Myanmar’s ruling junta in the aftermath of Friday’s devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake have continued and even possibly intensified their campaign against the rebel movement to restore the country’s former democratically-elected government, a spokesperson for the Chaung U Peoples Defence Forces, one of the militias in the anti-government coalition, tell the BBC, saying they came under mortar fire and that at least five military convoys were headed to the area.
All this while the government declared a week of national mourning for the at least 1,700 people killed in the quake, a toll that is guaranteed to rise dramatically, and while the rebels have declared a partial ceasefire, suspending all “non-defensive” actions against the junta. Maybe the Burmese people with loved ones still buried and possibly alive under tons of concrete and rebar understand, they get it that this is a “detox period” and troops who could be helping to dig them out are instead digging out rebels buried under tons of concrete and rebar and possibly alive so they can be promptly executed for engaging in treason against the junta. They trust General Min Aung Hlaing.