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.

Myanmar junta may scapegoat insurgents to ‘rain hell’ on civilians: UN expert
1 Apr 2021


“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.

Three-finger salutes seen at Myanmar funerals as deaths from military crackdowns surpass 500

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”.

Suu Kyi has been charged under official secrets law, lawyer says
1 Apr 2021


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.

India, Thailand face looming refugee crisis amid fears of Myanmar civil war
1 Apr 2021


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.

Thai villages on border anxious after Myanmar military clashes with ethnic group

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!”

 

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burma

Myanmar military denies responsibility for child deaths and says elections could be pushed back

By Clarissa Ward, Brent Swails, Scott McWhinnie, Sandi Sidhu, and Salai TZ, 

CNN 4/8/2021


"This is not a coup," said Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun from a gilded hall in Myanmar's purpose-built capital Naypyidaw, the city where his comrades recently ousted an elected government, detained the country's leadership, and installed a military junta

.

© Scott McWhinnie/CNN Major General Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson for the Myanmar military, at the Defense Services Museum in Naypyidaw, Myanmar on April 4, 2021.

During an hour-long conversation with CNN, the military spokesperson was steadfast in upholding the junta's official narrative: that the generals are merely "safeguarding" the country while they investigate a "fraudulent" election. The bloodshed on the streets that has killed at least 600 people is the fault of "riotous" protesters, he said.

At one point, Zaw Min Tun said if civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi's father -- the assassinated independence hero Aung San, who founded the country's modern military -- could see the situation now, he would say: "You are such a fool, my daughter."

The interview took place during a week-long press tour of Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon, and Naypyidaw from March 31 to April 6. Prior to the trip, the military assured CNN it would be able to report independently and be given freedom of movement, but the journalists' request to stay in a Yangon hotel was denied and the team instead were housed in a walled military compound, given only intermittent and heavily controlled access to the public.

The following interview with Zaw Min Tun offers an insight into how Myanmar's military junta are trying to justify their bloody takeover to the world, while at the same time cocooning themselves in government buildings far from a populace fiercely resistant to their rule, as they order deadly crackdowns on their own citizens in villages, towns and cities across the country

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© Stringer/AFP/Getty Images

 A police officer aims a gun during clashes with protesters taking part in a demonstration against the military coup in Naypyidaw on February 9.

CNN was provided with military interpreters, but conducted its own translations afterward.

The back story

Hours after commander-in-chief of Myanmar's armed forces Gen. Min Aung Hlaing ordered his troops to seize the capital before dawn on February 1, he announced on television that a state of emergency would be in place for one year, after which elections would be held. His takeover came as newly-elected lawmakers were due to take their places on the opening day of parliament.

The state of emergency caused all legislative, executive, and judicial power to be transferred to Min Aung Hlaing.

Zaw Min Tun said the state of emergency could be extended for an additional "six months or more" over "two terms" and "if the duties are not done yet." He did not give a firm date for when elections would be held, but said that according to the 2008 military-drafted constitution, "we have to finish everything within two years. We have to hold a free and fair election within these two years."

© Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images Protesters gather to demonstrate against the February 1 military coup, in downtown in Yangon on February 8.

"We promise that we will make it happen," he said.

Many observers have questioned whether the military, which ruled Myanmar for half a century between 1962 and 2011, would be willing to relinquish power again, whether elections would indeed be "free and fair" -- and whether ousted leader Suu Kyi and her popular party the National League for Democracy (NLD) would be allowed to contest.

Zaw Min Tun pointed to a string of reforms the quasi-civilian government embarked upon in 2011 after the military gave up direct rule, which paved the way for the 2015 elections, in which Suu Kyi won a resounding victory. "If we didn't want her from the beginning there would be no process like this," he said.

However, the 2008 constitution was designed so the military would retain power despite a civilian government. It allocated the military a quarter of seats in parliament, giving it effective veto power over constitutional amendments, and the generals kept control of three powerful ministries -- defense, border and home affairs.

© Stringer/AFP/Getty Images The wife of Phoe Chit, a protester who died during a demonstration against the military coup on March 3, cries over the coffin of her husband during his funeral in Yangon on March 5.

