Covax backs AstraZeneca as vaccines reach 100 territories



Issued on: 08/04/2021 

The first Covax shipment landed in Ghana on February 24

 Nipah Dennis AFP/File

Geneva (AFP)

Covax backed the AstraZeneca jab on Thursday as the scheme celebrated shipping coronavirus vaccine doses to 100 different territories around the world, despite delays dogging deliveries.

AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine accounts for almost the entire first wave of doses being distributed via the facility, which ensures the 92 poorest participating economies can access jabs for free.

But the programme has been hit by delays after New Delhi put the brake on exports from the Serum Institute of India plant to deal with a rampant second wave of Covid-19 infections.

The SII is one of two sites producing AstraZeneca doses for Covax. The other is in South Korea.

Covax's first wave intended to distribute some 238.2 million doses to 142 participating economies by May 31.

Of those, 237 million are AstraZeneca doses and 1.2 million are Pfizer/BioNTech.

A number of nations have suspended the use of AstraZeneca's vaccine for younger populations after it was earlier banned outright in several countries over blood clot scares.

The EU's medicines regulator said Wednesday that blood clots should be listed as a rare side effect of the AstraZeneca jab, stressing benefits continue to outweigh risks.

And the World Health Organization's immunisation experts said a causal link was "considered plausible but is not confirmed", adding that reported occurrences were "very rare".

The risk-benefit balance remains "very much in favour of the vaccine" the WHO told AFP.

Covax is co-led by the WHO, the Gavi vaccine alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

Gavi said safety and efficacy was the "top priority for Covax".

The scheme follows WHO guidance on vaccine products, which "remains unchanged" for the AstraZeneca jab, a Gavi spokeswoman told AFP.

"The AstraZeneca vaccine remains an important public health tool against the Covid-19 pandemic and is effective at preventing severe cases, hospitalisation and death."

- St. Lucia 100th country -

The 100th country milestone was reached with a delivery to the Caribbean island of St. Lucia.

It came 42 days after the first shipment landed in Ghana on February 24, with Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo publicly taking the first shot.

So far, nearly 38.4 million doses have been delivered to 102 territories, including 61 of the 92 poorest participating economies for which funding is covered by donors.

"Covax expects to deliver doses to all participating economies that have requested vaccines in the first half of the year," Gavi insisted in a statement.

This comes "despite reduced supply availability in March and April" due to manufacturers tweaking production processes, plus "increased demand for Covid-19 vaccines in India", it said.

Some of the biggest countries in the world have received vaccines so far, including India, Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Philippines, Egypt, Vietnam, DR Congo and Iran.

The smallest to have taken deliveries are the Pacific islands of Tuvalu, Nauru and Tonga, along with Dominica in the Caribbean, and European microstate Andorra.

Six G20 countries have received doses: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and South Korea.

Deliveries have also reached Yemen, which the United Nations says is in the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and Afghanistan.

- $2bn needed in 2021 -

"We still face a daunting challenge as we seek to end the acute stage of the pandemic," said Gavi chief executive Seth Berkley.

"As we continue with the largest and most rapid global vaccine rollout in history, this is no time for complacency."

The scheme is aiming to distribute enough doses to vaccinate up to 27 percent of the population in the 92 poorest participating economies by the end of the year.

An additional $2 billion is required in 2021 to finance and secure up to a total of 1.8 billion donor-funded vaccine doses for those territories.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned that while the St. Lucia milestone "gives us hope, ... access to vaccines, medicines and tests must not become a geopolitical pawn".

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has regularly blasted rich countries for hogging vaccine batches while poorer countries await their first doses.

Worldwide, more than 710 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in at least 195 territories around the world, according to an AFP count.

But WHO Africa regional director Matshidiso Moeti noted just two percent of those doses had been administered on the African continent.

"More than one billion Africans remain on the margins of this historic march to end this pandemic," she said.

© 2021 AFP

Smog caused by French winemakers' frost-fighting



Issued on: 08/04/2021 

Protecting the vines from sub-zero temperatures 

JEFF PACHOUD AFP

Lyon (AFP)

Thousands of small fires lit by French winemakers to ward off frost in their vineyards have caused a layer of smog in the southeast of the country, local authorities reported Thursday.

The practice of lighting fires or candles near vines or fruit trees to prevent the formation of frost is a long-standing technique used in early spring when the first green shoots are vulnerable to the cold.

