Myanmar’s 15-month-old military junta is suffering a diplomatic downgrade as Western and some Southeast Asian neighbors are withholding ambassadorial appointments to the country and increasingly meeting with elected officials overthrown by the army early last year, diplomats said. The trend of posting a number two in missions comes as the junta has been shunned by
UPDATED at 7:00 P.M. EDT on 2022-05-13 U.S. President Joe Biden declared to Southeast Asian leaders on Friday that “our relationship with you is the future,” as he wound up a summit with the ASEAN bloc of nations aimed at shoring up trans-Pacific ties and countering China’s heavy influence in the region. Biden’s remarks to
Malaysia’s top diplomat has revealed he’s had contact with the Burmese shadow government, the first ASEAN country to acknowledge such an interaction, as activists lambasted the bloc on the anniversary of its failed five-point plan to restore democracy in Myanmar. Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah was responding Sunday to an open letter from a Southeast Asian
A reward program offered by Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG) to junta soldiers who defect with jets, helicopters and other vehicles is likely to test the loyalty of the military’s lower ranks, according to former servicemen. Earlier this month, the NUG announced that it was offering cash rewards of up to U.S. $300,000 equivalent
Homes, other residential or commercial property seized Junta authorities have on the other hand stepped up their confiscation of property owned by opposition figures, with almost 100 houses coming from National League for Democracy (NLD) members took within the last 13 months, 60 of them taken since the beginning of 2022, NLD sources say. Authorities
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is holding hearings this week to figure out whether it has jurisdiction to evaluate if atrocities committed by the Myanmar armed force against Rohingya Muslims made up a genocide. The West African nation of Gambia filed a case at the ICJ in November 2019 implicating Myanmar of breaching the
Protesters burn a photo of Myanmars military chief Min Aung Hlaing during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon, Nov. 10, 2021. Credit: AFP. A year earlier, the commander-in-chief of Myanmars military staged a coup detat, damaging hopes for democratic reform and pitching the country into turmoil. Today, the military is sticking to power
