Page 9 - Myanmar

Bhutan unveils Gelephu City project extending from India to SouthEast Asia

"We are in a unique position to reap great benefits if we seize the opportunity, make good plans, and work together diligently," said the Bhutanese King in his address

The Myanmar puzzle

India must rethink its traditional position

War-wracked Myanmar now world's top opium producer, says UN agency

Myanmar, already wracked by a brutal civil war, has regained the unenviable title of the world's biggest opium producer, according to a UN agency report released on Tuesday. The Southeast Asian country's opium output has topped that of Afghanistan, where the ruling Taliban imposed a ban on its production, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in its Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2023." The Taliban's ban has led to a 95 per cent drop in the cultivation of opium poppies, UNODC said last month. Opium, the base from which morphine and heroin are produced, is harvested from poppy flowers. From 2022 to 2023, Myanmar saw the estimated amount of land used to grow the illicit crop increase 18 per cent to 47,100 hectares (116,400 acres), the new UNODC report said. Although the area under cultivation has not returned to historic peaks of nearly 58,000 ha (143,300 acres) cultivated in 2013, after three consecutive years of increases, poppy cultivation in Myanmar is expanding and ...

China brokered peace talks to de-escalate northeast fighting: Myanmar govt

Myanmar's military government confirmed Monday that it has been holding talks, brokered by China, with representatives of an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups against which it is engaged in fierce combat in the country's northeast. Fighting has been raging in northern part of Shan state since the Arakan Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army, calling themselves the Three Brotherhood Alliance, launched a coordinated offensive on Oct. 27. Their attacks have posed the greatest battlefield challenge to Myanmar's military rulers since the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. Much of the fighting is along Myanmar's border with China, blocking cross-border trade and raising concern in Beijing. It also threatens further political destabilization of Myanmar, a strategic ally of China that is already tangled in civil war in many parts of the country. The alliance's offensive sparked ...

Apollo Hospitals' operator rejects allegations of illegal kidney transplant

UK's Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday that Apollo was embroiled in a "cash for kidneys" racket in which impoverished people from Myanmar were being enticed to sell their organs for profit

Cash-for-kidneys scam: Ministry orders inquiry against Apollo Hospitals

According to the Telegraph report, poor people from Myanmar "are being flown" to the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Delhi to sell "their kidneys to rich Burmese patients"

China raises stakes in cyberscam crackdown in Myanmar, despite loopholes

China is ramping up a crackdown on online scams operated by criminal syndicates in border areas of military-ruled Myanmar in an effort that has included a shootout, confession videos and national TV broadcasts of arrests of high-profile suspects. But the drive has been confined to a limited area and appears unlikely to root out the kingpins behind the human trafficking and other illicit activities aimed at cheating people of their savings via phone calls and online overtures, schemes that are thought to generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue a year. Over the summer, China announced a series of joint operations with neighbouring countries that led to thousands of people being returned to China, many of whom had been lured by the promise of high-paying jobs. Experts say many are victims who were forced into conducting the scams. Those campaigns did not include arrests of ring leaders in Myanmar. As soon as we discover them, we hand them over, said Lu Jiantang, the vice-chair

Myanmar, China conduct naval drills as fighting surges in border area

Myanmar and China are conducting naval drills together as the military government in the Southeast Asian nation loses ground in its northeast border region to a coalition of militias that also has strong ties to Beijing. State-run Myanma Alinn newspaper said Wednesday that three Chinese vessels were anchored in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, and that officials from both nations met Tuesday to discuss the maritime security exercises. The Chinese vessels the destroyer Zibo, frigate Jing Zhou and supply ship Qian Dao Hu carry about 700 sailors and arrived at the Myanmar port Monday. The report didn't give more details on the drills. Myanmar's military seized power from an elected government in 2021 and since has been in armed conflict with pro-democracy forces and ethnic militias. The visit of the Chinese vessels comes during an upsurge in violence on Myanmar's border with China by the Three Brotherhood Alliance, a group of militias that launched a coordinated offensive against the

