Myanmar military, insurgents battle over port town
Reuters Myanmar’s military has launched attacks from the air and the sea to recapture a port town on the Bay of Bengal, an opposition alliance said on Friday, as junta forces face the fiercest offensive from their enemies in years. The military, which seized power from an elected government in a 2021 coup, is battling […]
Myanmar junta says 145 died in cyclone, NGOs fear higher toll
Reuters Myanmar’s military-controlled media said on Friday 145 people were killed when Cyclone Mocha hit the country this week, in stark contrast to reports from rights groups and residents who fear hundreds may have died. The impoverished western state of Rakhine bore the brunt of the storm that on Sunday tore down houses, communication towers […]
US imposes sanctions on Myanmar for “widespread human rights abuses”
World Watch Monitor The US government announced on Friday that it had imposed sanctions on Myanmar for “widespread human rights abuses” against Christians, Rohingya Muslims and other ethnic minorities, reports The New York Times. According to the Treasury Department the abuses against Rohingya Muslims in south-western Rakhine state, forcing more than 700,000 to seek refuge in neighbouring […]
Myanmar’s army accused of destroying churches and turning them into Buddhist temples
World Watch Monitor Myanmar’s military has destroyed about 60 churches in the past 18 months and turned a third of them into Buddhist pagodas in northern Kachin state, according to an American pastor who visited the region recently. “In the last 18 months, they have bombed 60 churches. Of the 60 churches they have bombed, […]
7,000 Kachin displaced in Myanmar as violence escalates
World Watch Monitor Almost 7,000 people belonging to the largely Christian minority group in Kachin, northern Myanmar, have fled their houses since fighting between the army and a rebel group flared up in early April, according to recent figures from the Red Cross. “It’s a war where civilians are being systematically targeted by members of Burma […]