Irrawaddy-May 17
With its effort to conscript young people for military service in Myanmar facing intense resistance from young people, their families, and the local administrators who help select conscripts, the military is turning to a foolproof method of replenishing its ranks: recruitment at gunpoint.
In Magwe Region’s Aunglan town, the military forcibly has recruited about 140 young men since late last month, but about 60 of them escaped or bribed their way out, according to residents and resistance fighters in the township. Junta troops began rounding up men between 18 and 35 years in Aunglan town and nearby villages in late April to meet their target for the second batch of recruits. The junta’s move to forcibly recruit new soldiers occurred after many of those whose names were put on a list to select conscripts via a random draw fled the town. Residents of the town said most arrests were made at checkpoints leading into the town. Those arrested were sent to the town’s No.1 Basic Education High School and subsequently transferred to Magwe town. “In Aunglan, almost 140 [conscripts] have been arrested since April 25, but some paid bribes and some ran away to escape. The regime activated the conscription law on Feb. 10. The law’s activation introduced mandatory military service in Myanmar for the first time. The law is widely seen as an attempt to circumvent the loathing most people in Myanmar feel for the junta’s military, which is facing a recruitment crisis at the same time it is attempting to cope with escalating military offensives by ethnic armed groups and allied revolutionary forces throughout the country. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/conscription-crisis-myanmars-military-is-recruiting-young-men-at-gunpoint.html