Whole hillsides look as if they are ablaze, creating a striking visual effect, with winemakers scrambling this week as temperatures plunged to below freezing, particularly in the fertile Rhone valley in southeast France.

Regional air quality monitoring body Atmo Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes issued a warning about fine-particle pollution in the region which includes the city of Lyon where a layer of smog was visible on Thursday.

"It happens almost every year when there is a frost, but this time it's massive," director Marie-Blanche Personnaz told AFP of the pollution.

She said farmers were "entirely within their rights" to light fires to save their livelihoods, "but we perhaps need to work on the problem and find other solutions when the (frost) phenomenon is significant."

Some winegrowers use wind machines to keep frost from setting in.

Others use water sprinklers, allowing a fine coating of ice to form on vines which keeps them from freezing through because the ice acts like a mini-igloo.

- Lost harvests -

This year's two-night cold snap could be particularly damaging for winemakers and other fruit farmers because the freezing temperatures came after a week of unseasonably warm weather.

Christophe Gratadour, an industry specialist, said that the central Loire area and the Rhone region had been affected.

"All sectors have been hit but it's still too early to measure the effects," he told AFP.

In the wine heartland around Bordeaux, producers' body CIVB warned that it was "certain the spring frost will severely affect the harvesting volumes in 2021."

The Bordeaux region was badly hit by an even later April frost in 2017 which resulted in one in five producers losing more than 70 percent of their harvest.

Winegrowers and farmers told AFP of their desperation as they inspected the damage on Thursday morning after a second night of trying to keep ice at bay.

"We worked on the main hillside and burned straw bales and piles of wood to try to save what we could," winemaker Remy Nodin from Saint-Peray in the Ardeche region of southeast France told AFP.

"The aim was to create a blanket of smoke so that when the sun came up it didn't burn the vines because of the humidity," he added.

"We watered, we heated, nothing worked," said Stephane Leyronas, a kiwi grower, in the nearby Aubenas area.

"I used a flamethrower and lit more than 700 small fires which didn't even last the night," he added.

"It's a catastrophe," he said.

© 2021 AFP

Big beats: Gorilla chest thumps 'signal' body size

Issued on: 08/04/2021 -

This display is mainly by the male silverbacks who pummel their chests with cupped hands OMAR TORRES AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

A mountain gorilla rises up and pounds its chest to signal for a mate or scare off a foe, but the drumming that resonates through the forest might also reveal details of their physique, according to a study published Thursday.

Unlike the croak of a frog or the growl of a lion, the mountain gorilla's chest thumping is unusual because it is not a vocalisation but rather a form of physical communication that can be both seen and heard.

This display -- mainly by the male silverbacks who pummel their chests with cupped hands -- is thought to be a way to attract females and intimidate potential rivals.

But researchers wanted to find out if the drumming sound, which can carry for a kilometre through the rainforest, also conveys information about the chest beater.

They observed and recorded 25 adult male mountain gorillas monitored by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda and found that bigger gorillas produced chest beats with lower peak frequencies than smaller ones.

"In other words, chest beats are an honest signal of body size in mountain gorillas," said Edward Wright, of Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, who led the study.

Earlier research had shown that size matters for silverback gorillas -- bigger males are more dominant and have higher reproductive success than smaller ones, he told AFP.

The scientists believe chest beating may allow gorillas to send a signal that lets potential mates or rivals judge their size even without seeing them.

"As a male gorilla, if you want to assess the competitive ability of a rival male, it may be safest to do this at a distance," said Wright.

He added previous research showing that larger dominant males lead groups with more adult females suggests the females, who are known to transfer between bands of gorillas, may be influenced by size.

These transfers are usually done in person when groups meet and males thump their chests to advertise their prowess.

But Wright said further research would be needed to show that males and females are actually judging body size by listening to the chest beats.

- 'Power and strength' -

To study the relationship between the size of the wild gorillas and the resonance of their chest drumming, researchers first had to measure them -- without getting too close.

To do this they used lasers. By projecting two beams a set distance apart at the animal and then taking a picture, researchers could use the lasers as a scale to measure areas of its body.

They also had to be patient to record the gorilla chest beating, which happens in short bursts roughly once every five hours.

"You need to be at the right place at the right time," Wright said.

