Myanmar military orders civil servants, veterans to prepare for emergencies

Myanmar’s military rulers have ordered all government staff and those with military experience to prepare to serve in case of emergency after the junta reported “heavy assaults” in several places.

On Thursday, Tin Maung Swe, administrative council secretary in Naypyitaw, said, “If necessary, such a unit might be required to go out and serve for natural disasters, and security.”

“This is a plan to help in the event of emergency.”

At least 29 soldiers of Myanmar entered India on Thursday fleeing an attack on their military base close to the border, an Indian police official said.

Earlier this week, 43 soldiers also entered India’s Mizoram state after their military bases came under attack. Nearly 40 were sent back by Indian authorities through a different border crossing point a few hundred kilometers east.

A parallel government formed by pro-democracy politicians with some insurgent factions has launched a “Road to Naypyitaw” campaign against the Myanmar military. The campaign aims to take control of the capital.

The junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said on Wednesday the military was facing “heavy assaults from a significant number of armed rebel soldiers” in Shan State in the northeast, Kayah State in the east and Rakhine in the west.

Min Tun said some military positions were evacuated and the insurgents had been using drones to drop hundreds of bombs on military posts. “We are urgently taking measures to protect against drone bomb attacks effectively.”

The Arakan Army (AA) rebel group fighting for autonomy in Rakhine said on Wednesday dozens of police and military men had surrendered or been captured as its forces advanced.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the 2021 coup, when the military ousted a government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, ending a decade of tentative democratic reform. The military has battled the ethnic minority and other insurgencies for decades but the coup brought unprecedented coordination between anti-military forces that are mounting the biggest challenge to the army in years.

The military has been ruling Myanmar for 50 years after seizing power in 1962.

The 2021 coup dashed hopes for reform and generated opposition that has united pro-democracy activists in towns and cities with ethnic minority forces fighting for self-determination in hinterlands.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has expressed concern about the “expansion of conflict in Myanmar” and called for all parties to protect civilians, a UN spokesperson said. “The number of displaced people in Myanmar now exceeds two million.”

Clashes have sent millions of refugees into Myanmar’s neighboring countries. UNICEF says more than 960,000 Rohingya Muslims – who fled the massacre led by the military – are mostly in refugee camps in Bangladesh and in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

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