSA), Shan State Progress Party (SSPP), and National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) members of an ethnic military coalition known as the Northern Alliance held talks with junta representatives in Naypyitaw on July 20-21.

In attendance were Major-General Yar Pyae, chair of the juntas National Solidarity and Peace Negotiation Committee (NSPNC); Luo Yaku, vice-chair of the UWSAs United Wa State Party political wing; San Pae, NDAA vice-chair; and Sao Sae Paing Pha, SSPP central executive committee member.

Junta newspapers reported that agreements were signed at the talks, but no details were provided.

Colonel Sao Hsu, second secretary of the Shan State Progress Party, shed light on the agenda and outcomes of the talks in an interview with The Irrawaddy.

What was discussed and what agreements were made with the regime? 

We have held four rounds of talks with them so far, and signed agreements about our discussions after every meeting. This time, all the agreements that were reached in previous meetings were signed as a single agreement. They (the junta) proposed holding a peace conference. We said we would be unable to attend if it were held immediately. We would first have to get majority approval from our committee at headquarters. The regime proposed the conference, but we didnt discuss it.

Other things we discussed included regional development and peace and stability. Regional development was also discussed in our previous talks.

The rest of the meeting was taken up by legal issues and the regime discussing the peace process. We neither spoke nor participated in that discussion.

We didnt talk politics. We consider this to be the job of political parties and Parliament. At present, there is no Parliament and political parties are not functioning. We only discussed how to avoid conflicts. The regime said it would combine its proposals in a draft and sign it.

Did your groups sign any political agreement? 

There was no political agreement. We neither negotiated nor signed political agreements. We mainly discussed how to avoid clashes. Our bases and checkpoints are very close to theirs in some areas. So, we asked them if they would move them away a little. We discussed nothing about politics at the Union level. Our Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee also has a policy (on this). We only discussed peace, regional stability and development in our areas.

Why does the regime want the Northern Alliance to join peace talks? 

It wants all the groups it has held talks and signed agreements with, as well as signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, to join the peace conference.

At meetings with the regime, we have also talked about what we want it to do. The regime has explained to us why it cant fulfill certain things. We are conducting the talk...

Any measured stock take of international human rights promotion from the United Nations would have to arrive at a lamentably low rate of success, if progress is measured by ending atrocity crimes and uplifting fundamental rights for everyone. There dont seem to be many places where peace is breaking out and respect for universal rights is ascendant.

It is often assumed that the Myanmar military has a thick skin towards international criticism of its appalling human rights record. For war criminals, they often appear wounded by international criticism and feel the need to respond with affronted rebuttals, despite usually a brace of well documented evidence.

These public rebuffs are evident in the State Administration Councils (SAC) aggression towards the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its relatively mild criticism in a joint communiqu following the recent Foreign Ministers Meeting in Jakarta.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) released a statement that claimed Myanmar, being a responsible member state, faithfully engaged in the Joint (C)ommuniqus drafting process. It was found that Myanmars inputs, concerns and voice are not reflected in the final Joint Communiqu. Therefore, Myanmar reiterates its disappointment regarding the unfair and one-sided facts about Myanmar and categorically rejects and dissociates itself from that paragraph. There were actually five paragraphs on Myanmar, but it was likely the one that contained this criticism that formed the umbrage: [ASEAN] strongly condemned the continued acts of violence, including air strikes, artillery shelling, and destruction of public facilities and urged all parties involved to take concrete action to immediately halt indiscriminate violence.

The spectacle of successive Myanmar military regimes obsessing for supposed inaccuracy and systematic denial of charges of human rights violations is routine. Its as if some form of Praetorian entitlement is at play, that any criticism of the military must be denied, denounced and dismissed. It frequently dissolves into absurdity.

...

UK retailer John Lewis and Partners will stop sourcing gems from Myanmar, the rights group Burma Campaign UK said.

John Lewis have done the right thing by deciding to stop sourcing from Burma, Mark Farmaner, director of the rights group, said in a statement.

Retailers must ensure that the gems they sell have not helped pay for the bombs and the bullets the Myanmar juntas military is using to kill people, Farmaner said.

Burma Campaign UK had written to John Lewis and about 40 other retailers asking them to ensure that any gems they source from Myanmar are not helping fund the junta.

It received a reply from John Lewis Partnership (JLP)the employee-owned company that operates John Lewis and Partners department storessaying that their suppliers source a very small portion of gems from Myanmar, but they are urgently seeking alternative sources of gems.

We remain extremely concerned to learn of developments around the conflicts that have taken place, and that continue to take place in recent years in Burma/Myanmar, JLP said.

JLP is the largest and most successful cooperative in the UK. Owned by a trust on behalf of all its employees, it operates John Lewis and Partners, a chain of high-end department stores.

Since the February 2021 coup, the military has taken control of a gems industry worth an estimated US$ 2 billion per year, Burma Campaign UK said.

The junta extracts revenue from the industry through its own private companies, state-owned enterprises and government ministries, control of trade routes, and both legal and illegal trade and business interests of military family members.

