The Kachin Independence Army since December has been battling the junta over the town of Bhamo, less than 100 km (62 miles) from the Chinese border, as part of the civil war that erupted after the military’s 2021 coup.

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Myanmar‘s ruling military declared a temporary ceasefire in the country’s civil war Wednesday to facilitate relief efforts following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that has killed more than 3,000 people.

The announcement by the military‘s high command was reported late Wednesday on state television MRTV, which said the truce would run until April 22 and was aimed at showing compassion for people affected by Friday’s quake.

The announcement followed unilateral temporary ceasefires announced by armed resistance groups opposed to military rule. Those groups must refrain from attacking the state, or regrouping, or else the military will take “necessary” measures, the army’s statement said.

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Source: https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20250402-myanmar-civil-war-hampers-rescue-efforts-after-devastating-earthquake

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A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand on Friday, destroying buildings, damaging roads and bridges, and leaving more than 150 people dead.

The 7.7 magnitude quake struck at midday about 10 miles from Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city with a population of about 1.5 million. Strong aftershocks followed, including one that was measured at 6.4 magnitude, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

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Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/earthquake-rocks-myanmar-and-thailand-heartbreaking-photos-video-show-extent-of-devastation-181536365.html

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Insurgent forces in Myanmar’s Mandalay region have captured the gem-mining town of Mogoke from military junta forces, a Ta’ang National Liberation Army spokeswoman told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday.

The TNLA is part of an alliance of three ethnic minority insurgent forces that ended a five-month ceasefire on June 25 following weeks of junta aerial attacks.

Since then, the group has been fighting for territory in Mogoke and in Shan state’s Nawnghkio, Kyaukme, Mongmit and Hsipaw townships.

The TNLA captured the west of Mogoke town on July 16, and has been fighting for control of the east since July 18.

On Wednesday, TNLA spokesperson Lway Yay Oo confirmed to RFA that the TNLA and its allied forces have seized control of the last four military junta camps in Mogoke.

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Source: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/mogoke-tnla-military-junta-07242024154259.html

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New Delhi said earlier this year it would fence the border and end a decades-old visa-free movement policy with coup-hit Myanmar for border citizens for reasons of national security and to maintain the demographic structure of its northeastern region.

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A large crowd of Indonesian students stormed a convention centre housing hundreds of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in the city of Banda Aceh on Wednesday, demanding they be deported, Reuters footage showed.

A city police spokesperson in Banda Aceh did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Footage showed the students, many wearing green jackets, run into the building’s large basement space, where crowds of Rohingya men, women and children were seated on the floor and crying in fear.

The Rohingya were then led out by authorities, some carrying their belongings in plastic sacks, and taken to trucks to transport them to alternative shelter, as the protesters looked on.

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Source: https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3246422/indonesian-protesters-storm-refugee-shelter-call-deportation-rohingya

[Disclaimer]

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken condemned reports that the Burmese military took control of the country and detained senior leaders—including Aung San Suu Kyi, its de facto leader—and called for the military to “reverse these actions immediately.”

Myawaddy TV, which is controlled by the military, announced the takeover and cited a section of the military-drafted constitution that allows the military to take control in times of national emergency. The presenter said the reason for the takeover was, in part due, to the government’s failure to act on the military’s claims of voter fraud in last November’s election and its failure to postpone the election because of the coronavirus crisis. A state of emergency has been declared for a year.

FILE – In this May 6, 2016, file photo, Aung San Suu Kyi, left, Myanmar’s foreign minister, walks with senior General Min Aung Hlaing, right, Myanmar military’s commander-in-chief, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo, File)

The National League for Democracy, which is led by Suu Kyi, said in a statement obtained by Reuters that those in the country should reject the military actions.

“The actions of the military are actions to put the country back under a dictatorship,” the statement read. “I urge people not to accept this, to respond and wholeheartedly to protest against the coup by the military.”

Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said the U.S. is “alarmed” by reports from Burma. President Biden has been briefed on the unfolding situation by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

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Pope Francis has made dialogue with Islam a cornerstone of his papacy, which began in 2013, and visited several countries with large Muslim populations.

In February he will become the first pontiff to go to the Arabian Peninsula when he visits the United Arab Emirates. He is scheduled to travel to Morocco in March.

Here is a recap of some of his other trips to meet Muslims.

– Jordan, Palestinian territories, Israel –

In May 2014 Pope Francis receives a warm welcome in Jordan’s capital Amman from King Abdullah II and meets with Syrian refugees.

Pope Francis prays at Israel’s separation barrier with the West Bank at Bethlehem in 2014

A day later he begins a pilgrimage to the Holy Land at Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, stopping off for a silent prayer at the controversial separation wall erected by the Israelis.

Francis also visits some of the most sacred sites in Islam and Judaism, including the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and the Western Wall.

– Albania –

In September the same year he visits Albania where he praises the peaceful coexistence of its Catholics, Orthodox Christians and Muslims, labelling it “a precious gift to the country”.

Francis says it is especially important “in these times where an authentic religious spirit is being perverted and where religious differences are being distorted”.

