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

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