Citing the need to maintain public order, the Malian junta suspended all political party activities until further notice. Mali's junta has issued a decree suspending the activities of political parties, government spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga said in a statement read on state television Wednesday night. "Until further notice, for reasons of public order, the activities of political parties and the activities of a political character of associations are suspended across the whole country," Maiga said, citing a decree by junta leader Colonel Assimi Goita. Maiga justified suspending party activities by the "sterile discussions" during an attempt at national dialogue earlier this year. Opposition voices have been largely stifled under the junta's rule. Opposition demands elections Goita's decree came after more than 80 political parties and civil groups issued a joint statement on April 1 calling for presidential elections "as soon as possible" and an end to military rule. "We will use all legal and legitimate avenues for the return of normal constitutional order in our country," the groups said in a joint statement with over 20 signatories, including a major opposition coalition and the toppled ex-president's party. The UN said last month that at least four organizations had been dissolved in Mali since December 2023, including groups related to good governance, elections and the opposition. Military rule in Mali Mali has been under military rule since August 2020, the first of eight coups in West and Central Africa in four years, including in neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. Mali's current junta seized power in a second coup in 2021 and later promised to restore civilian rule by March 26, following elections that it said would take place in February. However, the junta said last September that it would indefinitely postpone the February elections on technical grounds, sparking outrage among political group  

Anti-junta rebels say they have driven government troops from a key border hub near Thailand. If the news is verified, it signals another setback for Myanmar's military as it battles a number of ethnic rebel groups. Troops loyal to Myanmar's military junta have pulled out from the town of Myawaddy at the Thai border after a dayslong assault by an ethnic armed group, a rebel spokesman said on Thursday. The fighting has caused large numbers of people to try to flee to neighboring Thailand from the border town, which is a major trading hub. Myanmar's military junta, which took power in a 2021 coup, has suffered a number of recent defeats at the hands of ethnic rebel groups and a civilian militia movement, with some saying it could soon be toppled. What do we know so far? Padoh Saw Taw Nee, a spokesman for the Karen National Union (KNU), told AFP news agency that around 200 junta soldiers stationed in the town had withdrawn to a bridge linking it to the Thai border town of Mae Sot. "We took [Myanmar military battalion] 275 at 10 p.m. last night," he said. The KNU said last week that its troops had attacked a junta camp near Myawaddy, forcing some 600 security personnel and their families to surrender. Thai immigration officials said some 4,000 people were entering Thailand daily from Myanmar, compared with the some 1,900 that usually crossed the border.  Thailand has said it is prepared to accept up to 100,000 people displaced by the clashes. The kingdom has stepped up security on its side of the border and is preparing to send more immigration officials to the region in anticipation of an increased flow of people fleeing the fighting. Myawaddy is a vital trading hub for Myanmar's junta and saw about $1.1 billion (€1 billion) in goods pass through in the past 12 months, according to the country's commerce ministry.    

People living in Guinea are becoming desperate as a food crisis soars in the country. Citizens are blaming the junta leaders for price hikes, while economists say a timely solution is necessary. Labor unions in Guinea have called for a nationwide strike if the government does not reduce the cost of living in the West African nation.  Guinea has been led since September 2021 by a military junta that deposed the country's first democratically-elected president. The junta recently increased the price of importing of basic food items into the country — which has resulted in unprecedented price hikes in markets across the country.  "Life is very expensive today in Guinea," Mabinty Bangoura, a government worker and housewife told DW, adding that "the authorities have willingly increased the price of a bag of rice, and traders have done same, to make life difficult for us." The price of oil and other cooking items has also spiked — just weeks before Ramadan, Islam's holy month of fasting, spiritual reflection and prayer. Spiraling cost of living Fatoumata Fofana, a female trader in one of the markets in Guinea's capital, Conakry, said the abrupt and significant rise in prices had left citizens struggling to cope. "Today, you can only buy a small quantity of goods and you hardly make a profit because what was to be profit has been added to the cost," Fofana told DW. She and other citizens accuse the junta leaders of failing to take action to improve the worsening living conditions. "Doumbouya, you should try to improve the living conditions of people in Conakry," Fofana said, refering to Guinea's coup leader Mamady Doumbouya. "If the husband is not working and the wife's business is not flourishing, our existence is threatened." Bangoura shared a similar sentiment: "I am not accusing anybody but agovernment that is incapable of saving its people? The price of all the goods such as rice, oil, sugar and flour has been increased by the government, and it comes just a month to Ramadan," she told DW. But Mory Kaba, a civil society activist, made clear accusations."In our analysis, the government has connived with importers to punish the Guinean population, but we won't accept it," he said.   Global rice prices increasing  Guinea's ruling junta has denied causing economic hardship in Guinea, citing a hike in global rice prices after major producers curtailed trade and supplies last year that impacted millions of consumers around the world.  Rice prices have soared to the highest in a decade as India curtails exports and erratic weather wreaks havoc on Asian rice fields. Kaba, however, questioned why Guinea's neighboring countries had not implemented similar policies. "Why have the Ivorians, the Malians and the Nigerians not increased the price of rice? They say the price of rice has increased in India, is it India that is supplying us sugar, oil, and other foodstuffs?" he said. Mohamed Camara, an economic expert in Guinea also warned of dire consequences of price hikes — emphasizing the urgent need to enhance local production. "Guinea is likely to face high-level inflations if nothing is done to augment local productions to imported ones," he said. Camara further explains that middle-income households would be the hardest hit. "The low-class Guineans spend 60% of their revenue on food, so if the price increases it will directly affect them," he told DW. Are there any solutions? Citizens and experts believe that onesolution to the problem lies in the government adopting fiscal policies that favor ordinary citizens. "He has to improve the living conditions by allowing the free flow of money in the country," Fofana said, refering to the junta leader. Although the junta's policies might have contributed to the price increase, it is impossible to disregard external influences and pre-existing problems. Elsewhere in Africa, inflation and the high cost of living in Nigeria have prompted many people to eating rice grains that millers often reject after processing or sell to farmers to feed their fish. Experts like Camara believe that acknowledging the problem and working together is key to providing food security for the people of Guinea.  

Myanmar's junta has been accused of launching an attack on a refugee camp in which at least 29 people were killed, according to local media reports. The alleged artillery strike, which hit a refugee camp in the northern state of Kachin late Monday, is one of the deadliest attacks on civilians since the military coup of 2021. "We found 29 dead bodies including children and older people... 56 people were wounded," Colonel Naw Bu of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) told French news agency AFP. Circumstances of attack unclear There were differing reports from local media relating to the nature of the attack. Some reported that warplanes had dropped bombs, while other sources claimed that drones and artillery were used and as such, the circumstances of the attack remain unclear. The KIA said they are investigating the nature of the strike. Local media showed images of the refugee camp where rescue operations appeared to be taking place. Kachin Human Rights Watch said that 13 of the dead were children while 60 people had been injured. The KIA said that 42 people were being treated at a hospital in Kachin state. Trading blame for attack The region has been embroiled in fighting since the  2021 military take over, which resulted in political turmoil.  Rebel groups and ethnic minority militias regularly  clash with junta forces. While the KIA and human rights organizations have accused the junta for the attack, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said the military was "investigating" the reports. The junta has instead accused rebel groups in the area and said the military believes a store of bombs belonging to the rebels in the area caused an explosion. Reacting to the attack on the refugee camp, the United Nations in Myanmar said on Facebook it was deeply concerned by reports of the incident, adding that "civilians should never be a target."

