Junta-appointed administrator shot dead in Rakhine’s Thandwe Township

A local administrator was shot dead late last week in southern Rakhine State’s Thandwe Township, where dozens of officials have resigned over junta efforts to recruit civilians into the military. Win Shwe, a 100-household administrator from Dawa, a village in Thandwe’s Shwe Hlaw village tract, was killed by unknown assailants on March 21, according to local news outlets. He was assassinated for reporting the names of villagers to regime authorities, residents of the area said. No group has claimed responsibility for the killing. Dawa is located near Thandwe but is cut off from the town by a number of rivers and streams, making it relatively inaccessible, according to locals. The killing came just a day after six Thandwe officials submitted their resignations over fears of a violent backlash to the regime’s conscription drive. A total of 27 had resigned over the previous week, sources there reported. The junta has not released a statement about the resignations or the assassination of Win Shwe. Last week, Myanmar Now reported that two village administrators had been killed in Magway and Mandalay regions for taking part in a scheme to recruit new military personnel under a conscription law enacted by a previous regime more than a decade ago. Since then, another administrator has been killed in Mi Chaung Tet, a village south of Mandalay, according to a pro-junta Telegram channel, which claimed that the victim, Thaung Tun, 46, was killed in his home by the anti-regime People’s Defence Force. A local woman confirmed the death of the administrator, but was unable to provide any further information. “I heard that a 100-household administrator in Mi Chaung Tat village tract was shot dead because he was recruiting new soldiers, but I don’t know the details,” she said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Myanmar’s military junta announced last month that it would soon begin enforcing the 2010 People’s Military Service Law after suffering heavy losses to resistance forces since seizing power more than three years ago. Under the law, conscripts must serve in the army for up to five years. The move has sparked widespread concern and seen a large number of young people seeking to leave the country.

Junta-appointed administrator shot dead in Rakhine’s Thandwe Township

The assassination is just the latest targeting officials involved in efforts to begin forcibly recruiting civilians into the military

Subscribe for full access

No home to return to: Rakhine IDPs face mounting hardships

A trip down the old Yangon-Mandalay highway, now militarised beyond recognition

Making connections in Myanmar’s fractured state

Travelling clinics serve as rare source of aid in war-torn Rakhine State

No home to return to: Rakhine IDPs face mounting hardships

Junta airstrikes kill at least 15 across resistance strongholds in Myanmar

Myanmar military’s airstrikes on Hsipaw, Mawchi kill eight civilians

Thai authorities exploiting Myanmar migrants: Human Rights Watch

With Myanmar military close to retaking Nawnghkio, resistance faces second major setback

Myanmar junta airstrikes kill three civilians sheltering in Rakhine State monastery

Myanmar’s factories cling to life as power shortages persist

Bought Out or Seized: Mandalay farmers face impossible choices amid land grab

Myanmar junta partners with Chinese firm to build natural gas terminal despite Rakhine State conflict

Myanmar garment makers forced to exchange export earnings at junta-imposed rate

Thai officials call on Myanmar regime to crack down on fraud, trafficking gangs on Thai-Karen State border

Myanmar military continues to lose ground to anti-junta forces in northern Shan State

Despite escalating violence, Myanmar junta leader says elections will proceed

NUG-founded bank set to sell shares to meet ‘emergency needs’

Myanmar’s junta bears ‘sole responsibility’ for Suu Kyi’s health—NLD

Karenni youth fight for freedom at the cost of their lives and limbs

The mothers of the Magway resistance

A Myanmar artist finds freedom behind bars—by portraying prisoners’ oppression

As Myanmar’s revolution beckons, a new breed of activist photographers heeds the call

The man behind the Myanmar junta’s campaign of terror in Sagaing

Authorities tighten restrictions on passport process for Myanmar nationals in Thailand

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles