31st March, 2021 #day59

 

The crucial days of the Spring Revolution are approaching. The junta announces a month-long unilateral nationwide ceasefire from April 1 to 30, despite the heavy fighting in Kachin and Karen states, BBC Burmese reported. This type of ceasefire announcement is not new as the Tatmadaw had announced the first truce in December 2018 and extended it multiple times. Many believe that the truce is meaningless as the conflict around the country has never been deescalated. Many social media users are mocking this announcement, saying the junta do this only for propaganda while the CNN reporter is in the country. Today also marks the end of the northern alliance’s unilateral ceasefire and it is widely assumed that they are less likely to extend the truce again due to the junta’s brutality against the protesters and other armed groups. The CRPH just declares that the 2008 constitution has been repealed from today, March 31. The statement added that the military coup on February was unconstitutional and that they would work for a constitution based on federalism and democracy. The announcement comes a day before the CRPH plan to announce the formation a national unity government.

News of Kalay township also gain significant attention from the Myanmar social media users. Residents of Kalay in Sagaing Region have been taking up arms against the junta. Citizen journalists reported that convoy of 11 military trucks has been spotted leaving Gangaw to Kalay and three helicopters carrying junta’s troops arrived in Kalay this afternoon. The Voice of Myanmar reports that villagers with handmade rifles attached the convoy on the Gangaw-Kalay highway killing one villager and injured several polices. Villages along the road to Kalay also involved in armed resistances and built barricades on the road. According to Chin World Media, one traveller was shot to dead by the junta on the highway. As the time of writing, there is no other report about casualties nor incidents. Local media reported that protesters in Kalay have arrested four plainclothes policemen. Their current status is still unknown.

The death toll from an airstrike on Tuesday in the KNU Brigade 3 area has risen to 11, with five wounded. The KNU confirmed to the Irrawaddy that the dead included a KNU soldier, as well as locals and migrants working at the gold mine. The KNU has been operating in this gold mine with government approval since 2017. It seems that the junta is targeting not only KNU bases but also villages and its economy. To date, the airstrikes have not stopped, and fighting has also continued in KNU Brigade 3 and Brigade 5 areas in Bago Region, according to the local news. Many believe that the junta's deliberately targeting of villages is its tactics aiming to remove the foothold of ethnic armed groups and to inflict burden on the ethnic armed groups with a large number of internally displaced persons. According to Free Burma Rangers, about 12,000 Karen refugees have fled their villages and need emergency humanitarian assistance.

Fighting are intensifying in Kachin State as well, with KIA battalion attacking the Kyauk Gyi police station in Shwegu Township at around 3 am this morning, according to Myitkyina News. Weapons and foods were seized from the station. The KIA did not target police stations in the past, but it has changed its strategy by attacking easier-to-target police posts and stations like its allied Arakan Army did in Rakhine State. Many social media users welcome those attacks on police as they see police violently suppressing protests together with soldiers. According to Shan News, the military council has informed the Thailand’s Mae Sai border committee in Chiang Rai province that it will attack RCSS posts based on the Thai-Burmese border. The news came after the coup leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, visited Kengtung on March 29. All the NCA signatories, including the RCSS, have announced that they will no longer hold political talks with the junta.

A few hours ago, the junta has informed the death of the NLD executive member Kyaw Kyaw (aka Agga Moe Nyo), who was arrested in Naypyidaw on March 15, to his family, according to RFA. He is the third NLD party members to die in custody. Khin Maung Latt from Papandan Township and Zaw Myat Lin from Shwepyithar Township were also arrested and tortured to death by the junta. Clarissa Ward, CNN’s Chief International Correspondent, arrives in Yangon today. She posted a flight ticket on her Twitter account last night, sparking a flurry of attention. It is speculated that her arrival may have been the work of Ari Ben-Menashe, an Israeli lobbyist who was hired by the junta for $ 2 million. She was seen going around the Yangon with heavily armed convoy. There are differences of opinion among social media users upon her arrival. Some claim that the CNN will only cover the junta's propaganda and what they want to show as she came here with the permission of the junta. However, many argue that CNN is fully aware of the current situation in Myanmar and that Clarissa Ward, as an experienced correspondent and as someone been to front line in many wars, will cover the reality no matter what the junta show and ask tough questions. Some say with caution that judgement should be made only after her interview with the coup leader.