Myanmar Spring Chronicle – April 27 Scenes
MoeMaKa, April 28 2023
A step of new recruitments by the Air Force & Navy; Some of arrested villagers in the Hpakant have been released
According to news released by the military council, the Navy and Air Force of the military council are providing training to the young people under the title of Navy Youth and Aviation Youth, including basic military skills that do not include weapons. It is said that more than 1,300 youth are attending the training course. Advanced courses for Navy Youths are being given in coastal cities with naval bases, such as Kyaukpyu and Sittwe in Rakhine State, Pathein in Ayeyarwady Division, Mawlamyine in Mon State, and Heinze in Tanintharyi Division, and advanced courses for Aviation Youths are being given at air force bases in Myitkyina, Keng Tung, Magway, Pathein, and Meiktila.
As for the military council, it is sure that the training of such Navy Youth and Aviation Youth courses is definitely intended to replenish the manpower that has decreased significantly after the military coup due to the fighting, the desertion of the army, and the difficulty of recruiting new ones.
After the military coup, the number of new recruits to the military council has decreased significantly. The emergence of people’s defense forces against the military council in Magway, Sagaing, and Mandalay divisions, where most Burmans live, and witnessing the brutal killings, tortures, and burning of houses by the military council troops, have caused a decrease in new recruits to the military council. For decades, the Myanmar military has been able to recruit young people as soldiers from mainland regions with a dense population and scarce job opportunities other than agriculture. After the military coup, these regions have become battlefields, revealing the reality of the coup military, and so it is becoming difficult for the military to recruit new recruits from those regions.
It is clear that the Navy Youth Advanced Course and Aviation Youth Advanced Course are intended for new recruitments for the Air Force and Navy, which are becoming important in addition to the ground Army. After 2010, in order to receive recognition from some international organizations, the methods of forced recruitment for the army were stopped. Instead, the military officers set a quota for recruiting soldiers and organized a reward and punishment system for new recruits. During these times, the military officers paid money and recruited new soldiers. Now, the tide has changed significantly, and it can be said that the military council is in the most difficult situation to recruit new soldiers. Therefore, it must be concluded that these advanced navy and aviation youth courses are being opened urgently.
Another piece of news for today is the news that nearly 100 villagers, which is about half of those arrested in the Mau Bum (Madeyan) area of Hpakant, Kachin State, have been released.
They were arrested by the military council on April 21 and held in local prisons for nearly a week to be interrogated as to whether they had aided or been related to the armed revolutionary forces or not. About half of them were released after the interrogation.
Looking at the arrest of hundreds of civilians, it can be seen that the military council’s ability to mobilize in the region has almost decreased to zero, and it is also a situation where there are almost no local people in the villages in this area cooperating with the military council. In this situation, it can be concluded that the political and organizational situation of the military council on the ground has almost collapsed, and they only have weapons and financial power.