Junta forces have launched airstrikes targeting armed opposition in central Myanmar.  On Tuesday, April 11, at least 50 people were killed in the attack.  BBC Burmese, Radio Free Asia (RFA) and The Irrawaddy news portal reported 50 to 100 people, including civilians, killed in the airstrikes, citing residents of the Sagaing region.  However, Myanmar authority did not comment on this issue.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said the junta needed to "tackle" the underground National Unity Government at a military parade. He promised to hold elections once the state of emergency ends. The leader of Myanmar's military junta vowed on Monday to continue a crackdown against opposition groups that formed after the coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi. During a speech to mark Armed Forces Day, Senior General Min Aung said the military would take "decisive action" against lawmakers who were ousted by the military in 2021 and formed their own National Unity Government (NUG), aided by the People's Defense Forces (PDF) and allied ethnic minority militias. "The terror acts of the NUG and its lackey so-called PDFs are needed to be tackled for good and all," Min Aung Hlaing said at a military parade in the capital, Naypyidaw. "The [military] and the government also need to take action against this terrorist group, trying to devastate the country and killing the people." Min Aung Hlaing promised to hold "free and fair elections" once the current state of emergency is lifted. In February, the military extended the state of emergency by six months and admitted it did not control enough territory for a vote to take place. What is the situation in Myanmar? More than 3,100 people have been killed in the military's crackdown on dissent since the 2021 coup, according to a local monitoring group. The ruling junta has been accused indiscriminate killings of civilians and other war crimes. United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk has called situation in Myanmar is a "festering catastrophe." Opposition groups hold sporadic protests Armed Forces Day is an annual public holiday that commemorates the start of local resistance to the Japanese occupying forces during World War II. Myanmar's state media showed women lining the streets holding flowers near the military parade in Naypyidaw, which included around 8,000 soldiers. However, there were reports of scattered protests around the country. Independent online media reported that at least three bombs exploded in the country's biggest city, Yangon, on Monday morning. The pro-democracy Yangon Revolution Force said it also protested Armed Forces Day by performing a ritual at a Buddhist pagoda placing a curse on Min Aung Hlaing. Myanmar's military leaders are known to be highly superstitious. In the Sagaing region in the northwest, a stronghold of armed resistance, people also held small protests against the junta on the pubic holiday.

These are the country's first executions since the 1980s. Among the executed men, who were accused of "terror acts," were democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu and former NLD lawmaker Phyo Zeya Thaw. Myanmar’s military authorities executed four democracy activists, state media reported on Monday. The activists were accused of leading brutal and inhumane terror acts, the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said. The executions are Myanmar’s first in decades. The report did not specify how the activists were killed. Who were the executed men? The executed men included democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu and former lawmaker and hip-hop artist Phyo Zeya Thaw, the newspaper reported. Thaw was a lawmaker from ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). The other two executed men were Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw. They were convicted of killing a woman they allegedly believed was an informer for the military. The Global New Light of Myanmar said that the four had been charged under a counterterrorism law and the penal code. The newspaper said the punishment had been conducted under the prison’s procedures. UN says executions a vile attempt at instilling fear The four were sentenced to death in January in a closed-doors trial. They were accused of helping militias to fight the army , which seized power in a coup last year. Two UN experts called the planned executions a vile attempt at instilling fear among the people. Myanmar authorities engaged in a brutal crackdown to quash protests against the coup. The Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group said that 2,100 people have been killed by security forces since the coup in February 2021. The AAPP said, before Monday, the last judicial executions in Myanmar took place in the late 1980s. Aye Min Thant, an exiled journalist from Myanmar told DW if the junta’s goal was to instill more fear, it would likely fail. It is more likely that it would instill more anger, and indeed we have already seen attacks on various military institutions, she said. The United Nation’s special rapporteur for Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said that he was outraged and devastated over the executions. These depraved acts must be a turning point for the international community, he said. Myanmar shadow national unity government spokesman Kyaw Zaw said that members of the government-in-exile were extremely saddened and condemn the junta’s cruelty with strongest terms. He stressed that the global community must punish their cruelty. International Crisis Group Myanmar analyst Richard Horsey said that any possibility to end the crisis created by the coup has now been removed. [Myanmar’s junta] sees this as a demonstration of strength, but it may be a serious miscalculation, he concluded. There were no executions for 30 years. This turns back the clock... going back into [the] dark ages, Khin Zaw Win, director of the Tampadipa Institute think tank, said. Calls to hold military accountable for rights abuses Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), told DW that the executions were outrageous and unacceptable actions by the Myanmar military junta that should be a turning point for the international community. It needs to be a new inflection point for real action. Not more statements, but we need to see action on sanctions. We need to see action on holding the military accountable for its rights abuses. We need to see action on the UN Security Council moving to have a global arms embargo, Robertson said. Robertson said international sanctions were not targeting enough of the corporations connected with the military. The reality is they have not inflicted the pain they need to. And particularly they have to go after the Myanmar oil and gas enterprise, he said. Its got to be something that’s got real teeth and something that is strategic, and to date we just haven’t seen that, he added. In a statement, HRW called on the European Union member states, the United States, and other governments to show the junta that there will be a reckoning for its crimes. They should demand immediate measures, including the release of all political prisoners, and let the junta know the atrocities it commits have consequences, the statement said. International condemnation The German Foreign Ministry said the execution of two well-known activists showed the military’s contempt for the democratic aspirations of its own people. A White House statement condemned the heinous execution," adding that the US calls on the junta immediately cease violence, release those they have unjustly detained, and allow for a peaceful return to democracy in accordance with the wishes of the people of Burma. France said the killings were a major regression for the Myanmar’s military regime. Even though no execution has taken place in the country for more than 30 years, these executions constitute a major regression and another phase in the escalating atrocities committed by the Burmese junta since the coup, a statement from the Foreign Ministry said. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said the executions was a matter of deep concern and will further isolate Myanmar in the international community. Hayashi added that the move by the country’s junta will serve to deepen the conflict. Hayashi added that the executions go against Japan’s continued calls to free detainees in Myanmar and to settle the conflict peacefully. HRW’s Robertson said the act by the military junta is to try and intimidate the Burmese people, that’s exactly what they’re after. And it should not be allowed to succeed and it’s time for the international community to step up and do something.

Myanmar's junta chief will be excluded from an upcoming ASEAN summit, the group said Saturday, a rare rebuke as concerns rise over the military government's commitment to defusing a bloody crisis.   Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed at an emergency meeting late Friday that a "non-political representative" for  Myanmar be invited to the October 26-28 summit, current ASEAN chair Brunei said in a statement.   The decision effectively excluded junta leader Min Aung Hlaing.   The bloc, widely criticised as a toothless organisation, took a strong stand after the junta rebuffed requests for a special envoy to meet with all parties concerned -- a phrase seen to include ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.   The statement noted "insufficient progress" in the implementation of a five-point plan agreed by ASEAN leaders in April to end turmoil following a coup in February.   It also said that the situation in Myanmar "was having an impact on regional security as well as the unity, credibility and centrality of ASEAN".   Richard Horsey, Myanmar adviser to Crisis Group, predicted the "non-political" representative would be someone below the level of minister or deputy minister.   Singapore's foreign ministry described the move as a "difficult but necessary decision to uphold ASEAN's credibility".   Mustafa Izzuddin, global affairs analyst at consultancy Solaris Strategies Singapore, called the exclusion "a political stopgap measure for ASEAN to assuage international criticism".   It sent a "political signal" to the junta "that ASEAN is not one to be pushed around", Izzuddin added.   And independent Myanmar analyst David Mathieson said that "in ASEAN terms this is a real slap in the face".   - Thorn in ASEAN's side -   Myanmar, mostly ruled by the military since a 1962 coup, has been a thorn in ASEAN's side since it joined in 1997.   Elections in 2015 overwhelmingly won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party ushered in the start of civilian rule -- but this was cut short by the coup.   ASEAN has been under international pressure to address unrest that erupted after the putsch, including massive protests; renewed clashes between the military and ethnic rebel armies in border regions; and an economy spiralling into freefall.   The bloc has expressed disappointment at a lack of cooperation from the junta, which continues to crack down brutally on dissent. More than 1,000  civilians have been killed, according to a local monitoring group.   Part of the consensus was to allow a long-delayed visit by a special envoy, Brunei's Second Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof.   ASEAN has insisted that he meets with all parties concerned, but the junta rejected any proposed meetings with people on trial, among them Suu Kyi, who  is facing various charges.   A senior US administration official, commenting on media reports about the exclusion before the official statement was released, said "it seems perfectly appropriate and, in fact, completely justified... for ASEAN to downgrade Burma's participation", using Myanmar's former name.   Member nations had already voiced their disappointment at the path the junta has chosen.   "If there is no real progress then Malaysia's stance will remain: that we will not want the general to be attending the summit. No compromise on that," Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said Friday ahead of the meeting.   Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said in a tweet after the meeting that her country had proposed that Myanmar "should not be represented at the  political level" at the summit until it restores "its democracy through an inclusive process".   Aung Myo Min, the human rights minister of a shadow government of ousted Myanmar lawmakers called the NUG, praised the exclusion as "a very strong  action" and voiced hope ASEAN would recognise the NUG as Myanmar's legitimate government.   Political activist Minn Khant Kyaw Linn, 23, who organised a protest in Mandalay where the ASEAN flag was burnt in June, said it was time for the  bloc to allow NUG representatives to its meetings.   The junta -- officially known as the State Administration Council -- has promised to hold elections and lift a state of emergency by August 2023. Source: AFP/BSS AH