{"id":34187,"date":"2020-05-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-10T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/blog\/burmas-much-needed-ceasefire-presents-a-valuable-opportunity-provided-the-4611\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T22:07:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T21:07:49","slug":"burmas-much-needed-ceasefire-presents-a-valuable-opportunity-provided-the-4611","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/blog\/burmas-much-needed-ceasefire-presents-a-valuable-opportunity-provided-the-4611\/","title":{"rendered":"Burma\u2019s much needed ceasefire presents a valuable opportunity, provided the military keeps its promises"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Benedict Rogers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burma\u2019s Cardinal Bo has repeatedly called for peace for a long time. In a statement last month<\/a> in support of Pope Francis\u2019 plea for a global ceasefire, he warned that during the COVID-19 pandemic continued armed conflict in Burma (officially known as Myanmar) would have \u201ccatastrophic consequences for our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He urged the military \u2013 known as the Tatmadaw \u2013 and ethnic armed resistance groups to \u201clay down all weapons and acts of aggression. Be armed instead with sincerity and truth. Let us take the more difficult path of overcoming differences face to face with courage and intelligence. Don\u2019t hide humanity behind guns. In the end that is sheer weakness.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Cardinal, who is also President of the Federation of Asian Bishops Conferences, argued that: \u201cSoldiers are unnecessarily endangered by exposure to the unseen viral assassin. Civilians are endangered, even by bombardments purportedly aimed at military targets. Peace negotiations are endangered by continued aggressive threats. An economy under severe strain is put at risk by military adventures. Any spike in contagion in IDP camps, among detained persons, or in crowded spaces, gravely threatens the surrounding populations as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

On 9 May in a further statement titled \u201cLiving a crisis with hope\u201d<\/a>, Cardinal Bo described continued conflicts as \u201cunbelievable, obscene folly.\u201d In a characteristically direct way, he said: \u201cMilitary commanders of government and ethnic armies, as if they believe that their weapons are more powerful than this virus, continue to expose their soldiers, continuously endanger civilians, and risk a conflagration of contagion among the people of our nations.\u201d This, he added, referring to coronavirus, \u201cis a time to put hatred and weapons aside and face the common enemy that is attacking all humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps surprisingly, that same day \u2013 9 May \u2013 the Tatmadaw issued a statement announcing an almost four-month ceasefire<\/a>, from 10 May until 31 August, in order to contain and prevent the spread of COVID-19. This is clearly a welcome move, although past experiences highlight a need for caution, and to monitor events closely to ensure that the promise is kept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A chance for genuine peace?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Tatmadaw has a track record of breaking past ceasefires or using them to rearm and prepare for a fresh onslaught. Last month the Karen Peace Support Network reported that the Tatmadaw has deployed over 2,000 troops and fired hundreds of mortar shells in Karen State since the start of the year, despite an existing ceasefire.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHundreds of villagers have fled to hide in the jungle, and thousands more are preparing to flee. Villagers have been tortured, shot at indiscriminately and killed,\u201d the network said. The international community must watch to ensure that this new ceasefire is genuinely upheld and is used as a time both to prevent the spread of the pandemic and to prepare for genuine peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent months have seen a shocking rise in attacks by the Tatmadaw, particularly against the majority-Buddhist Rakhine people, who are increasingly in the sights of a military already responsible for genocide against the predominantly Muslim Rohingyas<\/a>, and a continuing assault on majority-Christian Kachin and other ethnic groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April the military bombed villages in Paletwa Township in Chin State<\/a>, killing civilians and destroying homes and churches. A few days later a World Health Organisation (WHO) vehicle transporting swabs from suspected COVID-19 patients in Rakhine state to Rangoon (Yangon) for testing was attacked<\/a>, with the driver killed and another health worker injured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the start of May, the outgoing United Nations Special Rapporteur for human rights in Burma, Yanghee Lee, warned of new \u201cwar crimes\u201d and \u201ccrimes against humanity\u201d as the military has been emboldened by special powers intended to help control the spread of the coronavirus. \u201cWe find bodies that have been decapitated,\u201d she said. \u201cThese are the highest, the most heinous and gravest crimes of international law.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Among those most vulnerable to COVID-19 are those displaced by conflict<\/a>, living in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) inside Burma, or as refugees along its borders. In such over-crowded camps, \u2018social distancing\u2019 is an impossibility, sanitation is almost non-existent, limited water supply makes washing hands difficult, and medical care is rudimentary. Add to that discrimination, restrictions on access for humanitarian aid, a mobile internet shutdown and inter-religious tensions and you have a potential tinderbox with an estimated 350,000 people in total at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Cardinal Bo says, the impact of the virus in Burma has been \u201cslower in coming,\u201d surprisingly given the country\u2019s proximity to China, but he warns, \u201cthat may only mean it will last longer.\u201d The worst affected, he adds, \u201care those who cannot socially isolate, who do not have water to wash, who have lost their jobs and so have no daily income, who return to their country as unemployed, hungry migrant workers, who do not have a government that looks out for them. For many the priority is to \u2018flatten the curve\u2019 of hunger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can we help?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are two things we must do to help Burma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, let us urge our government \u2013 through our Members of Parliament \u2013 to increase humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable in Burma and along its borders and, crucially, to ensure that aid reaches those who need it most. The Department for International Development (DFID) should lobby the Burmese government to open up all parts of the country to unhindered access to international humanitarian organisations \u2013 which ought to be possible if a ceasefire is observed. At the same time, it should deliver aid through organisations that can get it across the border from neighbouring countries and to the refugee camps along the borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, let us pray for Burma as we pray for the world during this crisis. Religious leaders around the world have called for a global day of prayer this coming Thursday 14 May<\/a> for an end to the pandemic and for help and comfort for everyone suffering its consequences. Cardinal Bo urges us to participate in this. \u201cLet us look out for one another,\u201d he says. \u201cI join in the appeal of religious leaders to believers in God worldwide, to set aside a \u2018day for fasting, prayers and supplications\u2019 on 14 May.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For decades successive regimes in Burma have prioritised spending on the military over health. Even at the best of times, Burma\u2019s health care system would struggle to cope with COVID-19 if it swept the country. Restrictions on aid and life-saving information, combined with the cocktail of racial and religious hatred that pervades society, will make Burma\u2019s battle with the virus even more difficult. For a country that has already suffered so much over so many decades, may God spare Burma the worst of the pandemic \u2013 and help her use this time to make progress towards genuine peace, true democracy and real justice.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Benedict Rogers is CSW\u2019s East Asia Team Leader and the author of three books on Burma, including \u201cBurma: A Nation at the Crossroads.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
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