Ousted Myanmar lawmakers form 'people's defence force'

YANGON • Myanmar's National Unity Government (NUG), set up by opponents of army rule, said yesterday that it has formed a "people's defence force" to protect its supporters from military attacks and violence instigated by the junta.

Since the military seized power and ousted an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb 1, there have been daily protests and a surge of violence with security forces killing at least 766 people in deadly crackdowns, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) rights monitoring group.

The junta disputes the AAPP figure and has banned the group. It acknowledged 248 deaths last month and said 24 police and soldiers have been killed in the protests.

The NUG said in a statement that the new defence force is a precursor to a Federal Union Army and that it has a responsibility to "make effective reforms in the security sector in order to terminate the 70-year-long civil war".

It also said it has a responsibility to deal with "the military attacks and violence from state administration council on the people".

The NUG, established last month by an array of groups opposed to the junta, has pledged to end violence, restore democracy and build a "federal democratic union". A spokesman for the junta did not answer a call seeking comment.

Myanmar was ruled by the military for nearly half a century from 1962 before the generals launched a tentative transition to democracy a decade ago. That was brought to a halt by the coup, to the anger of many people unwilling to put up with another phase of military rule.

The NUG did not provide details of how the new force will be organised or armed, or how it will try to achieve its objectives.

It is unclear if its people's defence force will receive the support of the more than 20 groups - made up of disparate ethnic minorities agitating for more autonomy - which have long distrusted the ethnic Bamar majority, including lawmakers affiliated with Ms Suu Kyi's government.

Karenni National Progressive Party vice-chair Khu Oo Reh said that while the NUG has spoken to many rebel groups about a militia made up of civilians, "I have no idea what their intentions are".

Myanmar's well-equipped army is one of the region's most battle-hardened forces. Despite that, opponents of the coup have in some places used crude weapons to fight troops while others have sought training with ethnic minority insurgents who have been battling the military since independence in 1948 from remote border areas.

Myanmar in recent weeks has seen an increasing number of small blasts in cities and towns, some targeting government offices and the military. The military has blamed people it says are bent on destabilising the country.

Five people who were killed in an explosion this week, including a former Member of Parliament of Ms Suu Kyi's party, had been building a bomb, the state-controlled Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported. The newspaper said security forces had searched the scene of the Monday afternoon blast in the central Bago area and found wire, batteries and a damaged phone and phone parts.

The newspaper said the explosion of the "home-made mine" killed four men on the spot, including a member of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), while another man died of his injuries in hospital.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE