Essay: Myanmar’s military junta appears to be in terminal decline
In an article first published on The Conversation, RONAN LEE looks at recent events in Myanmar…
More Bible students escape in Myanmar, but 20 women still held
World Watch Monitor Four of the 41 Bible students forcibly recruited by an ethnic minority army in Myanmar’s northern Shan state in September have escaped, according to Catholic news site UCAN. Last month an initial group of 17 students escaped from a United Wa State Army base in the Wa hills near the border with China. […]
Bible students in Myanmar “suffering health and psychological problems” after escaping armed group
World Watch Monitor Seventeen of the 41 Bible students forcibly recruited by an ethnic minority army in Myanmar’s northern Shan state in September have escaped, according to Catholic news site UCAN. The students arrived in groups of two or three at the Lahu Baptist Church in Kyaing Tong town, eastern Shan state, in the last two weeks, having fled […]
Churches destroyed, priests questioned in Myanmar’s Shan state
World Watch Monitor An ethnic armed group in Myanmar’s Shan state is destroying churches and holding clergymen for questioning, reports Radio Free Asia. The United Wa State Army (UWSA), the military wing of the United Wa State Party (UWSP), reportedly issued a statement on Facebook on 6th September, declaring that all churches built after 1989 (when […]
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: “400 villages destroyed, 150,000 people displaced” in Kachin
World Watch Monitor More than 400 villages have been damaged or destroyed and 150,000 people displaced since the collapse of a ceasefire in 2011 between Myanmar’s army and rebels in northern Kachin state, reports Catholic website AsiaNews. In 2018 alone, 50 villages were abandoned and more than 7,000 people fled their homes, seeking refuge in local churches, […]