The massive revenue generates funds to purchase weapons and equipment for the juntas brutal military campaign against the nationwide resistance.

Burma Campaign UK said it is not calling for a blanket ban on gems from Myanmar. Rather, it is calling on companies to ensure the gems they sell have not been sourced in a way that provides money to help the junta buy weapons and or fund a military that continues to commit atrocities.

JLPs decision to stop buying gems from Myanmar follows an announcement in June by TJCone of the biggest TV shopping channels and online jewelry retailers in the UKthat it had stopped selling rubies and gems from Myanmar.

Since the February 2021 coup, the junta has arrested more than 24,000 people and killed at least 3,848 more, frequently through indiscriminate airstrikes on schools, hospitals, and entire communities.

More than 1.5 million civilians have been displaced by its campaign of terror, according to UN figures.

More than 230 women and girls have been killed and nearly 400 detained by Myanmars regime this year, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which monitors junta killings and arrests.

The report said 237 females across the country had been killed this year by Wednesday with the resistance stronghold of Sagaing Region suffering the highest number of fatalities at 130. Bago Region reported 28 and Chin State 20.

Wednesdays report said 91 females were killed by regime airstrikes and 69 died in junta shelling. The Burmese Womens Union said females were being burned to death and killed in junta custody this year besides being killed in bombardments.

An AAPP representative said the rate of detentions and killings of women has significantly increased this year as regime troops raid and torch Sagaing villages, regardless of whether there has been fighting with resistance forces.

Women left behind in the village who could not flee became targets of the military. They were being killed, raped or used as human shields. The military targets women because they are active in the revolution, the representative told The Irrawaddy.

Kyar Khin Sein, the leader of Tiger Women Drone Force in Sagaing Region, said women are regularly raped and killed.

Regime soldiers give no leniency to women. They see all the people who dont support them as resistance members so it is better for women to fight back, Kyar Khin Sein told The Irrawaddy.

Sagaing, Magwe and Bago regions and Chin, Kayah and Karen states are seeing the heaviest fighting with residents regularly threatened by junta ground troops, airstrikes and shelling.

We are always ready to run. We always listen for warplanes and ground troops. We fear shelling, which can hit us at any time, a woman in Sagaing Region told The Irrawaddy.

Targeting women has increased female involvement in the resistance movement to unprecedented levels in Myanmar, according to the AAPP.

This year 394 women and girls have been detained across the c...

A resistance group under the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) claims it inflicted heavy losses on junta soldiers during an ambush in Kyauktaga Township, Bago Region on Tuesday.

Kyauktaga Township Peoples Defense Force (Kyauktaga PDF) said it used land mines and firearms to ambush 40 junta soldiers who arrived at Nanza village in a truck and two motorbikes on Tuesday night.

The resistance group also seized weapons during the attack.

On Wednesday, resistance members discovered the bodies of seven junta soldiers along with six weapons and ammunition in the village after the regime force had retreated, said Kyauktaga PDF.

The group said another seven junta soldiers were taken to Taungoo hospital after being seriously wounded during Tuesdays ambush.

The ambush came a week after two heavy clashes at Nanza village and nearby In Kone village on July 19. The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) the armed wing of the countrys oldest rebel group, the Karen National Union (KNU) joined with PDFs to attack two military units of 400 troops from four junta battalions, including police and pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia members, according to NUG and KNU statements.

They claimed that the clashes killed 41 regime forces and wounded another 40 including a deputy battalion commander.

The Irrawaddy was unable to independently confirm the casualty claims.

The KNU said junta soldiers occupied Nanza village for four days until July 23, burning down 20 houses and looting residents furniture and livestock.

A large quantity of ammunition left behind by regime troops was seized by the KNLA on July 24, according to the KNU.

The KNLA and PDFs have escalated their coordinated attacks on junta bases and regime targets in Karen, and Mon States and Tanintharyi and Bago Regions.

My sick husband and I have to starve on some days so that we have enough to feed our children, says Ma Aye Mya.

Since early July, the mother of seven children has cut the amount of rice she cooks for the family as their daily income no longer covers the soaring cost of food and other necessities.

She used to cook 3 kilos of rice every day for the nine family members but can now only afford 2.2 kilos after the price doubled over the past two years.

Prices of other staples like meat and vegetables have also surged, pushing Myanmar people like Ma Aye Mya into trouble.

We simply dont have enough food, she told The Irrawaddy.

Ma Aye Mya, aged around 40, earns a living sifting garbage for recyclable materials that she can sell to traders. Her husband cant work due to health problems, meaning that she is the head of the family. Ma Aye Mya and her younger daughter wheel out their trash cart early each morning to collect recyclables in eastern Dagon Township, Yangon, where they live.

The familys daily income is supplemented by her elder daughter who works at a garment factory, but still only amounts to 10,000 kyats (US$ 3). That meager sum is no longer enough to cover food bills.

We dont have enough rice and curry to eat, Ma Aye Ma told the Irrawaddy.