Zaw Min Tun also highlighted that Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest and has not been seen in public since the coup, is facing five charges, including illegally importing walkie-talkie radios, and for breaking Covid-19 regulations. She has also been accused of corruption and bribery. The most serious charge, however, is violating violating the country's Official Secrets Act, which carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

© AP Myanmar's Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on March 27.

"What happened is because of the corruptions on national level and errors on state level procedures and we are accusing on the facts," Zaw Min Tun said. "Daw Aung San Su Kyi is a well-known person both in Myanmar and the world and we will not accuse that person without any reason."

But slapping perceived opponents with charges under vaguely-worded colonial-era laws has been a well-used tool by the military throughout its rule, and during the reform period. The charges against Suu Kyi have been described as "trumped up" by her lawyer, who called the bribery accusations a "complete fabrication."

To justify the coup, the junta has alleged widespread election fraud in the November vote that would have given the NLD a second term and a mandate to continue its reform agenda, which included attempts to amend the constitution to limit the military's power. Zaw Min Tun said the military had tried to negotiate with the NLD government but "no action was taken."

Zaw Min Tun said the junta had "solid evidence" the elections were fraudulent, but did not show any to CNN.

"The voting fraud we found in the election is 10.4 million, the number of eligible votes announced by the Election Commission was around 39.5 million and the voting fraud is a quarter of the vote," he said.

The election commission denied there was mass voter fraud and independent election monitors said there were no substantial problems that would be enough to overturn the result. Suu Kyi won with 83% of the vote.


Bloodshed on the streets

It is evident from the interview that Myanmar's military leaders want the world to believe they are acting in line with the country's laws and constitution, and say they are committed to building a "multi-party democratic county."

But the bloodshed on the streets, in which soldiers and police have shot dead protesters, bystanders and children, belies that claim.

At least 600 civilians have been killed by security forces, according to advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The UN envoy has reported enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture in prisons. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said authorities have "increasingly resorted to heavy weaponry such as rocket-propelled and fragmentation grenades, heavy machine guns, and snipers to kill demonstrators in massive numbers."

Around 3,000 people have been detained, many kept out of contact from their families, their condition or whereabouts unknown. Meanwhile, protesters, activists, journalists and families of those killed by the junta, have been forced into hiding as they fear security forces will hunt them in nighttime raids.

On Wednesday, a special envoy of Myanmar's ousted civilian government to the UN warned of a civil war if the world fails to stop the junta from seizing power and killing pro-democracy protesters.

"The bloodbath is real. It is coming, more people will die. I am afraid," Dr. Sasa said on CNN. "It is the time for the world to prevent another genocide, another ethnic cleansing, another massacre, so the world has the power to stop it before it's too late."

Zaw Min Tun blamed the violence on protesters "provoking" the crowd and said security forces cracked down because protesters "blocked the civil servants" from going to work.

In reality, thousands of civil servants, as well as white- and blue-collar workers, including medics, bankers, lawyers, teachers, engineers and factory workers, left their jobs as a form of resistance against the coup. The strikes, called the Civil Disobedience Movement, have disrupted sectors of the economy.

"The crowds were throwing stones and slingshots at them in the beginning but later the crowd are blocking with sand bags, shooting with handmade guns, throwing with fire, throwing with molotov (cocktails) and the security forces have to use the weapons for the riot," Zaw Min Tun said.

Asked whether he was seriously comparing slingshots to assault rifles, Zaw Min Tun said the security forces were using "minimum force."

"There will be deaths when they are cracking down (on) the riots, but we are not shooting around without discipline," he said.

According to the military, the death toll at the time of the interview was 248 people, including 10 police officers and six soldiers, he said -- less than half the toll documented by multiple human rights groups, which have repeatedly said security forces are violating international humanitarian law by shooting indiscriminately into crowds of peaceful protesters.

Bullet wounds in the heads and necks of many of those shot also suggest the soldiers are shooting to kill. Video and images captured by local journalists and eyewitnesses and verified by CNN show security forces shooting into crowds. In others, security forces are beating detainees with their rifles, or dragging bodies through the streets.


The killing of children

According to the UN Children's Fund, 46 children have been killed since the coup. CNN has documented instances of children being shot in their homes or while playing outside.

