The price of pharmaceuticals has risen and stocks are low ahead of the release of new 20,000 kyats banknotes by Myanmars junta this month.

After the note announcement, the US dollar rate hit nearly 3,500 kyats, which affected the drugs market as Myanmar imports around 85 percent of its medicines.

Drugs for high-blood pressure, coronary heart disease, antibiotics for lung problems and diabetes have increased by 10 to 40 percent this week after steady rises for a year with some companies currently halting sales, according to Yangon pharmacists.

The prices of contraceptive medicines like OK and Marvelon 28 had risen 15 to 76 percent by Tuesday.

All prescription medicine prices have increased. We have to sell at 10 percent higher than the original price but some pharmacies sell at higher prices, a North Okkalapa Township pharmacist told The Irrawaddy.

Another pharmacist said the weak kyat affected some distributors, with some companies storing medicines knowing prices would rise ahead of the banknote release.

Patients are forced to buy alternative, worse medicines at a higher price, a distributor told The Irrawaddy.

Patients who were buying the Portuguese medicine Cinnarizine, for instance, are now looking for alternatives from Thailand, which might be lower quality.

A Yangon resident said she is struggling to find liver cancer medicines for her brother.

The pharmacy could not help me and a private hospital refused to sell them to me and told me to go back to my brothers hospital. I was really angry. Why do they want to be so difficult? she told The Irrawaddy.

She bought a reduced quantity of medicines at a private hospital at an inflated price.

The new 20,000 kyats banknotes have sparked fears of inflation and led to hoarding among consumers who can afford to buy in large quantities, boosting inflationary pressures.

A North Dagon Township resident told The Irrawaddy: I normally buy blood pressure and diabetes medicines for my father for a month but now I get them only for a week.

Ukrainian military analysts say mortar rounds from Myanmar are being used by Russias military in Ukraine.

Ukrainian military affairs website Militarnyi, also known as the Ukrainian Military Center, reported on Wednesday that 120mm mortar rounds manufactured by Myanmars military are being used in Ukraine.

Militarnyi said Ukraine Weapons Tracker analysts had confirmed the reports.

Most markings were erased but the shape of the fins, residual markings and fuses identified the shells, said Militarnyi, which monitors Russias invasion.

War Noir, an independent weapons researcher, tweeted on Wednesday: Several photos posted by the combatants of Russian forces display that the RuAF (Russia Aerospace Forces) started to operate 12ER mortar bombs originally produced by Myanmar. These are apparently supplied by the junta in Myanmar recently.

Customs data was used by Nikkei Asia last month to report that Russia is buying back weapons previously shipped to Myanmar and India.

It said Russia may be reimporting weapons to meet a shortfall on the frontline with the help of long-lasting allies.

Junta sources said the mortar rounds are from Myanmar militarys Directorate of Defence Industries, also known as Ka Pa Sa.

They are Myanmar-made. They are manufactured at Ka Pa SAs factory along with 60mm and 105mm rounds, said a warrant officer in Myanmars weapons sector.

But the Ukrainian photos do not match the standard motor rounds produced at the factory in Padaung Township, Bago Region.

The factory source said the ammunition might be produced specifically for Russia or be an updated design.

...

Family members and residents fear for the lives of four Christian religious leaders who have gone missing after being detained by junta forces in Mindat Township, Chin State, the Mindat Peoples Administration said on Thursday.

On July 16, drunken junta troops from Infantry Battalion 274 based in Mindat abducted a pastor and three church elders from a church in a residential ward of Mindat town.

The junta had allowed the church to be used as a shelter for displaced people fleeing clashes between regime forces and the Chin resistance.

The township peoples administration said junta troops arrested the four church members on the pretext that too many motorbikes were found at the displacement shelter.

When first contacted about the situation of the detainees, military forces told church officials and family members that they were still interrogating the four Christian leaders.

But after a second inquiry on Wednesday, the military base said it did not know about the detainees.

The administration group said all four detainees are now believed to have been killed by junta troops during interrogation.

A Mindat Peoples Administration official told Chin media outlet Khonumthung that residents living near the military base heard sounds of the detainees being tortured.

However, the military denied any knowledge of the detainees when asked to return the bodies of the Christian leaders, the official said.

The peoples administration condemned the military regime for arresting and killing religious leaders.

On April 10, a Christian pastor was among nine Chin residents killed in Chins Falam Township when junta aircraft bombed civilian targets in Waybula town, according to the Chin National Front, which has formed the Chin National Army (CNA) to confront the junta.

Two Chin pastors were also detained and tortured to death by junta forces in Chins Kanpetlet Township and nearby Saw Township in Magwe Region in early December 2021.

In September 2021, junta forces shot dead a pastor and cut off his finger to steal his wedding ring during a clash with resistance fighters in Thantlang town, Chin State.

With the juntas six-month state of emergency expiring on Monday, Myanmar people and observers have one question on their minds: whats next?

One possibility is that the regime will again violate the Constitution to extend the emergency for another six months from July 31. The junta has so far extended it three times, most recently in February. The Constitution permits only two six-month extensions.

An alternative option would be for the junta to form an interim government with retired generals to maintain its rule under the guise of a civilian administration.

Speculation about Myanmars post-July 31 political landscape is being fueled by the juntas recent political moves, as it struggles to quell a two-year-old nationwide popular armed resistance.

On July 9, the regime allowed Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai to meet the imprisoned Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, making him the first foreign visitor to gain access to her since the coup in February 2021.

Two weeks on, it reportedly transferred the civilian leader from prison to house arrest this week. She then reportedly met with Ti Khun Myat, the Lower House Speaker under her National League for Democracy (NLD) government prior to the 2021 putsch. She is also likely to meet Deng Xijuan, Chinas special envoy for Asian Affairs, who is visiting the country.

The regimes spokesperson told Voice of America Burmese on Friday that he had no idea about these developments from Daw Aung San Suu Kyis house arrest to the meetings.

This coming Tuesday, the junta is likely to announce an amnesty for political prisoners to mark the consecration of its new giant sitting Buddha statue. Some sources said the amnesty announcement would incorporate Daw Aung San Suu Kyis house arrest along with the transfer of other NLD government leaders like President U Win Myint and Mandalay Chief Minister Dr Zaw Myint Maung from prison to home confinement.

Yet for all these developments and more in the pipeline, analysts expect no meaningful changes in Myanmar after July 31.

They point out that the transfer of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from prison to house arrest is another tactic used by the junta to ease international pressure against its rule. The previous military regime that ran Myanmar from 1988 until early 2011 also allowed visiting foreign envoys to see her whenever it faced mounting international pressure.

Some observers say the extension of emergency rule remains a strong possibility, given junta boss Min Aung Hlaing recently hinted to his Cabinet that much remains to be done to restore stability and rule of law across the union.

However, analysts do not dismiss the possibility of an interim government being formed with ex-generals. But they said the chances were thin given Min...

Myanmar junta cronies gathered around regime leader Min Aung Hlaing on Sunday and donated cash for the colossal Maravijaya Buddha statue in Naypyitaw.

The statue is due to be consecrated on August 1 and the list of those attending events has been used to chart who is showing solidarity with Min Aung Hlaing.

He first officially invited his business allies to the site on June 29 with a second event on Sunday.

Present on Sunday were former actress Nandar Hlaing, daughter-in-law of Zaykabar Co owner Khin Shwe, assistant to ex-dictator Than Shwe Dr Tha Yin Myint, U Yang Ho, Shwe Than Lwin Co owner Kyaw Win and business owners with ties to military-owned conglomerates Myanmar Economic Corporation and Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd.

Min Aung Hlaing thanked former dictator Than Shwe for donating the giant marble block to Myanmars military in 2017.