Survival priority as food security dwindles

Myanmar has been in social and political turmoil since the military ousted the elected civilian government in February 2021. For more than two years now, the steep depreciation of the kyat and rocketing inflation cause...

More than 425 junta forces were killed in clashes with Peoples Defense Forces (PDFs) and ethnic revolutionary organizations in upper Myanmar last month, according to the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) that formed the PDFs.

A total of 374 clashesincluding 103 shootouts, 125 resistance raids and 74 resistance land-mine ambusheswere reported in June in the NUGs Military Region 1, which comprises Sagaing, Magwe and Mandalay regions and northern Shan state, the civilian governments Defense Ministry said. The junta responded with 26 airstrikes.

The Defense Ministry of the civilian government said 427 regime forces were killed and another were injured in the clashes, while resistance groups suffered 47 deaths and 134 injuries.

The Irrawaddy was unable to independently confirm the numbers.

The Defense Ministry also said that resistance groups seized a large quantity of military equipment, including 25 drones and 48 firearms.

Near-daily clashes have continued to break out in upper Myanmar as resistance groups attack regime targets in the three regions and Shan State.

Clashes have reported in northern Shan State since last week as three ethnic armed groups the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Kachin Independence Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Armyattacked regime forces in Muse, Lashio and Kutkai townships.

On Tuesday, the junta conducted airstrikes on a vill...

Fighting has been reported since Sunday between Myanmar junta troops and the Taang National Liberation Army (TLNA) in Muse Township near the Chinese border, killing at least two civilians.

A volunteer in northern Shan State said Hseng Hkwang village was hit by junta airstrikes and indiscriminate bombardments on Tuesday.

Two villagers were killed and another injured in shelling. There were no civilian casualties reported during the airstrike, a volunteer said.

Hseng Hkwang, which had around 60 homes, has been abandoned since being shelled from a junta camp near Muses border trade zone.

Last Sunday, fighting erupted between pro-junta paramilitaries and the TNLA near Sei Lant village, leaving at least two paramilitary troops dead, according to a volunteer group.

We heard gunfire and shelling at Sei Lant village on Sunday evening when we evacuated around seven teachers, a volunteer said.

There were no civilian casualties reported during the fighting, according to the group.

Taang State TV reported that three junta troops were killed and many others injured on Sunday.

Tensions are high as junta reinforcements arrive from Muse town, according to the TLNA-controlled media.

The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

On July 18, a 15-year-old died on the spot and three villagers, including a nine-year-old boy, were wounded in Zee Da Ban village during clashes between junta forces and the TNLA, according to a Kutkai Township volunteer group.

Taang State TV said at least four clashes have broken out in Muse and Kutkai townships this month.

YANGON China has told Myanmars junta to root out online scam centers in its lawless borderlands that target Chinese citizens, Beijings embassy in Yangon said.

Criminal syndicates are accused of luring or kidnapping citizens of China and other countries to lawless enclaves along Myanmars northern and eastern borders and forcing them to work as online scammers.

The scammers typically target their compatriots and groom them for weeks before cajoling them into plowing money into fake investment platforms and other ruses, analysts say.

The scams irk Beijinga major ally and arms supplier of the internationally isolated junta.

Beijings ambassador held special negotiations on Monday with the juntas foreign minister on combating crimes including domestic communication frauds, according to an embassy statement released Tuesday.

Communication frauds continue to spread in Myanmar border areas including northern Myanmar by severely harming the personal interests of people in both China and Myanmar, the ambassador said, according to the statement.

The residue of communication fraud and online gambling in Myanmar should be rooted out, he added.

Beijing is a major ally of the junta and has refused to call its 2021 power grab a coup.

Several projects in its sprawling Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure scheme are slated to run through northern Myanmar, linking Chinas landlocked Yunnan province with the Indian Ocean.

Beijing also backs and arms several ethnic rebel groups along its border with Myanmar, analysts say.

Some of these groups have clashed repeatedly with the Myanmar military in the aftermath of the coup, and an alliance of China-backed rebels in March called for Beijings help to defuse the crisis.

Last month, Thailand cut electricity supplies to a Myanmar border township home to a billion-dollar development that analysts say is a front for illegal gambling and online scam operations.

The sprawling Shwe Kokko complex houses hotels and casinos targeting Chinese customers, analysts say, and is run by the Border Guard Force (BGF), a military-aligned ethnic militia.

Online boiler room scams have long had a presence across Southeast Asia.

Victims have reported traveling to Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos on false promises of romance or high-paying jobs, and then being detained and forced to work swindling their compatriots online.

The Myanmar military regime is planning to move the countrys detained democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from a prison to house arrest, sources familiar with her case said. Observers saw it as the ruling generals latest attempt to ease mounting international pressure on them.

The junta put the 78-year-old ousted leader in solitary confinement in Naypyitaw Prison in June last year after confining her to her house in the capital since the first day of its attempted coup in February 2021.

Daw Sandar Min, a former member of the central committee of Daw Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD), told The Irrawaddy that the regimes transfer of the party leader was 90 percent certain.

It has been a few days since I learned that the SAC [State Administration Council, the regimes governing body] intended to move her from the prison. But Im not sure if it has been done yet, she said.