When asked about three teenagers who have died at the hands of security forces -- Kyaw Min Latt, 17, Htoo Myat Win, 13, and Tun Tun Aung, 14, -- the military spokesperson blamed protesters for "using" children on the front lines.

"In some places they provoke the children to participate in violence riots ... Because of that they may get hit when the security forces were cracking down (on) the crowds," he said. "There is no reason we will shoot the children, this is only the terrorists are trying to make us look bad."

He said it was "not possible" that a child would be shot inside their house and an investigation would be carried out if that was the case. Videos posted on social media corroborate that security forces have shot at houses.

Htoo Myat Win's father said his son was shot when several bullets smashed a glass window in his house in Shwebo city on March 27. "I dodged the bullet but my son was coming up to the glass window and got hit," he said, adding that his son was hit in the chest. "I don't understand why they have to shoot us when we were inside our house."

"They were shooting at protesters before and the protesters were running and we hid some of them because we worried that they might get arrested. They (army) must have positioned themselves in this neighborhood," he said.

Video widely circulated online showed Htoo Myat Win's distraught father screaming with grief in the back of a taxi as he rushed to his son's lifeless body for help. Forced to go to a military hospital, Htoo Myat Win's father said doctors there did an autopsy and told him to sign a document stating there was no bullet.

"I asked them my son die with a bullet wound why you want to say it is not from a bullet?" he said.

Perhaps keen to avoid creating martyrs, the military has sought to control the narrative over some high-profile deaths. Junta forces exhumed the body of one young protester and carried out an autopsy in which they determined the bullet that killed her did not come from a police gun.

In another incident, a military hospital claimed Kyaw Min Latt died after falling off his motorbike in Dawei city. CCTV footage, however, captured the moment a soldier standing on the back of a truck shot at the teenager as he rode with two others, who managed to run away. His mother verified the footage to CNN.

"The doctor told us that my son is suffering from the injuries of fall from motorbike, we couldn't say back anything except just kept say yes to everything," his mother Daw Mon Mon Oo said. She said X-rays of her son's body conducted at a second hospital were taken away by officials from the military-run hospital.

His death certificate, seen by CNN, states Kyaw Min Latt died on March 30 because of "the primary brain injury due to the fall from cycle (motorcycle)."

When his family were able to take his body home, his mother said "there was no injury from the fall of the bike but only when there the bullet went in and out, and bruised on his right eye."s

Pressed by CNN about the allegations from families of soldiers shooting into houses and of the military attempting to cover up the causes of deaths, spokesperson Zaw Min Tun demanded CNN show him evidence. "If that kind of thing occurred, we will have investigation for it," he said. "There may be some videos which look suspicious but for our forces, we don't have any intention to shoot at innocent people."

It is unclear whether the military has launched any internal investigations into repeated claims of extrajudicial killings.

CNN also pressed Zaw Min Tun on why at least 11 people were detained shortly after speaking with the CNN team in Yangon. Some were detained merely for flashing the three-finger salute from the Hunger Games movies that has become a symbol of resistance. According to three sources close to those detained, who spoke on condition of anonymity over fears of reprisal, eight were later released.

Zaw Min Tun confirmed security forces detained three people from the first market and eight others at a second after interacting with the team on the ground. When asked by CNN what crime they had committed, he said they hadn't broken the law.

"The security forces were worried they would provoke others and start the protest in the market, and that is why they got arrested," he said, adding the military expressed "regret" over the arrests.

CNN has since learned those eight are now in hiding, fearing rearrest.


International reaction

The coup and subsequent deadly crackdown have been widely condemned internationally. The United States, United Kingdom and European Union have imposed sanctions on several generals in charge of the coup, as well as on military-owned companies.

However, while Zaw Min Tun insisted elections would be held in the future, he warned the military's version of democracy would perhaps not be a Western-style liberal system.

"The democratic country we are building is the one suitable with our history and geography. The standard of democracy in Myanmar will not be the same as from Western counties," he said.

Despite the dangers, protesters from all walks of life in Myanmar continue to demand the military hand back power to civilian control and are held fully accountable. They continue to call for the release of Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders. Myanmar's many ethnic minority groups, which have long fought for greater autonomy for their lands, are also demanding the military-written 2008 constitution be abolished and a federal democracy be established.

