War-torn Rakhine State Seen as Trouble...

On Friday, the last day of the two-month-long political campaign period, some 300 ballots submitted at one polling state during the advanced voting were declared null and void after election officials discovered check marks for a local party already stamped on 14 ballots

Freedom of the Press, Largely Absent...

On the eve of the general elections in Burma, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounces the countless attacks on press freedom which have punctuated the electoral campaign and which have already discredited the results of this consultation. It has become the great forgotten point of the democratic transition in Burma, initiated ten years ago. Press freedom has …

Continue reading “Freedom of the Press, Largely Absent from Legislative Elections in Burma”

Myanmar Sees First Gay Election Candidate...

Myanmar’s first openly gay candidate to run for a parliamentary seat in the conservative Buddhist country’s November elections wants to put an end to the abuse that members of the LBGT community say they suffer at the hands of the police

Myanmar Parties Raise Concern After Grenades...

With Myanmar headed to the polls Nov. 8 to elect national and state legislatures, campaigning has been hampered by increasingly tight restrictions aimed at fighting a resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic

COVID-19 Surge Stresses Health Care in...

Dr. Myint Htwe, minister of health and sports, said the ministry will open temporary facilities in Phaunggyi in the region’s Hlegu township to treat the growing number of COVID-9 patients, while state-owned sport stadiums in Yangon will be modified to be used as quarantine centers

Rohingya Refugee Groups in Bangladesh Urge...

The rights groups who wrote to the election commission represent many of the more than 740,000 Rohingya who fled to neighboring Bangladesh after the Myanmar military launched a brutal crackdown on Rohingya communities in northern Rakhine state three years ago, in the wake of attacks carried out by insurgents on police and army posts there

In Myanmar’s Rakhine State Mistrust Hampers...

With cases in Rakhine now accounting for nearly half of the country’s 882 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Monday, relief workers say they are concerned that many locals are not heeding official health advice, while misinformation about the pandemic circulates

Myanmar Villagers Flee Into China to...

The RCSS/SSA-S (Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army-South) is one of seven ethnic armies operating in the state, and though the group has signed a cease-fire agreement with the central government, tensions have recently reignited over movements by both armies into each other’s territory

Myanmar’s Kachin Army Vows Investigation, Compensation...

The KIA, which is battling Myanmar government forces for greater autonomy in Kachin State, has admitted its troops killed the two boys and promised to apologize and compensate their families, but denied that the killings were ordered by senior commanders. Family members learned of the killings only 16 days later

Grisly Death Highlights Increasing Civilian Detentions...

Civilian detentions, a controversial Myanmar army practice during decades of wars with ethnic armies, are on the rise in the southern part of Rakhine, which had been relatively untouched by the armed conflict that has ravaged the northern section of the state for 19 months, those familiar with the situation told RFA