Daw Sandar Min was one of the party members allowed by the regime to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in prison late last year to explain to her the juntas election plan.

The regime has not officially confirmed Daw Aung San Suu Kyis transfer.

The Associated Press reported that the regime plans to move the ousted civilian leader to house arrest as part of a mass amnesty for prisoners in connection with a religious ceremony next week.

Lawyers for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi could not confirm the move but said they sent some food parcels for her via the prison authorities a few days ago.

The junta has imposed a gag order on her legal team preventing them from talking to the media about her cases. Currently, she is serving a combined sentence of 33 years in prison after the regime brought a series of cases against her for alleged offenses including corruption and election fraud. She pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Rumors that the regime plans to transfer Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to house arrest have been circulating  since Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai was permitted by the junta to meet her in Naypyitaw on July 9. Don revealed the meeting at a summit of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers, claiming that Myanmars detained leader called for talks to solve the crisis brought about by the coup. For more than two years since the takeover, the regime has been battling a popula...

Singapore-listed Fraser and Neave Limited (F&N) plans to invest 19.2 million Singaporean dollars (US$ 14 million) in Myanmar to build a new brewery through a joint venture with local beverage conglomerate Win Brothers, according to a statement from F&N.

The brewery will be built on 35 acres of land with a lease term of 50 years,  a statement from the company controlled by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi said. The location of the site and the name of the beer that will be brewed was not mentioned.

F&N said it had paid S$ 1.3 million to acquire its brewing license, but the process of acquiring the land had yet to be completed.

Completion of the Land Acquisition is subject to fulfilment of conditions under the Acquisition Agreement, including relevant land into industrial land and entry into long-term leases in respect of the relevant land. Accordingly, there is no certainty or assurance that the Land Acquisition will materialise, it said.

F&N established a joint venture, Sapphire Brewery Myanmar Limited (SBML), with Win Brothers in March. F&N holds an 80 percent stake in SBML and Win Brothers, which is owned by U Zaw Win, owns the rest.

SBML has been evaluating the feasibility of producing alcohol in Myanmar since its establishment, F&N said in a report filed at the Singapore Stock Exchange.

U Zaw Win is also a partner with Serge Pun in Seagram Myanmar, a joint venture formed in 2019 among French drinks group Pernod Ricard, Win Brothers, Yoma Strategic Holding and Delta Myanmar Capital. The company launched High Class, Imperial Blue and 100 Pipers whisky brands in Myanmar.

F&N entered Myanmars beer market in 1997 by buying a 55 percent stake in Asia Pacific Breweries (APB). APB set up Myanmar Brewery with Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), a military-owned conglomerate, in 1995 to make Myanmar Double Strong and Andaman Gold beer brands.

In 2013, ThaiBev bought F&N. Two years later MEHL bought F&Ns stake in Myanmar Brewery for US$ 560 million. F&N subsequently exited Myanmars market.

However, its parent firmThaiBev Public Company Limitedcontinued to expand in Myanmar. In 2017, it acquired a combined 75 percent stake in Myanmar Distillery Company, the maker of the locally famous whisky brand Grand Royal, for US$ 1 billion.

In an April report disclosing tax filings from Myanmars Internal Revenue Department under the junta regime, whistleblower Distributed Denial of Secrets listed ThaiBev as among the for...

Myanmar junta suffered losses in Kanpetlet Township, Chin State, on Monday, according to Chin resistance groups.

Clashes began in Kanpetlet Township on July 16 when resistance groups attacked two large junta units raiding villages in the township, according to the Chin Defense Force (CDF) in Kanpetlet.

On Monday morning Minbu District Peoples Defense Force (PDF) from Magwe Region and the CDF attacked around 100 troops from Infantry Battalion 304 between Mawchaung and Hlaing Doke villages in the township, according to the civilian National Unity Government.

Around 10 regime soldiers and a CDF fighter were killed and four resistance members injured, according to the Chin resistance group.

On Monday evening, the Chin National Army, the armed wing of the Chin National Front, and other groups ambushed around 150 troops from Light Infantry battalions 301 and 317 in the township.

The group said about 10 soldiers were killed and many others and five resistance members were injured.

The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

Hundreds of villagers have fled their homes due to the clashes and junta raids.

The CDF has urgently called for funding to fight the junta and provide for displaced civilians.

Around 20 Myanmar regime troops were reportedly killed and others injured in a resistance minefield in Salingyi Township, Sagaing Region, on Tuesday.

Around 100 ground troops in southern Salingyi to raid villages triggered around 28 anti-personnel mines near Byant Gyi village on Tuesday morning, according to the Black Peacock Guerrilla Force.

The surviving troops reached Kyar Tat village around 9km from Byant Gyi by Tuesday evening.

We planted mines in three places because we guessed the troops would head to Kyar Tat. The three minefields were trampled by the soldiers. Around seven troops died in each spot, Ye Baw Pay, the head of the group, told The Irrawaddy.

The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

Around 50 soldiers entered Kyar Tat with many injured soldiers, he added.

