Latest news with #GlobalNewLightofMyanmar
The Hindu
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Myanmar junta claims recapture of gold mining town, Thabeikkyin
Myanmar's junta claimed on Thursday (July 24, 2025) claimed to have recaptured the gold mining town of Thabeikkyin after a year-long battle, marking its second key town regained in a week. With control of Thabeikkyin and Nawnghkio, junta forces hold two flanks of the town of Mogok — the renowned centre of Myanmar's ruby mining industry. A civil war has consumed Myanmar since a 2021 coup deposed the civilian government, with the military battling a myriad of pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic armed organisations. This year, the junta's China- and Russia-backed forces have clawed back ground on the northern front, and state media said its soldiers managed "to fully retake" the town of Thabeikkyin on Wednesday. One resident, Ye Dinn, said people had fled fighting to shelter in the forest or nearby schools and monasteries. "People have nothing to eat and no place to flee to," the 65-year-old said. Thabeikkyin, located about 100 kilometres north of the second most populous city of Mandalay, is a lucrative hive of gold mining sitting on the banks of the Irrawaddy River bisecting Myanmar. State mouthpiece the Global New Light of Myanmar said an anti-coup alliance attacked Thabeikkyin with "overwhelming strength" last August, but its counteroffensive retook the town after 17 major battles. "We are really scared," said another resident, speaking on condition of anonymity. "Nowhere is safe. We are all looking for a safe place, but people have no idea where they should go and hide." The junta last Thursday said it had recaptured the northeastern town of Nawnghkio, on another key highway towards Mandalay city, fending allied rebels back further into the fringes of the country. Earlier this week, guerrillas said they ambushed a junta flotilla of five ships sailing up the Irrawaddy north of Mandalay — another apparent sign of the military's renewed regional offensive. With control of Thabeikkyin and Nawnghkio, junta forces hold two flanks of the town of Mogok -- the renowned centre of Myanmar's ruby mining industry which rebel forces claimed last summer. Mines excavating precious metals, gemstones and rare earth elements are coveted by all factions in Myanmar's civil war, allowing them to fill their coffers and fund their offensives. Some 3.5 million people are living displaced amid the war, according to the United Nations, while more than half the nation of around 50 million now lives in poverty.
Indian Express
13-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
How Trump's letter warning tariffs became Myanmar junta's diplomatic victory
For most world leaders, receiving a tariff warning from US President Donald Trump is a diplomatic headache. For Myanmar's military junta, it's a public relations jackpot. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the junta that seized power in Myanmar in a 2021 coup, is claiming a new tariff notice from the US as a symbolic victory and even a form of international recognition. In a move that stunned many in the diplomatic community, Myanmar's state media has framed Trump's letter announcing a 40 per cent tariff on Myanmar's exports as an 'encouraging invitation' to engage with the US economy. The general, widely accused of overseeing war crimes and responsible for dismantling Myanmar's fragile democracy, said he received the letter from Trump with 'sincere appreciation.' He called it an 'honor' to be contacted directly by the US president, according to Global New Light of Myanmar, a state-run outlet. Since the 2021 coup, the US and most Western nations have refused to recognise Myanmar's junta as the country's legitimate government. Washington downgraded diplomatic ties and imposed a raft of sanctions. But Min Aung Hlaing has seized on Trump's tariff communique as a potential opening and is pushing for high-level talks with the US. In his official response, the general even offered to send a negotiation team 'as quickly as possible' to the United States to discuss trade. He also asked Washington to lift or ease sanctions, which he claimed were hindering the 'shared interests and prosperity' of both countries, a report by CNN stated. Though there's no indication the US has changed its policy or delivered the letter as part of official engagement, the junta is portraying the tariff as a backchannel signal that it still matters on the global stage. The junta's framing of the tariff letter as a diplomatic outreach, rather than economic punishment, appears calculated. By interpreting a punitive trade measure as recognition, the military leadership is trying to shift international and domestic narratives. Min Aung Hlaing used the opportunity not just to praise Trump — calling him a 'true patriot' and commending his 'strong leadership' — but also to draw parallels between Trump's baseless claims of electoral fraud and the junta's own justification for its 2021 coup. 'Similar to the challenges the President encountered during the 2020 election of the United States, Myanmar also experienced major electoral fraud and significant irregularities,' Min Aung Hlaing said in the statement, as quoted by CNN. The election he referred to, however, was deemed free and fair by international observers — and had delivered a landslide victory to Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD). Within weeks, the military voided the results and seized control, plunging Myanmar into a civil war now in its fifth year. The junta's appeal to Trump's political narrative isn't coincidental. The general also thanked the US President for 'regulating broadcasting agencies and funds' — a likely reference to Trump's cuts to US-funded media like Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, which have remained critical sources of independent reporting in Myanmar amid a harsh crackdown on the press. While Trump's administration hasn't commented on the junta's framing of the letter, and the US embassy has not confirmed any formal contact, Myanmar's rulers are using the moment to present themselves as back in the conversation — and even aligned with Trump-era ideologies. The timing is significant. Settler violence, displacement campaigns, and alleged war crimes have left Myanmar internationally isolated. The junta is eager for any opportunity to show it still has channels of influence, especially with a major power like the United States. Meanwhile, Aung San Suu Kyi remains in prison, sentenced in secretive trials, critics call politically motivated, and the civil war grinds on with no end in sight.
