News from Southeast Asia directly to your inbox every weekday.
The Mekong Memo is proudly presented by:
Horton International is your premier partner for executive search in Southeast Asia. Whether you're a small startup or a global corporation, our reliable and effective recruiting solutions are tailored to meet your unique needs. With extensive experience and offices across the region, we excel at overcoming recruitment challenges and securing top talent for your organization.
Click here to learn how Horton can make your life easier.
The Memo is published weekdays - Cambodia (every Monday), Myanmar (Tuesday), Laos (Wednesday), Vietnam (Thursday) and Thailand (Friday). The Thailand edition is free in its entirety; the others usually abbreviated for non-paid subscribers.
Please go to https://www.mekongmemo.com/account to select country editions you would like to receive without affecting your overall subscription status.
Fighter Jet Bombs Kyauktaw's Main Market
Three airstrikes turned Rakhine's biggest wholesale market and the adjacent Kissapanadi Bridge into a killing field. The Arakan Army says more than 40 people were killed and nearly 50 wounded, some burned so badly that they might be impossible to ever identify. An aid worker said that since the market (in AA-held Kyauktaw) was far from the fighting, it brought in traders from around the state. Official word from Naypyidaw has been quiet, despite insisting in the past that its military exercises “maximum restraint” around civilians. The AA is promising retaliation.
Read more: AP News, The Star, Freemalaysiatoday, Narinjara, DVB
Beijing Fires Warning Shots as Jets Circle Laiza
Chinese security forces fired warning shots as junta fighter jets and Y-12 planes circled the KIA's Laiza headquarters for two days in a row. Kachin Colonel Naw Bu said the aircraft flew so close to the border that he was able to hear the shots from China. The show of force comes after the KIA's destruction of nearly 20 regime vessels that were resupplying Bhamo, an operation in which almost 200 soldiers and relatives surrendered. Schools in Laiza are closed, and the KIA is telling residents to dig shelters and to stay away from crowds. The jets didn’t hit the town, but reportedly bombed KIA positions in Hpakant.
Read more: The Irrawaddy
Regime Bombs Kill Its Air-War Analyst
The junta unleashed six bombs and opened sustained artillery fire on the NUG's Special Region Command headquarters on the Mon-Bago border, killing former Air Force sergeant Nay Win Aung. The defector had become a widely quoted analyst of the air war the he, once upon a time, helped orchestrate. Five resistance fighters were also reported killed. The attackers reportedly used bomb-carrying Chinese-made Y-12 aircraft, backed up with shelling from Artillery Battalion 310 in Theinzayat. Neither side has published an official account of what went down yet. Asked how the base was discovered, NUG Deputy Home Affairs Minister Kyaw Ni only offered the discomforting observation that both sides use “every available means” to gather intelligence.
Read more: The Irrawaddy
Snatch Squads Empty Hpa-An's Streets
Plainclothes junta units are grabbing men in their 20s and 30s off of the streets of Hpa-An after (leaked) orders instructed regional authorities to fill recruitment quotas. Residents say they are staying home after dusk. In Naunglon Village, the snatching of two men outside their homes caused locals to put their own (self-imposed) evening curfew into effect. Recruiters are also hunting migrant workers who have escaped from other regions. The military has conscripted more than 30,000 young people since February 2024 to shore up forces that now fully control only about one-fifth of the country.
Read more: Karen News, The Diplomat (deportation risk)
Dawei Floods Kill 13 as Resistance Runs Rescue
At least 13 people are dead and 30 missing after floods and landslides tore through Dawei, Launglon and Thayetchaung townships during the area's heaviest rain in 80 years. The resistance-aligned Tavoyan National Federation says more than 10,000 people in 60 villages are affected, and the phone “lines” are down. Most of the flood zone is outside regime control, so resistance forces have been left to run the rescue. Nearly 400 displaced people are sheltering in Launglon's Aukyaehpyu village, where relief groups say food, clothing and medicine are in short supply.
Read more: Straits Times, The Irrawaddy, DVB (regime response)
Malaysia Ships 1,476 Home on Junta Warships
Two junta warships and a hospital ship left Malaysia carrying 1,476 people, the first of 5,000 that are expected to eventually return under a deal between Anwar Ibrahim and Min Aung Hlaing. Kuala Lumpur says that the program is voluntary, an label that as many as 166 civil society groups dispute as they demand a stop to the program. They claim that Rohingya sent back to Rakhine will be subject to forced recruitment by both the junta and the Arakan Army. Chin community leader James Bawi said fear of detention is now keeping children out of school. Malaysia is host to almost 194,000 UN-registered refugees but formally recognizes none of them as refugees.
Read more: Straits Times, Arab News (the return deal), The Diplomat (rights groups' warning)
UN Envoys Say Nobody Is Going Home
Most of Rakhine is now Arakan Army territory, not Naypyidaw's to bargain away with Dhaka, UN Special Envoy Julie Bishop told the General Assembly. Special Rapporteur Kelley Currie was equally forthright, saying that the AA is targeting Rohingya and telling host countries not to send refugees back to persecution. UN investigators refer to the bombing, shelling, drone attacks and arbitrary detention that’s been ongoing as reasons return remains unsafe. More than 1.2 million refugees are now living in Cox's Bazar, where Bishop says more than 30,000 children are born in the camps each year.
Read more: DVB (Bishop's warning), DVB (Currie's warning), Jurist, ReliefWeb (investigators' findings)
Beijing Nudges Kokang's MNDAA to the Table
Kokang's Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army has sent its political wing to Naypyidaw for talks with the junta, becoming the second armed group from Operation 1027 to do so after the Ta'ang National Liberation Army. The agenda covered Chinese investment, border trade, online scam centers and a possible MNDAA seat in Parliament. Beijing's fingerprints are evident in the deal. The MNDAA wants the territory it captured recognized as part of Special Region 1, but the 2008 Constitution shows much tighter boundaries and would force it to return several important districts.
Read more: The Irrawaddy
Chinese Warships Dock in Yangon
Three PLA Navy vessels, the destroyer Tangshan, frigate Daqing and supply ship Taihu, have docked at Yangon Port for a five-day goodwill visit after piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden and a stop in Bangladesh. More than 300 greeters, including Chinese diplomats, community representatives and military officers, gave the aging deployment a conspicuously warm welcome. The task group left China nearly a year ago for escort missions off Somalia and is now on its way home.
Read more: Bastillepost
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.
If you value the Mekong Memo, please consider buying (or gifting!) a paid subscription, sharing it on social media or forwarding this email to someone who might enjoy it. Please also “like” this newsletter by clicking the ❤️ below (or sometimes above, depending on the platform), which helps us get visibility on the Substack network.