Having grown up with a level of democracy, and political and economic freedoms their parents and grandparents didn't have, Myanmar's young people leading the resistance movement remain determined to fight for what they see as their future -- and they say they will not give up.

Yangon residents snatched after visit by CNN crew ‘being held at military interrogation center’

At least one was released not long after being taken, but others are being held incommunicado, say friends and relatives  

Myanmar Now

Published on Apr 3, 2021

A woman, who was later detained, speaks to CNN correspondent Clarissa Ward in Yangon

At least six people who were detained on Friday after a CNN camera crew visited two markets in the north of Yangon are being held incommunicado at a military interrogation center, friends and relatives told Myanmar Now.

Armed men in plain clothes snatched at least five people from the Mingaladon Market and another two from the Ten Mile Market shortly after Clarissa Ward, the US broadcaster’s chief international correspondent, left the area with her team. 

Based on photos of people being abducted and interviews with relatives, friends and witnesses, Myanmar Now calculated that as many as nine people may have been detained, but was unable to identify two of them.

At least three of the detainees gave interviews to the CNN team, while two others took pictures of the crew and others were with people who gave interviews. 

Of those detained at least one has been released and at least six are being held at a military interrogation centre in the northeastern tonwship of Shwepyithar, according to their loved ones. 

One of the detainees is 23-year-old Yin Thet Tin. She went to the Mingaladon Market to buy snacks and gave an interview to Ward before being snatched. 

She was then brought to the interrogation center, said her sister, who did not want to be named. “We went there but we were not allowed to see her. We weren’t allowed to enter,” the sister said. 

Yin Thet Tin’s 17-year-old niece was detained but released the same day without being sent to Shwepyithar. Yin Thet Tin was taken to the interrogation centre at around 5pm on Friday, according to the sister. 

“Today we are planning to go to Shwepyithar for a while. But I do not know how to follow her case. We won’t be allowed inside,” she said on Saturday. 

Yin Thet Tin’s family is worried because they are unable to contact her, she added.

“My sister didn’t do anything. She was just getting snacks,” she said. “All she did was answer when the CNN reporter interviewed her. Since she is innocent, we want her to be released, safe and sound, as soon as possible after the interrogation.”

Nay Zarchi Shine, Shine Yadanar Phyo, and Sithu Phyo were also arrested by armed men in plain clothes yesterday at the Mingaladon Market. They were also taken to the Shwepyithar interrogation centre, a friend of Nay Zarchi Shine told Myanmar Now. 

“They also took her car,” the friend said. 

Two employees of the Asia Light Lighting store at the Ten Mile Market on Pyay Road were detained and taken to Shwepyithar immediately after the CNN crew left the area yesterday afternoon, according to a source who knows the women.

“They were taken to the interrogation centre. We have yet to get contact with them,” the source said. 

Myanmar Now was unable to contact officials from the military regime regarding the abductions. 

The military has carefully choreographed the visit by the CNN crew, who have been escorted everywhere since their arrival. 

The visit was authorised even as the coup regime seeks to crush independent media inside Myanmar by arresting journalists, raiding media offices, and revoking publishing licenses. 

Myanmar Now’s reporter Kay Zon Nway is being held at Insein Prison after she was detained covering a protest in February. She is among dozens of journalists who have been detained. 

The regime has murdered relatively few people since the CNN crew arrived. A police directive issued Tuesday, the day before the crew landed, told officers to be more restrained when attacking protesters.  

“Whenever trying to handle crowds, every stage of the process must be done step by step in accordance with procedures,” it read, “and responsible officers at all levels need to supervise police not to use excessive force.”

Residents of Yangon have taken advantage of the lull in violence to intensify their protests against the regime. 

Observers have criticised CNN for failing to speak up in defence of those detained after the interviews.

Phil Robertson, deputy director for Asia at Human Rights Watch, said on Twitter that the broadcaster should tell the junta “that any big interviews in Naypyidaw will be canceled unless all who previously spoke with Clarissa Ward are immediately & unconditionally released!”

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Now is an independent news service providing free, accurate and unbiased news to the people of Myanmar in Burme