Hindustan Times
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Myanmar junta releases 93 child soldiers after UN criticism
By Naw Betty Han and Shoon Naing Myanmar junta releases 93 child soldiers after UN criticism July 4 - Myanmar's ruling junta said on Friday it has already discharged 93 minors from military service, responding to a United Nations report last month accusing it and its allies of recruiting over 400 children, many in combat roles. In a rare admission published in its mouthpiece newspaper, the junta said it conducted a verification process last year that resulted in the discharge of 93 verified minors, who were also provided with financial assistance. "To date, only 18 suspected minor cases remain pending verification," a government-run committee said in a statement published in the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper. Myanmar's military and the armed groups affiliated to it last year recruited 467 boys and 15 girls, including over 370 children used in combat roles, the UN Secretary-General's report on Children and Armed Conflict said. Anti-junta groups had also recruited children, the report said, although their number was far lower than that of the military. Myanmar has been in turmoil since a 2021 coup that unseated an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, causing widespread protests that morphed into a nationwide armed uprising against the powerful military. Established ethnic armies and new armed groups formed in the wake of the coup have gained control over much of Myanmar's borderlands, hemming the junta largely into the country's central plains. The struggling junta in 2024 activated a mandatory military service law, conscripting young people to replenish its depleted ranks after months of relentless fighting forced it to cede swathes of territory. Nearly 3.5 million people were internally displaced in the war-torn country, with children accounting for over 33% of that population in 2024, according to UNICEF. The largest proportion of child recruitment appears to have taken place in western Rakhine state, home to the minority Muslim Rohingya community, where the Myanmar military - along with two allies fighting there - enlisted 300 minors, according to the UN report. Reuters reported last year that children as young as 13 were fighting on the frontlines in Rakhine state, citing a U.N. official and two Rohingya fighters. Millions of Rohingya driven out of Myanmar remain confined in refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, where militant recruitment and violence surged last year. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
New Straits Times
04-07-2025
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Myanmar junta releases 93 child soldiers after UN criticism
NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar's ruling junta said today it has already discharged 93 minors from military service, responding to a United Nations report last month accusing it and its allies of recruiting over 400 children, many in combat roles. In a rare admission published in its mouthpiece newspaper, the junta said it conducted a verification process last year that resulted in the discharge of 93 verified minors, who were also provided with financial assistance. "To date, only 18 suspected minor cases remain pending verification," a government-run committee said in a statement published in the 'Global New Light of Myanmar' newspaper. Myanmar's military and the armed groups affiliated to it last year recruited 467 boys and 15 girls, including over 370 children used in combat roles, the UN Secretary-General's report on Children and Armed Conflict said. Anti-junta groups had also recruited children, the report said, although their number was far lower than that of the military. Myanmar has been in turmoil since a 2021 coup that unseated an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, causing widespread protests that morphed into a nationwide armed uprising against the powerful military. Established ethnic armies and new armed groups formed in the wake of the coup have gained control over much of Myanmar's borderlands, hemming the junta largely into the country's central plains. The struggling junta in 2024 activated a mandatory military service law, conscripting young people to replenish its depleted ranks after months of relentless fighting forced it to cede swathes of territory. Nearly 3.5 million people were internally displaced in the war-torn country, with children accounting for over 33 per cent of that population in 2024, according to UNICEF. The largest proportion of child recruitment appears to have taken place in western Rakhine state, home to the minority Muslim Rohingya community, where the Myanmar military -- along with two allies fighting there -- enlisted 300 minors, according to the UN report. Reuters reported last year that children as young as 13 were fighting on the frontlines in Rakhine state, citing a UN official and two Rohingya fighters. Millions of Rohingya driven out of Myanmar remain confined in refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, where militant recruitment and violence surged last year.
The Hindu
04-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Myanmar junta releases 93 child soldiers after UN criticism
Myanmar's ruling junta said on Friday (July 4, 2025) it has already discharged 93 minors from military service, responding to a United Nations report last month accusing it and its allies of recruiting over 400 children, many in combat roles. In a rare admission published in its mouthpiece newspaper, the junta said it conducted a verification process last year that resulted in the discharge of 93 verified minors, who were also provided with financial assistance. "To date, only 18 suspected minor cases remain pending verification," a government-run committee said in a statement published in the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper. Myanmar's military and the armed groups affiliated to it last year recruited 467 boys and 15 girls, including over 370 children used in combat roles, the UN Secretary-General's report on Children and Armed Conflict said. Anti-junta groups had also recruited children, the report said, although their number was far lower than that of the military. Myanmar has been in turmoil since a 2021 coup that unseated an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, causing widespread protests that morphed into a nationwide armed uprising against the powerful military. Established ethnic armies and new armed groups formed in the wake of the coup have gained control over much of Myanmar's borderlands, hemming the junta largely into the country's central plains. The struggling junta in 2024 activated a mandatory military service law, conscripting young people to replenish its depleted ranks after months of relentless fighting forced it to cede swathes of territory. Nearly 3.5 million people were internally displaced in the war-torn country, with children accounting for over 33% of that population in 2024, according to UNICEF. The largest proportion of child recruitment appears to have taken place in western Rakhine state, home to the minority Muslim Rohingya community, where the Myanmar military — along with two allies fighting there — enlisted 300 minors, according to the U.N. report. Reuters reported last year that children as young as 13 were fighting on the frontlines in Rakhine state, citing a U.N. official and two Rohingya fighters. Millions of Rohingya driven out of Myanmar remain confined in refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh, where militant recruitment and violence surged last year.
