Myanmar Military Launches Airstrike in Karen State; US Ceases Trade Pact With Myanmar After Bloodiest Weekend Since Coup

It seems like 2021 wants to compete with 2020 for the title of the worst year in the 21st century.

Agence France-Presse reports that targeted airstrikes were launched during the weekend in Myanmar’s Karen state after a rebel group had seized a military base. This is the first airstrike in the area in 20 years.

Around 3,000 ethnic Karen people have fled through the jungle to seek safety across the border in Thailand. Allegedly, 2,000 civilians have been refused entry by the Thai authorities, though this has been denied by them.

Hsa Moo, an ethnic Karen and human rights activist, noted that the aerial assault had left nine injured and four dead. It targeted the Karen National Union (KNU), one of the largest non-state armed group in Myanmar.

One of the casualties is three-year-old Saw Ta Eh Ka Lu Moo Ta. He was sitting on his father’s lap in a bamboo hut when the shrapnel from the bomb killed his father instantly.

The boy thankfully survived, but received lacerations to his neck and still has some fragments in him.

Bloodiest Weekend Since Coup

Last weekend saw the bloodiest period of the Myanmar coup so far, with at least 107 people, including 10 children, being brutally killed on Saturday.

The United Nations (UN) notes that the regime had staged a major show of might for Armed Forces Day—an annual parade showcasing Myanmar’s military prowess.

Among the fatalities was a 13-year-old boy playing outside his house in Yangon and an 11-year-old girl whose casket on Sunday was filled with dolls and princess colouring books.

Executive director for the UN’s children’s agency UNICEF, Henrietta Fore, pointed out that apart from the immediate impacts of the violence, the longer-term consequences of the crisis for the country’s children could be catastrophic.

Despite all this, protesters and mourners continue to turn up in towns and cities. In Plate, a town in the Mandalay region, hundreds of protesters paraded the town with banners reading “The people will never be defeated”.

Mourners also gathered in the Sagaing region to pay respects to 20-year-old nursing student Thinzar Hein, who was fatally shot while helping rescue workers provide first aid to injured protestors.

Protesting the rise in child casualties, 60 youngsters in a town in the eastern Karen state staged their own protest accompanied by their mother on Monday (29 Mar).

U.S. Suspends Trade Pact

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) monitoring group, over 450 people have died in the crackdowns since the military coup on 1 February 2021.

In light of all the merciless killings, U.S. President Joe Biden announced on Monday that the 2013 Trade and Investment Framework Agreement would remain suspended till democracy is restored in Myanmar.

The statement removes Myanmar from the Generalised System of Preferences, in which the United States (U.S.) grants duty-free access to some imports from developing countries if they meet key standards.

“The United States strongly condemns the Burmese security forces’ brutal violence against civilians,” U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said.

President Biden and many other world leaders had condemned the “absolutely outrageous” killings. Even defence chiefs from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Britain and the US denounced the Myanmar military in a rare joint statement.

“A professional military follows international standards for conduct and is responsible for protecting—not harming—the people it serves.”

UN rights envoys Alice Wairimu Nderitu and Michelle Bachelet also slammed the actions of the military and police as “shameful, cowardly, brutal”.

Feature Image: Robert Bociaga Olk Bon / Shutterstock.com (Image is for illustration purpose only)