A UN expert has claimed that Russia and China have been sending deadly aid to Myanmar’s military. The junta has apparently imported at least $1 billion in arms and other materials since it seized power in the country on February 1, 2021, through a coup.
Myanmar’s junta reportedly arrested more than 21,000 people after seizing power and ousting Aung San Suu Kyi’s government.
In the aftermath, the junta reacted with air strikes and heavy weapons after some opponents of military authority took up arms and joined ethnic minority insurgents in some places.
Tom Andrews, who is the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, alleged in the report that Russian-made Mi-35 helicopters, MiG-29 fighter jets and Yak-130 light aircraft, and Chinese K-8 jets, have been most frequently used to conduct air strikes. Schools, medical facilities, homes and other civilian sites have been targeted.
Andrews said, “Despite overwhelming evidence of the Myanmar military’s atrocity crimes against the people of Myanmar, the generals continue to have access to advanced weapons systems, spare parts for fighter jets, raw materials and manufacturing equipment for domestic weapons production.”
“Those providing these weapons are able to avoid sanctions by using front companies and creating new ones while counting on lax enforcement,” Andrews added.
“The good news is that we now know who is supplying these arms and the jurisdictions in which they operate. Member States now need to step up and stop the flow of these arms,” the expert added.
The report said that on April 11, two bombs launched from a Yak-130 on a village gathering organised by the military’s opponents in the Sagaing district killed at least 160 people, including around 40 children. But the military calls them “terrorists” and says it is targeting insurgents.
The UN expert used trade data to detail transfers of arms and other goods, including raw materials for Myanmar’s domestic arms production, to the military since the coup worth $406 million from Russia and $267 million from China, including from state-owned entities in both countries.
‘The Billion Dollar Death Trade’
The UN expert analysed trade data to detail transfers of guns and other products worth $406 million from Russia and $267 million from China to the military since the coup.
The paper titled — “The Billion Dollar Death Trade: International Arms Networks that Enable Human Rights Violations in Myanmar” —basically details post-coup arms transfers to the military to date.
Andrews said, “Russia and China continue to be the main suppliers of advanced weapons systems to the Myanmar military, accounting for over $400 million and $260 million respectively since the coup, with much of the trade originating from state-owned entities. However, arms dealers operating out of Singapore are critical to the continued operation of the Myanmar military’s deadly weapons factories (commonly referred to as KaPaSa).”
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