China calls for cease-fire in Myanmar fighting, continues its border drills

Beijing called for a cease-fire in Myanmar after a coalition of ethnic fighters seized several crossings along Myanmar's border with China in the past month. However, China will continue live-firing drills on its side of the frontier aimed at testing the mobility, border control abilities and firepower capabilities of the military units so that the People's Liberation Army is ready for any emergency, the army newspaper PLA Daily said on Sunday. Myanmar heavily relies on trade with China, especially for importing manufactured goods and exporting agricultural products. Unrest in Myanmar's border region has been a constant irritant to China, which nevertheless backed the military leaders who seized power in the Southeast Asian nation in 2021 from an elected government. Yet China is highly wary of conflicts spilling over the shared border that is already rife with drug trafficking and people smuggling. Cybercrime targeting Chinese victims has become a major concern, and China has pushe

Foreign nationals, aid workers moved to safety from Myanmar fighting

An alliance of ethnic minority insurgents allied with a pro-democracy parallel civilian government launched an offensive late last month against the ruling military

75 army personnel who entered Mizoram taken back to Myanmar: DGP

Two major camps were overrun and because of that around 75 Myanmar army personnel entered Mizoram. We rescued them and also handed over them to our border guarding force Assam Rifles :DGP

We have no future here: Myanmar nationals fear going back amid clashes

Despite losing everything, the people of Sekan village who are taking refuge in India are hopeful to return to their native country

Over 26,000 people displaced amid renewed fighting in Myanmar, says UN

It added that there have been reports of MAF shelling in AA-controlled areas and that the military had conducted at least one operation backed by air and naval support

5 EU nations, Canada to join genocide case against Myanmar at UN court

Five European countries and Canada are seeking to join a case brought by Gambia at the United Nation's highest court that accuses Myanmar of committing genocide against its Rohingya minority. The International Court of Justice said on Thursday that Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK had joined with Canada in filing a declaration of intervention in the case. The Maldives filed a separate declaration. Under the court's rules, the declarations mean those countries will be able to make legal arguments in the case brought in 2019 following international outrage at the treatment of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority. Hundreds of thousands fled to neighbouring Bangladesh amid a brutal crackdown by Myanmar forces. Gambia argued that it and Myanmar are both parties to the 1948 convention outlawing genocide and that all signatories have a duty to ensure it is enforced. It asked the court to declare Myanmar in breach of the convention. The court has already ruled it has ...

More Myanmar troops fleeing rebel attacks enter India, says report

The military ruled Myanmar with an iron fist for 50 years after seizing power in 1962, insisting it was the only institution capable of holding the diverse country together

ASEAN defence chiefs call for Gaza ceasefire; struggle to tackle Myanmar

Southeast Asian defence ministers called Wednesday for the fighting in Gaza to cease immediately and for the world to collaborate on setting up humanitarian aid corridors in Gaza, but they struggled on how to address the prolonged civil strife in Myanmar. The Myanmar crisis was high on the agenda when defence chiefs from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. The 10-nation bloc includes Myanmar, but its defense minister was again barred from attending this week's meetings due to the military government's failure to comply with a five-point emergency plan drafted to ease the violence. We are saddened with a deteriorating situation in Myanmar, Indonesia's Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto said in an opening speech. Indonesia encourages other ASEAN member states to support Myanmar to find a peaceful and durable solution to the current situation. ASEAN has been trying to enforce the plan it forged with Myanmar's top general in 2021, which calls f

Dozens of junta forces surrender: Myanmar rebels as offensive gathers pace

At least 28 policemen gave up their weapons and surrendered to the Arakan Army (AA), while 10 soldiers were arrested, said the group which is fighting for autonomy in Rakhine State in western Myanmar

Myanmar rebels seek to control border with India after early wins

Fighting also erupted on two new fronts this week, in the western states of Rakhine and Chin, which sent thousands of people fleeing to Mizoram

Centre closely monitors Mizoram as Myanmar violence triggers refugee influx

Myanmar's military junta is facing its biggest test since taking power in a 2021 coup after three ethnic minority forces launched a coordinated offensive in late October.

Over 5,000 Myanmar nationals cross over to Mizoram after fresh violence

The latest influx of refugees is in addition to the thousands who have already taken refuge in the northeastern state since 2021. Mizos share ethnic ties with the Chin community.