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Junta Tells ASEAN to Drop the Envoy
The foreign ministry used the weekend to tell ASEAN that it no longer needs a special envoy, saying that the arrangement should lapse when Singapore takes the chair on January 1, 2027. The ministry said it will keep working with the current envoy, Philippine Foreign Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro, through the rest of her term, but sounded rather pleased with itself as it described the role as obsolete now that a post-election government has "assumed state responsibility." It also rejected ASEAN's renewed demand for Aung San Suu Kyi's "complete and unconditional release," saying that language interferes with a sovereign judicial process, and warned of unspecified "countermeasures" against "discriminatory treatment." The pushback comes after an ICRC representative met the 81-year-old Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw, her first known contact with an outside independent humanitarian organization in five years. Singapore has not commented.
Read more: AP News (Min Aung Hlaing), Nation Thailand (death toll), Straits Times, Mizzima (ICRC rep), Khabarhub (sentence commutation history)
Six Deals, No Royal Audience in Bangkok
Min Aung Hlaing returned home with a joint statement, a $12 billion trade target, and agreements for migrant labor, Kok and Sai river water quality, space technology, a security dialogue and the reopening of the second Friendship Bridge, as well as renewed backing for the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway and a Ranong port link. His delegation of business cronies came to cash in on his "invest with confidence" pitch in energy, agriculture, manufacturing, health care and technology. He did not get was a royal audience, a press conference, or recognition of his government from anyone new. Unfortunately, neither the United Wa State Army territory where the mines poisoning the Kok sit nor the Myawaddy scam compounds run by a Karen Border Guard Force answer to Naypyidaw, so of the deals touted, it seems like only the labor MOU looks bilateral and administrative enough to possibly happen.
Read more: AP News (civilian death toll), BBC (red-carpet ceremony), DVB (territory control gap), Myanmar Now (cronies), NDTV (highway route detail)
Ayeyarwady Embankment Breach Floods Rice Country
The Ngawun River embankment gave way in Lemyethna township, allowing floodwater to pour into 16 villages in Ayeyarwady, the country's biggest rice region, where farmers had already planted 3.7 million acres of paddy this season. A Red Cross assessment found about 20,000 people affected; other reports put the figure above 40,000. Paddy can survive under water for about a week before dying, so there may be hope still, but it’s not looking god. Fighting between the military and the Arakan Army had left the aging embankment unmaintained.
Read more: CNA (government repair pledge), Qazinform (relief funds allocated), ReliefWeb (household breakdown)
Karenni Sends Civilians Home Through Minefields
The Karenni Interim Executive Council is sending civilians back into townships like Demoso and Loikaw without waiting for the war to end, or for the demining standards that come with peacetime. IEC Secretary Banya Khung Aung says the military plants about 1,000 mines a day. Karenni armed groups are laying mines of their own, including improvised devices and munitions captured from the military. "We are so far from the international standard," Banya Khung Aung said. "We are in the war zone."
Read more: Karen News
Rakhine's Cash Runs on Rupees
Withdrawal fees through KBZPay agents in Arakan Army territory rose to a high of 9,000 MMK on every 100,000 withdrawn this month, which is a fee of 9%, up from 5% in July, as monsoon rains cut off the couriers who normally ferry banknotes in from India's Mizoram State. The AA's emergency order barring men aged 18 to 45 and women aged 18 to 25 from leaving the state has also reduced the supply of informal money runners who kept the system liquid. With commercial banking shut in the 14 townships it controls, the ULA, the AA's political wing, is preparing a state-owned bank in three townships. Merchants say it may start accepting the Indian rupee along with the kyat, routed through Paletwa on the India border. Military-run banking is still limping along in Sittwe, Kyaukphyu, and Manaung.
Read more: DVB
Malaysia Screens 4,000 Before Repatriation
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail says screening is underway for more than 4,000 Myanmar nationals in immigration depots, sorting refugees from those flagged for immigration or criminal offenses before any repatriation ship sails. Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan says Naypyidaw has agreed to take 5,000 back after his meeting with counterpart Tin Maung Swe, but no departure date has been set. Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil says none of the 5,000 will be sent back if their lives are at risk.
Read more: The Diplomat (UNHCR count), Voi ID (refugees since 2017), Asian News Network, The Sun
US Court Clears TPS Cutoff for 4,000
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly ruled Friday that the Trump administration can end Temporary Protected Status for about 4,000 Myanmar nationals. The ruling leans on the Supreme Court's June decision that limits lower courts' authority to block TPS terminations, a precedent DHS has already applied to nine other TPS-designated countries. DHS revoked Myanmar's designation last November when they claimed that the junta's planned elections were evidence of "clear progress in governance and stability." Many of the 4,000 have lived in the U.S. since escaping the 2021 coup, and some are raising American-born children.
Read more: The Diplomat
RSF and Mizzima Launch Shortwave Broadcasts
After four years of junta censorship, RSF and Mizzima have gone live on 17665 kHz (a frequency the junta cannot easily jam), from 7 to 8 a.m. every Sunday. The "Voice of Independent Myanmar" broadcast is trying to reach at least 500,000 and as many as 2 million regular weekly listeners, but as many as 4 million during major crises. The show will feature news, analysis, and segments on human rights and disinformation. The audio will also be shared on Mizzima's digital accounts, which have 21 million Facebook followers and 3 million YouTube subscribers. RSF is modeling the project on a similar shortwave launch in Iran.
Read more: Mizzima
Sweden Shuts Yangon Office, Runs from Bangkok
The government of Sweden has closed its Yangon section office, and will now fold its Myanmar affairs into the Bangkok embassy. Finland closed its Yangon embassy a few months ago; Denmark and the Netherlands have announced similar plans.
Read more: DVB
Junta-Connected Body Bids for Regional Chair
The MNHRC lost its GANHRI accreditation in December 2024 and its membership in March 2025 because of its ties to the junta, but nonetheless is now angling for the 2027 chairship of SEANF, the regional rights forum. The effort has prompted 146 civil society groups to demand that SEANF members block the bid and reconsider MNHRC's seat altogether.
Read more: Mizzima
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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