– Turkey –

In November 2014 he travels to Turkey where there is a comparatively tiny Christian community — just 80,000 among about 75 million Muslims.

In Istanbul’s famous Blue Mosque, Francis clasps his hands in prayer alongside a senior Islamic cleric, a gesture of fraternity with Islam similar to that of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, in the same place eight years before.

While the pope defends the alliance of religions against terrorism, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, responds by issuing a strong warning about “seriously and rapidly” rising Islamophobia in the world.

– Central Africa –

Pope Francis in Central African Republic in 2015, when he called for peace between Christians and Muslims

In November 2015 Pope Francis is given a rapturous welcome in the Central African Republic, a country plagued by sectarian violence.

During his 26 hours there, he visits a mosque in Bangui’s flashpoint PK5 Muslim neighbourhood where he says Christians and Muslims are “brothers”.

“Together, we must say no to hatred, to revenge and to violence,” he says.

Among the crowd are several Muslims from PK5 wearing T-shirts bearing the pope’s image.

– Azerbaijan –

In October 2016 the pontiff makes a brief visit to mainly Muslim Azerbaijan, a volatile ex-Soviet Caucasus region.

There he praises the “benefits of multiculturalism and of the necessary complementary of cultures” where the different religions practice “mutual collaboration and respect”.

– Egypt –

A poster welcomes Pope Francis to Egypt in 2017

In April 2017 Francis pays the second papal visit to Egypt of modern times, 17 years after that of pope John Paul II.

In a country where 10 percent of the population of 92 million is Coptic Christian, he says “true faith” depends on “the culture of encounter, dialogue, respect and fraternity.”

He visits Al-Azhar university, one of the Muslim world’s leading religious authorities with whom the Vatican’s ties soured in 2006 when Benedict XVI made a speech in which he was seen as linking Islam to violence.

– Myanmar and Bangladesh –

In December 2017, during a visit to Bangladesh, the pope asks for “forgiveness” from Muslim Rohingya refugees who have fled persecution in neighbouring Myanmar in their hundreds of thousands.

“In the name of all those who have persecuted you, who have harmed you, in the face of the world’s indifference, I ask for your forgiveness,” he says after meeting 16 Rohingya refugees.

The pontiff had just made a four-day visit to Myanmar where he called on Buddhist clergy to conquer “prejudice and hatred”, without explicitly referring to the Rohingyas.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-6652101/Pope-Francis-reaching-Muslims.html

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Filippo Grandi told reporters in the Bangladeshi town of Cox’s Bazar that the needs of the more than 430,000 people who have fled terrible violence in Myanmar over the last month are enormous and that the international community must step up financial and material aid to Bangladesh if the South Asian nation is to be able to help the refugees.

The latest round of violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state erupted when a Rohingya insurgent group launched deadly attacks on security posts Aug. 25, prompting Myanmar’s military to launch “clearance operations” to root out the rebels.

Those fleeing have described indiscriminate attacks by security forces and Buddhist mobs. The government has blamed the Rohingya, saying they set fire to their own homes, but has provided no proof.

The U.N. and others have described the violence as ethnic cleansing. Rohingya have faced persecution and discrimination in majority-Buddhist Myanmar for decades and are denied citizenship, even though many families have lived there for generations.

The government says that there is no such ethnicity as Rohingya and that they are Bengalis who illegally migrated to Myanmar from Bangladesh.

Grandi toured the massive refugee camps that have sprung up to accommodate the new refugees. Cox’s Bazar also has a large Rohingya camp that has housed Rohingya fleeing persecution over the decades.

Another 300,000 older refugees make their home in these camps.

“This has been since the 25th of August the fastest and most urgent refugee emergency in the world,” Grandi said. “I was struck by the incredible magnitude of their needs. They need everything.

They need food, they need clean water, they need shelter, they need proper health care,” he said. Grandi said he was thankful that Bangladesh’s government had kept its borders open for the terrified Rohingya “in a world that has often turned hostile to refugees.”

He said that the Rohingya need a long-term solution beyond helping ease their immediate suffering and added that “just like the causes of the influx are in Myanmar, clearly the solution is in Myanmar as well.”

He said that Myanmar must end the violence that has caused such a vast number of people to flee their homes and to grant human rights organizations like his access to areas where the violence had taken place.

He said that while UNHCR and the World Food Program have a presence in Rakhine, “our movement is still restricted. This has to be restored so that we can help those who have not come over.”

“The information that we have is very patchy,” Grandi said. “But we know that there are people on the other side and under pressure and we know that there are people who are displaced internally in northern Rakhine.”

Last week, Myanmar’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, said in a televised national address that the worst of the violence in Rakhine state was over. She said that the “great majority” of Muslims within the conflict zone stayed and that “more than 50 per cent of their villages were intact.”

However, Amnesty International said in a statement Friday that new satellite images and videos showed smoke rising from Rohingya Muslim villages in Rakhine.

The London-based group said its sources in Rakhine claim the fires were started by members of the Myanmar security forces and vigilante mobs.

Source: https://globalnews.ca/news/3765635/united-nations-myanmar-crisis-most-urgent-refugee-emergency/

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