No resistance casualties were reported.

The troops raided adjacent Zee Chaing village on Wednesday, taking food and possessions, according to residents.

Thousands of residents from around 10 villages have fled their homes where they suffer from monsoon flooding and food shortages, according to the Salingyi Peoples Administration.

Villages from Myaing Township in Magwe Region are also fleeing and hiding in the forest, a resident told The Irrawaddy.

Kyar Tat is 19km from Salingyi town on the border with Myaing Township.

Villages on the banks of the Chindwin have reported gunfire from regime vessels over the weekend.

Salingyi and neighboring Yinmabin are resistance strongholds which have suffered from frequent regime arson attacks since 2021.

PHNOM PENHCambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, one of the worlds longest-serving leaders, said Wednesday he will resign and hand power to his eldest son after almost four decades of hardline rule.

The former Khmer Rouge cadre has run the kingdom since 1985, eliminating all opposition to his power, with opposition parties banned, challengers forced to flee and freedom of expression stifled.

His Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) won a landslide victory in an election on Sunday with no meaningful opposition, taking 82 percent of the vote, paving the way for a dynastic succession by his eldest son that some critics have compared to North Korea.

I would like to ask for understanding from the people as I announce that I will not continue as prime minister, the 70-year-old said in a special broadcast on state television.

Election authorities disqualified the only serious challenger, the Candlelight Party, on a technicality in advance of the election, and the CPP is expected to win all but five lower house seats.

The government hailed the 84.6 percent turnout as evidence of the countrys democratic maturity but Western powers including the United States and European Union condemned the poll as neither free nor fair.

Chinese influence

Hun Sen has trailed the handover to his son for a year-and-a-half, and the 45-year-old played a leading role in campaigning for Sundays vote.

But the outgoing leader has made it clear that he still intends to wield influence, even after he steps down, scotching the notion the country could change direction.

Under Hun Sen, Cambodia has tacked close to Beijing, drawing huge Chinese investment and infrastructure projects, including the redevelopment of a naval base that has alarmed Washington.

China welcomed Sundays election, with President Xi Jinping sending Hun Sen a personal message of congratulation.

But the flood of Chinese money has brought problems, including a rash of casinos and online scam operations staffed by trafficked workers in appalling conditions.

Critics say his rule has also been marked by environmental destruction and entrenched graft.

Cambodia ranks 150th out of 180 in Transparency Internationals corruption perception index. In Asia, only Myanmar and North Korea rank lower.

Rights groups accuse Hun Sen of using the legal system to crush any opposition to his rule, including activists and troublesome union leaders as well as politicians.

Scores of opposition politicians have been convicted and jailed during his time in power and the law was changed ahead of Sundays election to make it illegal to call for voters to spoil ballots.

Five days before polling day, authorities banned exiled opposition figurehead Sam Rainsy from running for office for 25 years for urging people to void their ballot papers.

Opposition leader K...

At least 20 Myanmar junta forces as well as two resistance fighters were killed in the last four days as Peoples Defense Forces (PDFs) and a Karen ethnic armed organization (EAO) continued to attack regime targets across the country.

Incidents were reported in Karen and Mon states and Sagaing, Magwe and Bago regions.

The Irrawaddy has collected the following reports of significant attacks from PDFs and the EAO.

Some military casualties could not be independently verified.

Clashes resume in Karens Myawaddy

Clashes between the regimes military and Karen resistance groups resumed in Myawaddy Township, Karen State on Monday and Tuesday when junta forces conducted offensives in an attempt to take back a strategic base recently occupied by resistance groups on Lat Khat Taung Mountain, said the Karen National Union (KNU), a Karen revolutionary organization.

There were many military casualties and a civilian was also killed in the clashes.

Clashes break out in Mon

...

China offered no explanation on Wednesday for the sacking of Qin Gang as foreign minister, while scrubbing mentions of him from a government website.

Qinwho has not been seen in public for over a monthwas removed from office by Beijings top lawmaking body on Tuesday after just 207 days in the job.

That followed weeks of speculation that the former Chinese ambassador to the United States and one-time confidant of President Xi Jinping had suddenly fallen out of favor.

As of Wednesday morning, any reference to the 57-year-old had been removed from the website of Chinas Foreign Ministry.

A search for his name yielded no results and previous articles about his diplomatic appearances showed a message saying the page does not exist or has been deleted.

But his name did appear on other Chinese government websites, including those of the State Council, the Ministry of Commerce and state media outlets.

The Foreign Ministry had for weeks refused to give any updates on Qin despite repeated questioning, after previously saying health reasons were to blame for his absence.

State media gave no reason for his dismissal, but one expert said the digital erasure of Qin suggested he had fallen from grace.

If he were a comrade in good standing who had fallen ill I am not sure that would be happening, China analyst Bill Bishop wrote in his Sinocism newsletter.

Evidence is emerging suggesting this is indeed a political purge, Neil Thomas, a fellow on Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute, a US think tank, said on Twitter, which is being rebranded as X.

