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ASEAN Breaks Junta Ban and Wins Backlash
Philippine Foreign Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro, as ASEAN Chair's Special Envoy on Myanmar, held an informal meeting with junta Foreign Minister Tin Maung Swe in Bangkok on July 12, the first high-level engagement since the bloc suspended “senior” contact in 2021. Lazaro didn’t ask for any break from hostilities as a condition for the talks. Former foreign ministers Saifuddin Abdullah of Malaysia and Kasit Piromya of Thailand, as well as three former UN experts from the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar, said on July 18 that the Philippines' chairmanship was in a "tailspin." The DFA fired back the next day by saying the criticism was "malicious and misleading" and reaffirming the 2021 Five-Point Consensus as ASEAN's framework. On July 13, the Steering Council for the Emergence of a Federal Democratic Union, which groups the KNU, KIO, KNPP and CNF, met Thai officials and ASEAN's envoy in a closed-door session, refusing any table with junta representatives and telling diplomats that Naypyidaw no longer controls the territory it claims. ASEAN foreign ministers will hold their informal Myanmar consultation in Manila tomorrow.
Read more: Bangkok Post (Suu Kyi), Mizzima (UN rights council), Gmanetwork (DFA rebuttal), BNI Online (SCEF sincerity doubts), DVB (Starlink appeal)
Starlink Axes 13 Million
More than one in five Starlink terminals in Myanmar have gone dark since the beginning of the month, cutting service to more than 13 million people and nearly 800,000 students who use it to log into virtual schools run by the National Unity Government in Kachin, Karenni, Sagaing and Mandalay. SpaceX has told users the terminals aren't licensed to operate in the country and some now need government-issued ID to reconnect, a tightening that follows the company's disabling of more than 2,500 terminals last year after US lawmakers connected smuggled dishes to border scam compounds. On July 17, a coalition of 255 civil society groups wrote to Elon Musk asking him to keep the service running. SpaceX has not yet made a public reply.
Read more: DVB
Two Boats Vanish Off Rakhine, 500 Feared Dead
More than 500 people, most of them Rohingya, are thought to be dead after two boats vanished off the Rakhine coast. One boat, carrying about 250 passengers, lost contact shortly after leaving Rakhine State in late June, and the other, with about 280 aboard, is believed to have sunk off the Ayeyarwady coast on July 8. IOM and UNHCR announced the losses on July 16. The figures, if confirmed, would add to nearly 300 deaths or disappearances already recorded this year in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal. That would put this year on pace to exceed the nearly 900 lives lost in 2025, the deadliest year on record.
Read more: Khaosod English, Iom, DVB, CNN, France 24
Three Bombs Fall on Ma-Ei
A military jet dropped three 500-pound bombs on Ma-Ei town in Rakhine's Taungup Township on July 19, killing five residents of Ward No. 2 and wounding 14. The Ma-Ei strike was one of a wave in Rakhine, Mandalay, and Sagaing over the weekend that killed at least six civilians and destroyed more than 25 homes, the latest in what resistance media says are near-daily strikes as Min Aung Hlaing's July 31 deadline for peace talks with ethnic armies and resistance groups gets nearer. The Arakan Army, which controls 14 of Rakhine's 17 townships, says it will continue to respond to every assault on territory under its administration.
Read more: DVB (cumulative death toll), BNI Online (victim identities), Narinjara (prior Gwa airstrikes)
TNLA Asks for Ta'ang State
TNLA delegates met the regime's peace committee in Naypyidaw on Sunday to ask for a recognized "Ta'ang State," promising it would stay part of the Union. No boundaries were specified in the request. The ask comes after a punishing run of losses. The group gave up Mogok and Momeik to the regime last November under a China-brokered ceasefire, lost Kutkai to former ally MNDAA in March, and was ordered to give up Namhkam, Namtu, Mongngawt and Monglon during talks on May 12 in Kunming.
Read more: DVB
PDF Blast Blacks Out Four Townships
Junta media says that insurgents from the People's Defense Force planted and detonated a mine at Tower No. 338 of the 132 kV main line near Paung Laung Kan village in Pakokku Township around 7:30 PM on July 19. The blast cut power to Pakokku, Yesagyo, Myaing, and Kamma townships and destabilized the Magway grid, causing voltage drops and outages in villages that are well outside the immediate blackout zone.
Read more: Myanmaritv
Suu Kyi Barred From Martyrs' Day, Again
Under a cellular blackout, Min Aung Hlaing laid down several wreaths at the Martyrs' Mausoleum in Yangon on July 19. Aung San Suu Kyi, 81, was barred from the ceremony for the fifth straight year. Her estranged older brother Aung San Oo sent a wreath; both of the junta's vice presidents skipped the event. Myanmar's ousted NLD demanded (again) this week that Suu Kyi be included in any political process. ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights has written to Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and José Ramos-Horta in the Philippines (ASEAN chair) demanding proof she is alive, as foreign ministers gather in Manila this week for the 59th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting.
Read more: BNI Online (sentence reduction), Aseanmp (proof-of-life demand), Mizzima (family representative)
That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.
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