The situation in Myanmar, a Southeast Asian country that is currently under the rule of a military junta since the coup d’état that took place in February 2021, is increasingly serious and alarming.
According to the latest surveys by the United Nations (UN), around 3,000 civilians have been violently killed in recent years and thousands more have had to flee the country because of security forces, which brutally repress any form of violence. resistance or protest against the joint.
Western countries have condemned the coup and human rights violations in Myanmar, but concrete actions to put pressure on the military junta have been limited and ineffective. The UN even recommended a global arms embargo on the country, but two permanent members of the organization’s Security Council, China and Russia, do not support or follow this recommendation.
In 2022, UN Special Envoy to Myanmar Tom Andrews claimed that China and Russia were supplying weapons to the military junta and that these weapons were being used to attack civilians holding protests across the country.
Andrews said in a statement that even with clear evidence that the military in power was committing brutal crimes with the weapons arriving in the country, the Xi Jinping regime and the government of Vladimir Putin continued to negotiate and supply fighter and armored planes to Myanmar.
In May of this year, Tom Andrews released a new report, in which he pointed out that Myanmar’s military junta continues to receive weapons from China and Russia on an ongoing basis. According to the data, the country’s military junta imported more than US$ 670 million (about R$ 3.2 billion) in military equipment from both countries.
“Since the coup, entities within the Russian Federation, including state-owned ones, have sent at least $406 million worth of weapons, raw materials and supplies to Myanmar’s armed forces,” the report said.
The document also pointed out that a total of 41 suppliers located in China and 28 suppliers located in Russia are responsible for shipping these weapons to the Myanmar military. “Sixteen of these suppliers [russos] have been sanctioned by Member States [do Conselho de Segurança da ONU] for their involvement in the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine,” he added.
Andrews said the continued post-coup transfers of weapons to Myanmar’s military “violate international humanitarian law”.
In the report, the UN representative revealed that the transfer of these weapons by China and Russia to the country are “indisputably being done with real knowledge [de ambos os países] of the illegal use of them by the military in Myanmar”, since the transfers take place in the midst of “bombings carried out by the junta against civilians” that “are continuously reported by the media”. These arms transfers “have had a devastating impact on the people of Myanmar,” the document says.
The report points out that Russian and Chinese weaponry have been used in indiscriminate attacks against civilians, including schools, medical facilities and critical infrastructure. Russian Mi-35 attack helicopters, Yak-130 and MiG-29 jets have been sighted in attacks across different regions of the country. In addition, Chinese K-8 and FTC-2000G fighters are used in ground attacks, contributing to a situation of generalized violence.
“The transfer of FTC-2000G fighters in December 2022 increases the likelihood of further air strikes against civilians,” said the report, on the deployment of the Chinese aircraft to the Myanmar military late last year.
The report also noted that “shipments of raw materials (which include steel tubes and wires; copper; aluminums; rubbers and lubricants) made by the Chinese are likely to support the military’s domestic weapons production in weapons factories scattered across the country.”
According to Andrews, negotiations for the transfer of weapons and the supply of foreign currency that help keep the military junta in charge of Myanmar have been taking place through unsanctioned channels such as the state oil company Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise ( MOGE) and the Foreign Trade Bank of Myanmar, which have not faced significant sanctions to date.
political interest
China is Myanmar’s main political and economic ally, in addition to being its biggest arms supplier today. The Asian country led by the Chinese Communist Party has strategic interests in the neighboring country, first, because oil and gas pipelines that carry energy to the south of China pass through there, and secondly, because Myanmar is part of the New Silk Road project, an initiative China that aims to expand its influence in the Asian region and other parts of the world.
The Xi Jinping regime has advocated a “peaceful and dialogued solution to the crisis in Myanmar”. However, it has blocked UN attempts to impose sanctions or tougher measures on the country. Beijing fears that outside intervention could destabilize the region and harm its global interests.
Russia has close ties with Myanmar’s military junta, especially in the defense sector. In addition to selling arms and military equipment to the country, Moscow has also offered training and technical cooperation to the military in power. In March 2021, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin visited Myanmar and met with General Min Aung Hlaing, leader of the coup military junta, to whom he expressed his “support” and “companionship”.
Russia has positioned itself against any interference in Myanmar’s internal affairs and has also vetoed UN initiatives to condemn the coup and impose an arms embargo. Moscow argues that sanctions “would only aggravate the situation” and that it is necessary to “respect Myanmar’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
The military junta, led by General Hlaing, does not recognize the result of the November 2020 elections, which gave victory to the National League for Democracy party, of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently imprisoned and faces several charges. The military allege that there was “electoral fraud”, but have not presented any proof.
Demonstrations and deaths
Since the coup, millions of people have taken to the streets to demand the return of democracy, free elections and the release of political prisoners, including Suu Kyi, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Protesters face gunshots, bombs, arbitrary arrests , torture and disappearances. Many activists, journalists, artists, doctors and students had to take refuge in the jungle or in neighboring countries to escape persecution.
In April of this year, an attack carried out by the country’s military junta against civilians in the village of Pazi Gyi, in the Sagaing region of northwest Myanmar, resulted in the death of approximately 170 people. Among them were about 40 children. The military justified the attack by stating that the “opening ceremony of an office of the People’s Defense Forces,” an armed group fighting the coup, was being held at the site.
The attack highlighted the huge impact of the uncontrolled arms trade on the Myanmar army. Andrews’ report noted that Russian Yak-130 aircraft, controlled by Myanmar security forces, dropped the bombs on the village and Mi-35 helicopters were used to fire on civilians.
“The bombs, machine guns and ammunition probably depended on raw materials supplied by private entities operating in China, Singapore and also in Thailand”, he points out.
In May, the UN denounced that the military junta was not allowing humanitarian aid access to Myanmar, which was suffering from the consequences of the passage of Cyclone Mocha. The cyclone left hundreds dead and injured across different regions of the country.
At the time, information published by the Portuguese news website RTP stated that the state of Rakhine, which is located in western Myanmar, had been the place that raised the greatest concern from humanitarian organizations, as the state was already in a critical situation. Rakhine is home to hundreds of members of the Rohingya Muslim minority – who are persecuted by the army and have lived in isolation in refugee camps for years.
Suu Kyi herself, after becoming leader of the country in 2016, had her image tarnished by accusations of having covered up and even defended human rights violations committed by the military against the Rohingya, classified as genocide by the UN.
This month, a report released by the Oslo Peace Research Institute (PRIO) revealed that at least 6,000 civilians have been killed since the military junta took power in Myanmar. This number is significantly higher than reported by the United Nations. The report “Counting Myanmar’s Dead – Reported Civilian Casualties Since the 2021 Military Coup” found that the army, police and militias affiliated with Myanmar’s military junta were responsible for more than 3,000 civilian deaths, which were reported between February 2021 and September 2022.
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