Totally in the dark

China had remained tight-lipped for weeks about the fate of Qin, who has not been seen in public since June 25, when he met Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko in Beijing.

But that did little to stem an explosion of rumors online, some of which claimed the diplomats alleged affair with a prominent television anchor had landed him in hot water.

People from the outside are totally in the dark and the episode illustrates that Chinese politics is becoming increasingly unpredictable and volatile, though under a calm surface, Ho-fung Hung, an expert in Chinese politics at Johns Hopkins University, told AFP.

Originally from the northeastern city of Tianjin, Qin frequently rubbed shoulders with President Xi in an earlier role as chief of the Foreign Ministrys Protocol Department.

Qins promotion over more experienced candidates, first to US ambassador and then Chinas number two diplomat, was attributed to the trust placed in him by Xi directly.

And the sudden fall of the so-called Wolf Warrior diplomat shows that no official is immune to the vicissitudes of Chinese politicsno matter how close they are to the lead...

The announcement that a new 20,000 kyat banknotes will be introduced at the end of this month has sent a jolt of inflation panic through Myanmars financial markets, and raised concerns among business people that more economic turmoil and pain lies ahead.

The junta-controlled Central Bank of Myanmar announced on Sunday that it will issue new 20,000 kyat banknotes on July 31, a denomination that is double the value of the current highest banknote of 10,000 kyats. It has said the new banknote is being issued to commemorate the construction of a giant marble Buddha statue and the first anniversary of the first anniversary of the juntas white elephant calf.

The announcement caused shock. Businesses and markets, especially currency-exchange counters, and gold and jewellery shops, shut or suspended operations. The prices of automobiles and commodities also rose over widespread concerns that the introduction of the new banknotes will cause prices to jump.

Gold and jewellery shops, and currency-exchange counters in Yangon, Mandalay and some border towns closed on Sunday, while Hundi money-transfer services suspended services for a few hours.

On Tuesday, some gold and jewellery shops reopened in Yangon, but even most of those that reopened were not selling.

The price of gold rose from 3.2 million kyats per tical (16.3 grams) on Friday to 3.6 million kyats on Sunday, before falling slightly to 3.5 million kyats on Monday. The rate remained the same today.

Gold traders said most shops suspended sales on Sunday and are only buying back previously sold items due to volatile prices.

We dont dare to display our jewellery in showcases as any chaotic things could happen, the owner of a gold shop in Yangons Latha Township said. In this kind of situation, people tend to make panic purchases. Or a riot could also break out if people become frustrated with how hard their daily living conditions are, the shop owner explained.

With prices rising daily, gold shop owners could face heavy losses within a week if they resumed sales amid intense volatility, she added.

Online Hundi services, especially those that transfer money between Myanmar and Thailand, suspended operations for a few hours on Sunday after the central banks announcement filtered through the state-run media. Currency-exchange counters in Yangon shut immediately and most remained closed as of today.

Although, online Hundi and street-side freelancers in downtown Yangon resumed offering currency-exchange services their exchange rates rose. The average exchange rate between the kyat and the Thai baht on Hundi services on Friday was 85 kyats for one baht. As of today, the rate has risen more than 10% to 95 kyats per baht. Although it is illegal, the Hundi service is widely used for cash transfers inside Myanmar and to and from other countries. It is especially p...

Myanmars junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has handed out 220 honorary titles on his allies, including prominent Buddhist monks, to reward those supporting military rule.

On Sunday he gave titles to Buddhist leaders Sitagu Sayadaw and Dhammasuta Chekinda, the militarys Quartermaster General Kyaw Swar Lin, Myanmar Economic Corporation chairman Lieutenant General Nyo Saw and Aung Khaing Than, who reportedly donated the marble for the colossal Maravijaya Buddha statue in Naypyitaw.

Aung Khaing Than, the managing director of Anglo Mining Co Ltd in Mandalay, was awarded the Shasudhammamaijotadhara title for his remarkable donation to the statue.

The marble block from the familys quarry was donated to former military dictator Than Shwe in 2013 for a Buddha statue. Than Shwe gave the marble to the military, which was then headed by Min Aung Hlaing, in 2017.

Sitagu Sayadaw and Dhammasuta Chekinda, who performed religious rites at what is reportedly the worlds biggest sitting Buddha, were respectively given the Thray Sithu and Sithu titles for their contributions to the statue. The two monks have also received religious titles and promotions within their religious institutions since the 2021 coup.

Nyo Saw, who was appointed as Min Aung Hlaings economic advisor in early July, and Kyaw Swar Lin, who was awarded Sithu title last year, were given the Thray Sithu title.

The military-owned conglomerate MEC is sanctioned by the US and Kyaw Swar Lin was also sanctioned by the EU on July 20.

Lieutenant General Kan Myint Than, chief officer of the Directorate of Defense Industries, who received the Sithu title together with Kyaw Swar Lin last year, was given the Thray Sithu.

Min Aung Hlaing awarded medals to 45 police officers in the resistance strongholds of Sagaing and Magwe regions. Five MEC officers and the general manager of the military-run Inwa Bank also received administrative performance awards.