But when they were, he said, both the sound and the spectacle is impressive.

"As a human, you definitely get the sense of power and strength," he said.

In the end, the researchers were able to use recordings of 36 chest thumps made by six of the males to measure their duration, number of beats and the audio frequencies and compare this to their body size.

The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, found a correlation between the animal's size and the sound frequency of the drumming sound, but detected no link to the length of time they spent chest beating or the number of beats.

It also found "a significant amount of variation" in the chest beating of the different males, said Wright.

But each gorilla did not greatly vary their style of drumming, he said.

"This hints that chest beats may have individual signatures, but further research is needed to examine this," he said, adding some colleagues in the field say they can guess which silverback is chest beating just from the sound.

© 2021 AFP

Spain blocks sale of possible Caravaggio painting



Issued on: 08/04/2021 

The painting was set to be sold off at a Madrid auction house

 Andrew Harnik POOL/AFP


Madrid (AFP)

Spain blocked the auction of a 17th-century Biblical oil painting in Madrid on Thursday on suspicion it could be a lost masterpiece by the Renaissance artist Caravaggio.

Entitled "Coronation with Thorns", the canvas shows Jesus just before his crucifixion and was set to have been sold off later on Thursday at the Ansorena auction house.

Attributed in the catalogue to "the entourage of (Spanish artist) Jose de Ribera", it was marked with an opening price of 1,500 euros ($1,800).

But just hours before it went under the hammer, Culture Minister Jose Manuel Rodriguez Uribes said the painting had been declared "not for export... on suspicion it may be a Caravaggio".

"We are going to see if it is indeed a Caravaggio," he told reporters, saying the decision to withdraw the canvas from auction was made "within hours".

"The painting is valuable, we hope it's a Caravaggio," he said.

Ansorena confirmed it would not go under the hammer on Thursday, saying the ministry's decision meant it could not be removed from Spain.

"As to who painted it, different experts are studying the work and right now we have no further information," a spokeswoman told AFP.

MEDUSA BY CARAVAGGIO

- 'Not convinced' -

Experts were divided over whether it was a work by the Renaissance master.

"It's him," Maria Cristina Terzaghi, an Italian art history expert at Roma Tre University, told Italy's La Repubblica newspaper.

She said the canvas had a "deep connection" with the works done at the start of Caravaggio's Neapolitan period, and that the cloak worn by Jesus in the painting was the same as the red used in Caravaggio's painting of "Salome with the head of John the Baptist".

The image of Pontius Pilate in the foreground was "reminiscent of the martyred St Peter in 'Madonna of the Rosary'" at Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum, she added.

But French old masters specialist Eric Turquin disagreed.

"I have not seen the painting. but I was not convinced at all by the photo of it. We can't be sure but I don't think this is by Caravaggio," he told AFP.

"I don't see Caravaggio's hand in this painting. The subject is certainly Caravaggio, and it was probably painted between 1600 and 1620 by a good painter, but not Caravaggio."

Spain's culture ministry was first alerted on Tuesday, a ministry source said, indicating Prado Museum had been in touch to say there was "sufficient documentary and stylistic evidence to consider that the painting... may be an original work by Caravaggio".

Following emergency talks, the painting was withdrawn from sale and declared "not for export".

- In-depth study -

"It is now necessary to carry out an in-depth technical and scientific study of the painting and engage in academic debate as to whether its attribution to Caravaggio is truly plausible and acceptable to the scientific community," the source said.

The ministry was also expecting Madrid's regional authorities to declare it a work of cultural interest to extend further protection under legislation governing Spain's heritage.

"We have asked the Madrid government to declare it an asset of cultural interest and with that double guarantee, we can ensure the painting stays in Spain," the minister told reporters.

It is not the first time a possible Caravaggio has been unearthed.

In 2014, a lost masterpiece by the artist called "Judith and Holofernes" was found under an old mattress in an attic in the French city of Toulouse. The biblical-style canvas depicted a beautiful Jewish widow beheading a sleeping Assyrian general.

Worth up to an estimated $170 million, the painting was due to go under the hammer in June 2019 but was snapped up by an anonymous foreign buyer just two days before auction.

© 2021 AF

Brazil's Bolsonaro under pressure ahead of climate summit



Issued on: 08/04/2021 

Deforestation in Brazil has surged under President Jair Bolsonaro, who has slashed funding for environmental programs since he took office in 2019 and is pushing to open protected lands to mining and agribusiness CARL DE SOUZA AFP/File

Rio de Janeiro (AFP)

A coalition of environmental groups and agribusiness companies urged President Jair Bolsonaro's government Thursday to set "more ambitious" goals to curb Brazil's emissions and protect the Amazon rainforest at this month's US-organized climate summit.

"Brazil is a key country in the global effort to achieve climate balance," said the Brazil Climate, Forests and Agriculture Coalition, a group of more than 280 organizations and firms.

"Its climate goals need to be more ambitious.... The country urgently needs to significantly reduce greenhouse gases, work to eliminate illegal deforestation and fight environmental crimes."

Deforestation in Brazil has surged under Bolsonaro, who has slashed funding for environmental programs since he took office in 2019 and is pushing to open protected lands to mining and agribusiness.

In the 12 months to August 2020, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased 9.5 percent, destroying an area larger than Jamaica, according to government data.

But Brazil has in the past played a leading role in the fight against climate change, underlined the coalition, whose members range from environmental groups such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to ag firms such as Cargill.

"From 2004 to 2012, Brazil achieved the largest reduction in greenhouse gas emissions ever recorded for a single country by cutting the deforestation rate by 80 percent," it said.

"Now is the time for Brazilians to reclaim that leadership role."

The virtual climate summit on April 22-23 is sponsored by US President Joe Biden, who has invited 40 world leaders, including Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro clashed with Biden over the environment when the latter was a presidential candidate.

In September 2020, Biden proposed offering Brazil international financing of $20 billion to "stop tearing down the forest," and warned of "significant economic consequences" if it did not.

Bolsonaro fired back that the comments were "disastrous and unnecessary."

Another coalition of Brazilian environmental groups, the 198-member Climate Observatory, urged the United States Tuesday not to reach any climate deal with Bolsonaro's government without including civil society groups, scientists and the private sector.

"It is not sensible to expect any solutions for the Amazon to stem from closed-door meetings with its worst enemy," it said.

© 2021 AFP

Jovan Divjak, defender of Sarajevo, dies aged 84

Issued on: 08/04/2021

Divjak was one of very few ethnic Serbs to fight on the side of the 

Bosnian army ELVIS BARUKCIC AFP

Sarajevo (AFP)

Former Bosnian army general Jovan Divjak, who defended Sarajevo during an infamous 44-month siege, died on Thursday in the Bosnian capital aged 84, his organisation said.

Divjak was one of the very few ethnic Serbs to fight for the Bosnian army during the devastating 1990s inter-communal conflict that ripped the former Yugoslavia apart.

Champion of a multi-ethnic Bosnia, Divjak died after a "long illness", his organisation said.


When the conflict broke out in Sarajevo in April 1992, Divjak, a retired Yugoslav army officer, was a member of Bosnia's territorial defence forces.

He immediately joined the ranks of those defending Sarajevo, which was besieged for nearly four years.

At least 10,000 residents of the city were killed during the war.

"It was natural to be with those who were attacked, who did not have weapons.", Divjak told AFP in 2017, rejecting the "good Serb" label.

"The idea of a multi-ethnic Bosnian army had won me over," he added.

However, disappointed by the grandiose funeral organised after the conflict for a Sarajevo thug suspected of having summarily executed Serbs, he renounced his rank of general in 1999.

After that, Divjak devoted himself entirely to his association, which granted thousands of scholarships to orphans and also to children from poor families.

He was awarded the Legion of Honour by France in 2001 for "his civic sense, his refusal of prejudice and ethnic discrimination".

To his death, Divjak remained fiercely anti-nationalist. His role in the war was badly viewed by most Bosnian Serbs who considered him a "traitor".

Serbia demanded Divjak's extradition over a 1992 attack on a retreating Yugoslav army convoy in Sarajevo.

The ex-general denied the allegations and insisted that he ordered the shooting to stop, a claim that seems to be backed up by television footage from the time.

© 2021 AFP

Mind blown: Modern brains evolved much more recently than thought

Issued on:  08/04/2021 

This photo from the University of Zurich shows skulls of early homo from Dmanisi, Georgia (specimen D4500, L) and Sangiran, Indonesia (specimen S17, R) Handout University of Zurich/AFP

Washington (AFP)

Modern brains are younger than originally thought, possibly developing as recently as 1.5 million years ago, according to a study published Thursday -- after the earliest humans had already begun walking on two feet and had even started fanning out from Africa.

Our first ancestors from the genus Homo emerged on the continent about 2.5 million years ago with primitive ape-like brains about half the size of those seen in today's humans.

Scientists have been trying to solve a mystery for as long as our origin story has been known: Exactly when and where did the brain evolve into something that made us human?

"People had thought that these human-like brains evolved actually at the very beginning of the genus Homo, so about 2.5 million years ago," paleoanthropologist Christoph Zollikofer, a co-author of the study published in the journal Science, told AFP.

Zollikofer and lead study author Marcia Ponce de Leon examined skull fossils from Africa, Georgia and the Indonesian island of Java, however, and discovered the evolution actually took place much later, between 1.7 and 1.5 million years ago.

Since brains themselves do not fossilize, the only way to observe their evolution is to study the marks they leave inside the skull.

The scientists created virtual images -- known as an endocasts -- of what had filled the skulls long ago.

In humans, the Broca area -- part of the frontal lobe linked to speech production -- is much bigger than the corresponding zone in other great apes, said Zollikofer, of the University of Zurich.

The expansion of an area results in the shifting of everything behind it. "This backward shift can be seen on the fossil endocasts, when we track imprints of the brain fissures," Zollikofer said.

- 'Surprise' -

By studying skulls from Africa, the researchers were able to determine that the oldest ones -- dating back more than 1.7 million years -- actually had a frontal lobe characteristic of great apes.

"This first result was a big surprise," said Zollikofer.

It signified that the genus Homo "started with bipedalism," or walking on two legs, and that the evolution of the brain had nothing to do with the fact of already being bipedal.

"Now we know that in our long evolutionary history... the first representatives of our genus Homo were just terrestrial bipeds, with ape-like brains," the paleoanthropologist said.

However, the youngest African fossils, dating back 1.5 million years, showed characteristics of modern human brains.

This signified that the evolution of the brain took place between the two dates, in Africa, according to the study.

The conclusion is backed up by the fact that more complex tools appeared during this same period, called Acheulean tools, which have two symmetrical faces.

"This is not random coincidence," said Zollikofer, "because we know those brain areas that get expanded in this time period are those that are used for complex manipulative tasks like tool-making."

- Two migrations from Africa -

The second surprising result of the study comes from observations of five skull fossils found in present-day Georgia, dating back between 1.8 and 1.7 million years.

The particularly well-preserved specimens proved to be primitive brains.

"People thought you need a big modern brain to disperse out of Africa," said Zollikofer. "We can show these brains are not big, and they are not modern, and still people have been able to leave Africa."

Meanwhile, fossils from Java, the youngest specimens in the study, showed modern brain characteristics. The researchers therefore believe that there was a second migration out of Africa.

"So, you have a spray first of primitive-brained people, then things evolve to a modern brain in Africa, and these people sprayed again," explained Zollikofer.

"It's not a new hypothesis... but there was no clear evidence. And now for the first time, we have real fossil evidence."

FRANCE24 The Interview

Burmese opposition figure Dr Sasa: 'The world has to stop another genocide'

 Exiled Burmese opposition figure Dr Sasa is the UN envoy for Myanmar's CRPH, a committee representing the parliament that was elected in November but which has not been able to take office because of the military coup. Dr Sasa called on the international community – Russia and China included – to stop the junta’s military crackdown on Myanmar’s people. He called on world leaders to act now to prevent the civil unrest from turning into a "genocide" that might soon send refugees into neighbouring countries

Ten Myanmar rebel groups back anti-coup protests, condemn junta crackdown


Issued on: 04/04/2021 - 

Army and police gather during a demonstration against the military coup in Kyauk Myaung Township, Yangon, Myanmar, Saturday, April 3, 2021. AP

Text by:FRANCE 24


Ten of Myanmar's major rebel groups have thrown their support behind the country's anti-coup movement, fanning fears that a broader conflict could erupt in a country long plagued by fighting between the military and the ethnic armies.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, triggering an uprising that the junta has sought to quell with deadly crackdowns.

According to a local monitoring group, more than 550 people have been killed in the anti-coup unrest, bloodshed that has angered some of Myanmar's 20 or so ethnic groups and their militias, who control large areas of territory, mostly in border regions.

On Saturday, 10 of these rebel groups met virtually to discuss the situation, condemning the junta's use of live ammunition on protesters.

"The leaders of the military council must be held accountable," said General Yawd Serk, leader of the rebel Restoration Council of Shan State.

Last week, the junta declared a month-long ceasefire with ethnic armed groups, though exceptions might be made if "security and administrative machinery of the government... are encroached on".

The announcement did not encompass stopping lethal force against anti-coup demonstrations.

But Yawd Serk said the ceasefire required security forces to halt "all violent actions", including against protesters.

The 10 rebel groups that met online are signatories to a nationwide ceasefire agreement that was brokered by Suu Kyi's government, which attempted to negotiate an end to the ethnic militias' decades-long armed struggle for greater autonomy.

But distrust runs deep for the ethnic minorities of Myanmar, and Yawd Serk said the 10 signatories to the nationwide ceasefire would "review" the deal at their meeting.

"I would like to state that the (10 groups) firmly stand with the people who are... demanding the end of dictatorship," he said.

Last week, a UN special envoy on Myanmar warned the Security Council of the risk of civil war and an imminent "bloodbath".

'No reason for conflict'

The rebel groups' meeting comes a week after one of them, the Karen National Union (KNU), seized a military base in eastern Karen state, killing 10 army officers. The junta retaliated with air strikes.

The KNU has been a vocal opponent of the military junta and said it is sheltering hundreds of anti-coup activists.

On Saturday, the group condemned the military's use of "excessive force by engaging in non-stop bombing and air strikes" from March 27 to 30, which have "caused the deaths of many people including children".

"The air strikes have also led to the further displacement of more than 12,000 people," it said.

Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said the military has only been targeting KNU's 5th Brigade -- which led to the seizure of the military base.

"We had an air strike on that day only," he told AFP.

"We have signed a nationwide ceasefire agreement... If they follow the NCA, there is no reason for conflict to happen."

Ethnic Karen local media and rights groups have reported multiple bombings and air strikes across the state over recent days.

Easter egg protests

With the junta cutting wifi services, mobile data and imposing a nightly internet blackout that has gone on for nearly 50 days, information flow in the country has been effectively throttled.

Arrest warrants were also issued for 40 popular actors, models and social media influencers -- most of whom are in hiding -- with authorities accusing them of spreading information that could cause mutiny in the armed forces.

Thousands across the country continued to come out to protest on Sunday, with at least two cities seeing security forces violently crack down before noon.

In Yangon, some protesters raised decorated Easter eggs along with the three-fingered symbol of resistance that has become an emblem of the anti-coup movement.

An anti-coup protester raises a decorated Easter egg along with the three-fingered symbol of resistance during a protest in Yangon on Easter Sunday. AP

THE MAJORITY ARE BUDDHIST

In eastern Mon state, a man was shot in the stomach and died on his way to the hospital, while a rescue worker in central Monywa told AFP "two were shot in the head" when facing off against authorities.

Footage of the crackdown in Monywa verified by AFP shows protesters struggling to carry a young man bleeding from his head to safety as gunfire rings out in the background.

Meanwhile, state-run media said late Saturday that a police officer was found dead with his throat slit on the streets of Mandalay -- an act attributed to "dishonest people".

CNN, which was granted access by the junta, arrived this week -- correspondent Clarissa Ward was ferried around Yangon in a military convoy.

On Friday, she spoke to two sisters -- Shine Ya Da Na Pyo and Nay Zar Chi Shine -- who were later detained along with another relative.

 Local media reported they had flashed a three-finger salute -- a symbol of opposition to the junta -- while speaking to Ward.

"We don't know where they've been detained," said a relative of the sisters who did not want to be named. "Our family is trying our best for their release."

A CNN spokesperson said the company is aware of the situation.

"We are pressing the authorities for information on this, and for the safe release of any detainees," the spokesperson said.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

'Silent revolution': Myanmar workers strike to force junta's hand



Issued on: 04/04/2021 - 

Tens of thousands in Myanmar have gone on strike since the February 1 coup, hoping that blocking the economy will force the hand of the generals STR AFP/File

Bangkok (AFP)

Tens of thousands of Myanmar workers have gone on strike over the past two months, hoping that economic paralysis will force the hand of the wealthy generals who ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1.

Bank employees, doctors, engineers, customs officers, dockers, railway staff and textile workers have all downed tools as part of a civil disobedience movement.

Some striking workers are among the 550 people killed in the military's crackdown on anti-coup protests, while many others have been arrested or gone missing.

But they say the junta has forced them to take radical action, even if they cannot march in the streets alongside many of their compatriots.

"I have no more money, I am terrified, but I have no choice: we must destroy the dictatorship," Aye, a 26-year-old bank employee in Yangon, told AFP.

"We don't demonstrate in the street, we are too afraid to be on the military lists and to be arrested," she said. "Our revolution is silent."

That continued resistance comes despite repeated appeals -- and threats -- from the military in state media for people to get back to work, and strikers say they are getting stronger.

"Our movement is growing," Thaung, a civil aviation employee tells AFP, saying more than half of the 400 people in his department have not returned to work.

- 'Risky bet' -

The chaos is already undermining one of Asia's poorest economies, already battered by the coronavirus pandemic, where a quarter of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.

The World Bank is now forecasting a 10 percent contraction in GDP in 2021, a huge step backwards for a country that had seen considerable growth during the democratic transition led by Suu Kyi's civilian government.

"The junta was not ready for such resistance," says Francoise Nicolas, Asia Director of the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), who described the strikes as "a risky bet".

With the banking sector paralysed, employees are having problems getting paid and cash machines are empty.

Myanmar's garment sector, which was flourishing before the putsch with some 500,000 employees, is collapsing.

Foreign companies such as Sweden's H&M and Italy's Benetton have announced that they are suspending their orders, while Chinese-owned textile factories working for Western brands have been set on fire.

As a result, thousands of female workers have gone unpaid and have had to return to their home villages.

The situation is also alarming for farmers -- the cost of seeds and fertilisers is rising, while the currency, the kyat, is depreciating, causing their income to dwindle.

Meanwhile, prices are soaring.

Palm oil has risen by 20 percent in Yangon since the coup and rice by more than 30 percent in parts of Kachin state, a poor northern region, according to data from the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

The price of fuel oil in Yangon rose by nearly 50 percent in March, according to the Myawaddy newspaper.

Products such as construction materials, medical equipment and consumer goods, normally imported from China, are starting to run out.

"Chinese entrepreneurs no longer want to export because the Burmese population is boycotting their products, accusing Beijing of supporting the junta," said Htwe Htwe Thein, a professor of international business at Curtin University in Australia.

- The junta's billions -

Despite the economic turmoil, the junta is still turning a deaf ear to the pleas of the protesters.

It can still count on comfortable revenues thanks to the powerful conglomerates it controls, active in sectors as diverse as transport, tourism and banking, which have provided the military with billions of dollars since 1990, according to Amnesty International.

The United States and Britain have sanctioned these entities, but many countries that do business with them refuse to do so.

The army also benefits from "vast informal resources from the illegal collection of natural resources, such as jade and timber," said Htwe Htwe Thein.

It can count on significant oil and gas revenues too.

French giant Total alone had to pay about $230 million to the Burmese authorities in 2019 and $176 million in 2020, in the form of taxes and "production rights", according to financial documents published by the multinational.

Total's chief executive on Sunday ruled out stopping gas production in the country, but said it was "of course outraged by the repression". The firm pledged to fund groups working for human rights in Myanmar.

Unless the junta's access to resources like this is blocked, said Nicolas, it will be difficult for protesters and international powers to make them heed the calls for change.

© 2021 AFP

Myanmar workers forgo wages in anti-coup strikes as calls for Suu Kyi’s release continue

Bank employees, doctors, engineers, customs officers, dockers, railway staff and textile workers have all downed tools as part of a civil disobedience movement

Meanwhile, anti-coup demonstrators decorated boiled eggs with political messages on Easter Sunday in the latest protest against the country’s military junta


Agence France-Presse
Published:  4 Apr, 2021


Protesters hold up signs supporting the Civil Disobedience Movement in Yangon. Photo: AFP

Tens of thousands of Myanmar workers have gone on strike over the past two months, hoping that economic paralysis will force the hand of the wealthy generals who ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1.

Bank employees, doctors, engineers, customs officers, dockers, railway staff and textile workers have all downed tools as part of a civil disobedience movement.

Some striking workers are among the 550 people killed in the military’s crackdown on anti-coup protests, while many others have been arrested or gone missing.

But they say the junta has forced them to take radical action, even if they cannot march in the streets alongside many of their compatriots.

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“I have no more money, I am terrified, but I have no choice: we must destroy the dictatorship,” said Aye, a 26-year-old bank employee in Yangon.

“We don’t demonstrate in the street, we are too afraid to be on the military lists and to be arrested,” she said. “Our revolution is silent.”

That continued resistance comes despite repeated appeals – and threats – from the military in state media for people to get back to work, and strikers say they are getting stronger

“Our movement is growing,” said Thaung, a civil aviation employee, adding that more than half of the 400 people in his department had not returned to work.

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The chaos is already undermining one of Asia’s poorest economies, already battered by the coronavirus pandemic, where a quarter of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.

The World Bank is now forecasting a 10 per cent contraction in GDP in 2021, a huge step backwards for a country that had seen considerable growth during the democratic transition led by Suu Kyi’s civilian government.

“The junta was not ready for such resistance,” says Francoise Nicolas, Asia Director of the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri), who described the strikes as “a risky bet”.

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With the banking sector paralysed, employees are having problems getting paid and cash machines are empty.

Myanmar’s garment sector, which was flourishing before the putsch with some 500,000 employees, is collapsing.

Foreign companies such as Sweden’s H&M and Italy’s Benetton have announced that they are suspending their orders, while Chinese-owned textile factories working for Western brands have been set on fire.

Many workers in Myanmar have experienced pay losses after the coup. 

The situation is also alarming for farmers – the cost of seeds and fertilisers is rising, while the currency, the kyat, is depreciating, causing their income to dwindle.

Meanwhile, prices are soaring. Palm oil has risen by 20 per cent in Yangon since the coup and rice by more than 30 per cent in parts of Kachin state, a poor northern region, according to data from the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

The price of fuel oil in Yangon rose by nearly 50 per cent in March, according to the Myawaddy newspaper.

Products such as construction materials, medical equipment and consumer goods, normally imported from China, are starting to run out.

“Chinese entrepreneurs no longer want to export because the Burmese population is boycotting their products, accusing Beijing of supporting the junta,” said Htwe Htwe Thein, a professor of international business at Curtin University in Australia.

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Despite the economic turmoil, the junta is still turning a deaf ear to the pleas of the protesters.

It can still count on comfortable revenues thanks to the powerful conglomerates it controls, active in sectors as diverse as transport, tourism and banking, which have provided the military with billions of dollars since 1990, according to Amnesty International.

The United States and Britain have sanctioned these entities, but many countries that do business with them refuse to do so.

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The army also benefits from “vast informal resources from the illegal collection of natural resources, such as jade and timber,” said Htwe Htwe Thein.

It can count on significant oil and gas revenues too.

French giant Total alone had to pay about US$230 million to the Burmese authorities in 2019 and US$176 million in 2020, in the form of taxes and “production rights”, according to financial documents published by the multinational.

Total’s chief executive on Sunday ruled out stopping gas production in the country, but said it was “of course outraged by the repression”. The firm pledged to fund groups working for human rights in Myanmar.

Unless the junta’s access to resources like this is blocked, said Nicolas, it will be difficult for protesters and international powers to make them heed the calls for change.

A tray of eggs, decorated with messages in support of protesters demonstrating against the military coup. Photo: AFP


Meanwhile, anti-coup demonstrators decorated boiled eggs with political messages on Easter Sunday in the latest protest against the country’s military junta.


Pictures posted on social media showed eggs adorned with Suu Kyi’s likeness and three-finger salutes – a symbol of the resistance – while others said “save our people” and “democracy”.


“I am Buddhist but I have joined this campaign because it is easy to get hold of eggs. I spent almost one hour decorating my eggs,” one Yangon based egg decorator said. “I am praying for Myanmar’s current situation to get back to democracy.”


One Facebook group promoting the egg protest urged people to be respectful of Christian traditions on Easter Sunday.


Myanmar’s most senior Catholic, Cardinal Charles Bo posted an Easter message on Twitter: “Jesus has risen: Hallelujah – Myanmar will rise again!”