Irrawaddy-Jan 31
This Sunday marks the fifth anniversary of Myanmar’s military coup, which plunged the country into escalating violence, mass arrests, economic collapse and a deepening humanitarian crisis as the junta continued its brutal campaign against civilians. To finance military spending, the regime has seized foreign currency holdings, in some cases blocking or restricting the import of basic necessities like medicines in an effort to prevent currency from flowing out of the country. As a result, people face severe daily hardships amid soaring commodity prices. Thousands have been killed or detained, millions displaced, and arson attacks and airstrikes on civilian targets have become routine, even as the regime tries to legitimize itself through widely rejected elections and faces ongoing isolation from the international community. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which monitors junta atrocities, a total of 7,738 people including pro-democracy activists, journalists and civilians, have been killed by regime forces and pro-regime militias since the coup. And a total of 30,351 people including democratically elected government leaders have been arrested. Of these, 22,762 are still in detention, and 11,497 have been sentenced, often on trumped-up charges. They include civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, chair of National League for Democracy (NLD) who won landslide victory in the 2020 general election and elected civilian president U Win Myint. The coup and the atrocities that followed forced many to take up any available arms and form armed revolutionary groups including People’s Defense Forces (PDF) to resist the brutal regime across the country. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/five-years-after-the-coup-myanmar-is-worse-off-than-ever.html