The junta chief conferred honorary titles on himself and former dictators Ne Win, Saw Maung and Than Shwe.

Min Aung Hlaing has conferred titles on nearly 4,000 people since the 2021 coup.

The titles and medals have cost around 7 billion kyats amid deepening poverty and economic chaos.

A US court has convicted Myanmar national Phyo Hein Htut of conspiring to seriously injure or kill the countrys ambassador to the United Nations, U Kyaw Moe Tun, a vocal critic of the juntas rule.

Phyo Hein Htut and compatriot Ye Hein Zaw, both in their 20s and residents of New York, were arrested by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in mid-2021 on suspicion of plotting to harm U Kyaw Moe Tun. According to the US Attorneys Office, the pair planned to hire assailants to force U Kyaw Moe Tun to resign and, if he refused, to kill him.

Phyo Hein Htut was a member of the volunteer security team of Myanmars Permanent Mission to the United Nations and passed information regarding the ambassador and Myanmars Permanent Mission to the UN to an arms broker in Thailand who did business with the Myanmar military junta. He received money from the arms broker to hire attackers to hurt the ambassador in an attempt to force him to step down from the post, according to a statement issued by the U.S Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York on July 24. However, in the end, he didnt carry out the plan and informed the Permanent Mission of the plot.

While volunteering on a security team at Myanmars Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Phyo Hein Htut betrayed the person he was supposed to be protecting by secretly feeding information about the Ambassador, the Mission, and its personnel to an arms dealer in furtherance of a plot to hurt the Ambassador. The jurys unanimous verdict holds him to account for his actions, Damian Williams, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in the statement.

Phyo Hein Htut was found guilty after eight days of hearings before US district judge Nelson S. Roman. Sentencing is scheduled for March 14, 2024, the US Attorneys Office said.

He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on charges of conspiring to attack a foreign official.

Ye Hein Zaw confessed to participating in the plot. He was convicted in 2021 and served his sentence. He is also subject to deportation, according to U Kyaw Moe Tun.

The ambassador told The Irrawaddy that he was informed of the ruling against Phyo Hein Htut on Friday night by the Department of Justice.

I thanked him [Phyo Hein Htut] as he did not carry out the plot and informed us about it. However, on the other hand, we always say that there must be rule of law and as it happened on American soil, we urged that the case be prosecuted according to their laws, he said.

He said he i...

Myanmar junta troops reportedly detained 20 villagers and killed six others in western Madaya Township and burned almost 200 houses in the east of the Mandalay Region township over two weeks.

Two men were shot dead and a woman wounded in Nyaung Oke village in western Madaya on Monday, according to a resistance group.

Ma Ei Zar Linn was shot in the arm and her father, U Thein Linn and U Shwe Pyone died on the spot, said a representative of the Madaya People Defense Force(PDF).

He added that junta forces detained around 20 villagers in Nyaung Okes monastery on Monday evening.

The fate of the detainees is unknown.

The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

Around 40 junta troops are reportedly stationed at the monastery.

They are on high alert because boats for reinforcements and supplies will pass through western Madaya on the Irrawaddy River in the coming days, a resistance fighter said.

Another fighter said junta troops frequently detain young villagers during raids, accusing them of fighting with resistance groups.

On July 14, junta infantry troops detained five Nyaung Oke villagers and four days later residents retrieved the bodies of three detainees from the Myaung River, an Irrawaddy tributary.

Only one detainee was released, a villager said.

In eastern Madaya, almost 200 houses in five villages were burned down by junta troops after the Air Defense Battalion near In Gyin Myaing village was shelled by Mandalay Peoples Defense Force (PDF) on July 15.

Junta convoys were then ambushed by resistance forces, according to Mandalay PDF.

Around 700 junta troops were purportedly mobilized in eastern Madaya last week, conducting raids and looting homes.

More than 12 villages in the east of the township have been raided this month, displacing thousands of civilians, according to resistance groups.

Resistance groups claim to have killed pro-junta militia members during an urban raid in the town of Taze, Sagaing Region on Monday.

Fighters of Taze Township Peoples Defense Forces staged a guerilla attack on three vehicles of pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia patrolling the town.

The shootout killed two militia members and wounded three others, said the resistance group, which also seized a vehicle belonging to the militia.

No casualties from the clash were reported among either resistance members or civilians.

A Taze resident told The Irrawaddy that regime forces were stopping and checking vehicles in the town center a day after the clash on Tuesday.

The ambush came after local combined resistance groups repeatedly attacked a junta convoy of 122 troops from July 14 to 17 as it traveled from Taze town to reinforce a police outpost at Kaduma village in the west of the township.

Junta forces deployed an MI 35 helicopter gunship to protect the convoy after sustaining heavy losses.

More than two-dozen regime troops were reportedly killed in the three days of resistance ambushes, according to the rebel groups and local media.

Taze was among the first townships in the country to launch armed resistance against military rule following the February 2021 coup.

The armed uprising in Taze began in early April 2021, when residents took up old-fashioned hunting guns and makeshift air guns to prevent military trucks from entering the town and dispersing an anti-coup demonstration by several-thousand residents.

The township has experienced frequent clashes ever since.

Former Lieutenant-General Myint Swe is known for holding high positions under the previous military regime. However, since the 2021 coup, he has become a puppet of junta boss Min Aung Hlaing, serving as acting president in the current regime.

As a trusted general of former military dictator Than Shwe, Myint Swe served as chief of Yangon Command and Yangon Region chief minister, before becoming the military-nominated vice-president in the now ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government.

So, it is hard to believe that the man who has served in enviable positions throughout his military career and currently holds the countrys highest rank should now be engulfed in a state of doom and gloom.

Myanmar military generals traditional obsession with rank and seniority appears to be consuming Myint Swe.

Part of the Defense Services Academy (DSA) 15th intake, Myint Swe outranks any general in the Myanmar military as well as incumbent and ex-generals serving in the current regime including junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, a graduate of the DSAs 19th intake.

According to Myanmar government protocol, the president takes precedence over everyone, his rank being higher than military chief.

In reality, however, the nominal head of the country is being used merely to extend military rule once every six months. Whenever the National Defense and Security Council meets to prolong military rule, Min Aung Hlaing wheels out Myint Swe to preside and nod approval at whatever the junta boss says.

Meanwhile, Myint Swe remains notably absent from junta cabinet meetings, national-level events, and meetings with diplomats.

It is as if the president were under house arrest, remark senior military officers and heads of departments.

Offering more clues to his resentment is his life at the Presidents Office, which has been taken over by Min Aung Hlaing and renamed the State Administration Council (SAC) Office. SAC is t...

A commander of the militant Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), who was allegedly responsible for the killing of Squadron Leader Rizwan Rushdi of Bangladeshi military intelligence in November 2022, has been captured in Coxs Bazar.

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) spokesman Commander Khandaker Al Moin told The Irrawaddy that Hazeef Noor Mohammad, 29, of Maungdaw in Rakhine State, was directly involved in the killing of the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence officer.

The RAB spokesman said more than 450 young people were also discovered being trained by ARSA.

Five other ARSA members Mohammad Hossain Johor, 30, Mohammad Faruk, 23, Monir Ahammod, 36, Noor Islam, 29, and Mohammad Yasin, 21 were reportedly detained on the border in connection with an arms case on Sunday.

Nearly 70 people, including ARSA commander-in-chief Ataullah Abu Ammar Jununi, were prosecuted for the abduction and killing of Rizwan Rushdi on the border in Bandarban last year during a military operation.

Official investigations were made into the failed operation, leading to the withdrawal of several commanders from operations in Coxs Bazar.

Hazeef Noor Mohammad had a crucial role in the death of the officer, the RAB spokesman said.

On Saturday, RAB said it arrested the commander in a Coxs Bazar raid, leading to the seizure of five more ARSA members in Tekhnafs forests.

RAB claimed to have seized two pistols, five other firearms and cash.

Commander Khandaker Al Moin said Noor Mohammad led around 30 ARSA personnel and was involved in killings, abductions, drug dealing and extortion in Kutupalongs refugee camps.

Noor joined ARSA in 2016 and is suspected of involvement in 15 murders, including the targeted killings of Rohingya leaders.

There are reports this month of fighting between ARSA and the Arakan Army in Myanmar and ARSA and the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation in Bangladesh.

No statement from ARSA was available.

ARSA first emerged in 2016 when it reportedly attacked three police outposts in Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships, followed by more attacks in 2017, allegedly killing about 12 officers. The attacks were used as an excuse by Myanmars military to drive more than 1 million Rohingya from Rakhine State into Bangladesh.

Myanmar military ruler Min Aung Hlaing threw a birthday party on Sunday for the one-year-old so-called white elephant calf he sees as natures confirmation of his greatness.

The birthday party was held at Uppatasanti Pagoda in Naypyitaw, where the elephant calf (which, in photos taken at the event, appears considerably darker than in earlier images) is kept. Min Aung Hlaing gave 5 million kyats (around US$1,700) as a birthday present for the elephant, to be used in raising it.

On July 31, his regime will issue a new banknote worth twice as much as the current highest denomination, reportedly to mark the completion of the colossal Maravijaya Buddha Image and the birthday of the white elephant.

At a ceremony at the pagoda some eight months ago, Min Aung Hlaing named the little pachyderm Rattha Nandaka, which means, in Pali, the precious white elephant beloved by the country will bring prosperity and happiness to the nation.

Critics point out that the name stands in stark contrast to the chaotic situation in the Southeast Asian nation since the coup.

While Myanmar people awaited with dread the introduction of the 20,000 kyat note, fearing it will exacerbate inflation in the country, Min Aung Hlaing, his cabinet members and military leaders were feeding bananas and sugarcane to Rattha Nandaka and other albino or unusually pale elephants.

The birthday boy, who was born in Thandwe in western Myanmars Rakhine State, was made to blow out candles on a 2-foot-square birthday cake, and release 1...