Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing marked the 78th anniversary of the country’s Armed Forces Day on Monday with a vow to “take decisive action” against military opposition, drawing derision from observers who dismissed what they said were empty threats.
Speaking at a ceremony in the capital Naypyidaw, Min Aung Hlaing called the shadow National Unity Government, the anti-junta People’s Defense Force paramilitary groups and ethnic armed organizations “terrorists” who seek to destroy the nation, vowing to eradicate them.
“The Tatmadaw will work to ensure the security of people’s socio-economic lives and achieve full stability and the rule of law throughout the nation,” he said, using the official name of the country’s armed forces.
“In doing so, we are going to take decisive action against the NUG and the terrorist organizations and the (ethnic armies) that are aiding them.”
Min Aung Hlaing spoke to a huge parade flanked by towering golden statues of the three kings who founded Myanmar’s key dynasties. The ceremony was packed with a horse escort, thousands of soldiers marching with shouldered rifles with bayonets, tanks and mobile missile launchers.
Amid the fanfare, it was hard to tell that the parade ground had been attacked only a day earlier by the PDF, hitting the site with four 107mm rockets.
While the junta has yet to issue any statement on the rocket attack, security was notably tightened on Monday, with twice as many troops stationed at the entrances to Naypyidaw and packed markets.
While the festivities were taking place, opposition groups protested against the military government in several cities, including the commercial capital, Yangon.
Nan Lin, from the Alumni Force of the University Students’ Union in Yangon, told RFA that the junta was using Armed Forces Day to show its strength to its opponents, but said her impression was very different from the one two years ago, just weeks after the military seized power in a February 1 coup.
On Armed Forces Day 2021, the junta violently cracked down and fired on protesters across the country, killing more than 100 civilians, according to data compiled by the Thai (Burma) Political Prisoners Assistance Association.
“Their military demonstration two years ago was intended to show the international community how powerful they were and how much control they had over the country,” he said.
“But this year, I see the military parade on Tatmadaw Day as just a failed attempt to show the military and its supporters, as well as the people and the international community, that they are still in power.”
Following the coup, the military launched an ambitious offensive to subdue its opposition throughout the country. The offensive quickly turned into a scorched earth campaign, with junta troops looting villages, burning houses, and regularly torturing and killing civilians.
But more than two years later, the army has made little progress, while the armed opposition has increasingly adapted and made significant gains, despite being outmatched in equipment, training and manpower.
empty threats
Ethnic armed groups and PDF groups shrugged off Min Aung Hlaing’s threats on Monday, telling RFA there is little the army can do that it hasn’t already tried.
Khu Hteh Bu, spokesman for the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), the political wing of the Karenni army, said the army has been arresting and torturing Myanmar’s ethnic minorities “for decades” to no avail.
“We believe that the more threatening they speak to us, the more they reveal the pain and loss they have suffered because of us,” he said.
“They are using all their strength to crush us. But since the people neither support them nor stop rebelling against them, they are only creating their own sordid destiny.”
Former Major Cpt. Ngwe Soe, who deserted from the army and is now the spokesman for the Naypyidaw PDF, called Min Aung Hlaing’s threats hollow.
“This is just his foolish stance of never backing down to his last breath, but it will never be possible to crush us like he said,” Ngwe Soe said. “Revolutionary forces, such as the NUG, the PDF and the (ethnic armies) have made significant gains in the two years since the military coup.”
Government of National Unity Office of Ministers spokesman Nay Phone Latt said the army is already throwing everything it has at the armed resistance, with little to show for it.
“NUG, PDF and ethnic forces are well prepared for their attacks,” he said.
Seven village elders killed
Armed Forces Day came as at least seven elderly residents burned to death in fires set by junta troops during a raid on Sone Kone village in Sagaing region’s Budalin township over the weekend.
A Sone Kone resident told RFA that a military column of more than 50 soldiers descended on the village at around 8am on Saturday and began setting fire to the structures, trapping six old women and one old man inside.
“Their relatives left them at home because they were too old to run or move quickly,” said the resident, who, like other sources interviewed for this story, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
“Since the elderly who were left at home during previous raids were spared, the younger villagers simply ran for their lives, leaving the victims in their homes, thinking that (the soldiers) would not harm the elderly. When the burning started, they couldn’t do anything to save them.”
The women who died in the fires were Tin Ei, 80; Daw Pyae, 81; than Myint, 58; Kyi Aung, 70; Daw Khway, 84; and Khin Myint, 84. Kyee Myint, a 70-year-old man, also died in the flames.
The resident said that when the troops left three hours later, some 175 of Sone Kone’s 300 houses had been leveled.
A second Sone Kone resident told RFA that his house and all his belongings were destroyed in the arson fire.
“Since the houses of many other villagers were also set on fire, we face many difficulties here, including a lack of food and shelter,” he said.
Those whose houses were burned are now taking refuge in nearby villages, residents said.
Possible revenge attack
The Budalin Municipality Information Team told RFA that Saturday’s attack came a day after paramilitaries from the anti-junta Popular Defense Force ambushed junta troops with a land mine in the vicinity of Sone Kone, leaving several wounded soldiers. The timing of the two incidents suggests that the military raided Sone Kone as revenge for the ambush.
A member of Budalin’s PDF said his group attacks junta troops “in all possible situations” in an attempt to prevent raids on villages, but sometimes conditions do not allow them to engage the military head-on. .
“There are some villages like (Sone Kone) that we are not in a position to protect and the people there suffered,” he said. “If our captain tells us that we can’t defend a certain place, we have to follow orders. We have to avoid (direct) contact with the military (to avoid many casualties).”
The board had yet to issue an announcement regarding the incident at Sone Kone at press time. RFA calls to Aye Hlaing, the junta’s social affairs minister and spokesperson for the Sagaing region, went unanswered on Monday.
About 200 junta soldiers in two columns are currently carrying out “clearing operations” from the eastern and southern villages of Budalin township, residents said.
Data for Myanmar, which collects data on the military’s use of arson, said that between the coup and the end of February, junta troops burned a total of 60,459 civilian homes across the country. Of these, 47,778 were located in Sagaing.
According to the Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners (Burma), junta troops have killed at least 3,166 civilians and arrested nearly 21,000 more since the coup, mostly during peaceful anti-junta protests.
Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Matt Reed.
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