Mass killings of civilians are becoming a tragic norm in Myanmar – Diplomat

Reports of massacres and atrocities committed by Myanmar’s military junta are shocking but not unusual, and the bodies continue to pile up while the international community, the United Nations and ASEAN are completely unable to find an appropriate response.

The latest killed were at least 25 people from about 17 districts and villages near Budaling township in Sagaing region northwest of Mandalay, according to the exiled National Unity Government (NUG). The killings took place between October 11 and 20, in what appears to be retaliation for a recent resistance operation.

Among them were three children, three women and an elderly man, and six residents of the village of Sipar were dismembered and their bodies were found hanging from the fence posts of local houses. A separate report said the bodies were beheaded and mutilated beyond recognition.

“They are avenging their defeat in the battle with us at the end of last month, but they are killing civilians. This is very cowardly,” Ko Thitsar, leader of the People’s Defense Forces (PDF), the armed wing of the NUP in Depayin township of Sagaing region, told the Irrawaddy newspaper.

PNG officials said the killings began after the North West Regional Military Command suffered significant casualties during a clash with anti-government forces near Sipara in the village of Budalin. A column of about 100 people was then deployed and houses were demolished, supported by airstrikes.

Another 60 people were captured and used as human shields during raids on neighboring villages as the convoy moved from one civilian house to another, forcing hundreds to flee.

PNG is once again calling on the international community to hold the junta, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, accountable for war crimes. He once again warned that if such mass killings are allowed to continue with impunity, such tactics and doctrine will continue and be strengthened.

This is more than fair. Despite the public outcry over the atrocities of war in the Middle East and Ukraine, which are reported daily in Western media, there is almost no mention of the tragedies in Myanmar or the failures of regional policies such as the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus.

Julie Bishop, the former Australian foreign minister appointed by the UN in April as special envoy to Myanmar, said even less. A month after the appointment of the bishop, 76 people were tortured. killed in Bian Phyuin Rakhine State for two days.

Then, in June, independent media and the NUG came out in support of Arakan Army (AA) claims that up to 80 people were killed after being subjected to “horrible and insidious” torture in Rakhine State by drunken soldiers at a military base. command.

Reports of massacres committed against the Rohingya in July and August were as numerous as they were varied. BBC noteddifficult to report.

The International Criminal Court has been asked to expand its long-running investigation into previous killings of Rohingya to include massacres. dedicated to the idea on February 28 and March 2 last year, killing at least 37 people.

In a month 165 people were killed as a result of the aerial bombing of the village of Paziji, west of Mandalay, now known as the Paziji massacre.

More than 2,000 people died in about 210 massacres between February 2021, when the junta overthrew the elected government, and December 2023, according to Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica, which compiles lists of civilian deaths attributed to the military.

The military has since lost control of much of the country to a host of ethnic armed organizations and PDFs, but those outside the country whose interests are at stake still insist that negotiations with the military must continue while while forces opposing the regime are quietly ignored.

Min Aung Hlaing expected visit China next month for talks with Premier Li Qiang about promised elections next year that have been supported by China. Genuine elections are an impossible prospect and an insult to thousands of war victims.

From a few words pronounced Bishop’s mandate was that she was willing to maintain close communication and strengthen cooperation with China and ASEAN to reach consensus on a proper solution to the Myanmar issue. It won’t work and the carnage will continue.