Myanmar Spring Chronicle – February 13 Scenes
MoeMaKa, February 14 2023
Opening of the NUG government office in Washington, possibility of widespread civil war
It was reported that the opening of the National Unity Government (NUG) office was held in Washington DC on February 13, and an Under Secretary of State attended the opening.
It is a sign that the US government has shown its support for the NUG government again, and if it is linked to the parts of the Burma Act included in the recently approved NDAA law, which is called the Burma Act, it is a sign that the US is providing diplomatic and practical support to the NUG government, which is trying to topple the Myanmar military council.
Being able to put more diplomatic pressure on the military council will be an encouraging factor for the NUG and the forces against the military dictatorship. Internationally, diplomatic material assistance, etc., has been achieved and it is also necessary to find strategy and tactics in order to protect the public during armed attacks that are happening on the ground. There is an urgent need to find ways to reduce the incidents of villages being set on fire as much as possible, to help where humanitarian aid is needed and to organize emergency health care so that lives are not lost under the damaged health care systems.
The next topic for today is that the leading committee of the Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) formed by the ceasefire ethnic armed groups said in a message on the occasion of Union Day that it is heading towards a wide-scale internal war. It was stated that armed resistance attacks are taking place everywhere in the country and that it is heading towards a wide-scale civil war.
The military coup of 2021 instigated the spread of the fire of the civil war in Myanmar at a faster speed.
The military’s rejection of the results of the 2020 general election and the coup led not only politicians but also ordinary civilians to think that Myanmar’s political problems could no longer be resolved through political means, leading to armed resistance. It has now been almost two years, and in many parts of Myanmar, resistance attacks, assassinations, house burnings, looting, and food theft are happening all over the place.
The PPST’s statement implies that the war may become more widespread than the current situation and there is also a sense that the war will spread further in other areas in addition to the Sagaing Division, Karen State and the upper parts of Magway Division that are currently raging.
The committee of the Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) was established in 2016 and includes 10 ethnic armed groups. When it started, the president of KNU, General Saw Mutu Sae Poe, was assigned the role of president, and later, the president of RCSS, Yawd Serk, is now taking on the role of president.
In returning to Myanmar’s democratic path, in other words, in the overthrow of the military coup, there are still strategic questions such as whether the military method is the only decisive factor, and whether political discussions need to be used to a certain extent. 2023 will be a year in which we will have to see how wide the wars will be.