At the first donation in late June, 101 business owners contributed over 16 billion kyats (about US$4.8 million). Present were CB Bank founder U Khin Maung Aye, Max Myanmar Group of Companies chairman U Zaw Zaw, Tun Myint Naing of Asia World, U Zaw Win Shein of Ayeyar Hinthar Holdings, Yuzana Co founder U Htay Myint, Dagon Company founder U Win Aung and Shwe Thanlwin Co owner U Kyaw Win.

On Sunday, Min Aung Hlaing received 17.4 billion kyats from 377 individuals. A notable donor was former spy chief Khin Nyunt.

The ex-general reportedly has Alzheimers disease and did not attend Sundays event.

Min Aung Hlaing visited Khin Nyunt at his Yangon house in late 2021 and reportedly offered treatment at military hospitals and had Khin Nyunts pension restored.

Khin Nyunt, who was notorious for masterminding deadly interrogations and prosecutions of political dissidents, was purged in 2004 by former dictator Than Shwe. He was given a 44-year prison sentence which was later commuted to house arrest. He was freed in a 2011 amnesty by Thein Seins quasi-civilian government.

Shwe Hmaw Wun, a charity founded by Khin Nyunt, donated 300 million kyats to the construction in the name of Khin Nyunt and his wife.

Khin Nyunt founded the charity after his release with 7.5 million kyats of his own money and 2.5 million kyats from prominent Buddhist monk Sitagu Sayadaw, who funded Khin Nyunt after his prison release.

On July 16, Min Aung Hlaing gathered ex-generals in Maravijaya Park, including acting president Myint Swe, former president Thein Sein, former Union Election Commission chair Tin Aye and Union Solidarity and Development Party chair Khin Yi.

US-sanctioned Pyae Phyo Tay Za, son...

At least 15 Myanmar junta troops were killed in the last three days as resistance groups and ethnically Karen armed organizations continued to attack regime targets.

The incidents were reported in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Karen State.

The Irrawaddy has collected the following reports of significant attacks on junta forces.

The junta casualties could not be independently verified.

Junta troops targeted with drones and mines

Many regime soldiers are believed to have been killed and injured in Myinmu Township, Sagaing Region, on Thursday when resistance groups conducted drone strikes and landmine ambushes on a junta unit, according to the Black Eagle Defense Force in Myinmu that joined the attacks.

Groups used a drone to drop two bombs on around 50 troops on Thursday while they moved through the township. Four soldiers were killed and others injured in the drone strikes, the groups said.

The groups then used two landmines to ambush a junta vehicle between two villages while it was supposedly transporting injured soldiers to Myinmu town. More soldiers are believed to have been killed, the groups said.

Repeated junta bombing in Sagaing

Salingyi Special Task Force said it and three other resistance groups used fixed-wing drones to bomb a junta unit at Kyar Tat village police station on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The junta casualties were unknown.

...

YANGONMyanmar civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted in a 2021 military coup, has been moved from prison to a government building, an official from her party said Friday.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved to a high-level venue compound on Monday night, an official from the National League for Democracy told AFP Friday on condition of anonymity.

The ousted civilian leader has been seen only once since she was held after the February 1, 2021 putsch in grainy state media photos from a bare courtroom in the military-built capital Naypyidaw.

The coup plunged the Southeast Asian nation into a conflict that has displaced more than one million people, according to the United Nations.

The party official also confirmed Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had met the countrys lower house speaker Ti Khun Myat and was likely to meet Deng Xijuan, Chinas special envoy for Asian Affairs, who is visiting the country.

A source from another political party said she had been moved to a VIP compound in Naypyidaw.

There have been concerns about the health of the Nobel laureate, 78, since her detention, including during her sprawling trial in a junta court that required her to attend hearings almost daily.

She has been sentenced to 33 years in jail for a clutch of charges, including corruption, possession of illegal walkie talkies and flouting coronavirus restrictions.

Rights groups slammed her trial as a sham and a tool designed to remove the popular leader from politics.

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...