The Irrawaddy (Irrawaddy) Updates

By LAWI WENG A northern Shan rebel armed group, the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP), says they may sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) this year if necessary to work with the Myanmar...

By NAN LWIN HNIN PWINT YANGON—After a long delay, the Union-level Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee (JMC) will meet again in March, according to government peace negotiator U Hla Maung Shwe. The...

By NYEIN NYEIN 17 January 2020 A week after formal peace negotiations resumed, General Yawd Serk, who represents Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) signatories, urged all sides to work collectively...

By NYEIN NYEIN YANGON – On New Year’s Day, the alliance of three active ethnic armed groups that has been fighting Myanmar’s military in Shan and Rakhine states extended its unilateral ceasefire for...

By LAWI WENG 20 December 2019 It was painful to hear that Daw Aye Ngwe, mother of three children, was injured in the leg last week when a landmine exploded in her tea plantation in Namhsan Township,...

By NAN LWIN HNIN PWINT KYAUKME, Shan State—It is a bad sign for civilians in northern Shan State that lavish peace talks held at luxurious hotels in big towns with sumptuous feasts and full security...

By NYEIN NYEIN CHIANG MAI, Thailand – Throughout the year, at least a dozen informal discussions between the Myanmar government’s Peace Commission and the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs), both...

By KYAW KHA YANGON—The Karen National Union (KNU) said in a statement on Friday that it would work to break the stalemate in the peace process through the Joint Implementation Coordination Meeting...

By NYEIN NYEIN MYITKYINA – Armed clashes have become less common this year in Myanmar’s northern Kachin State between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the military’s Northern Command. Both...

By Zaw Zaw Htwe YANGON—The Chinese government gave Myanmar US$1 million (1.51 billion kyats) to help fund the peace process this week during a visit by Special Envoy for Asian Affairs Sun Guoxiang. ...

By LAWI WENG A mother and her 12-year-old daughter were wounded by artillery in Kutkai Township, northern Shan State, amid fighting between Myanmar’s army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army...

By LEI LEI KYAUKME, Shan State—More than 10 civilians have been struck by landmines and three have died in August and September in Kyaukme Township, northern Shan State, according to U Tin Maung...

By CHIT MIN TUN Yangon – Over 100 people from Kong Sa Village who were displaced by clashes in Kutkai Township in northern Shan State say they are short of food and lack proper accommodation. They...

By NYEIN NYEIN An alliance of ethnic armed groups that has been fighting the Myanmar military in the northeast and west of the country has extended its unilateral ceasefire until the end of this...

By ZARNI MANN MANDALAY—A four-year-long curfew in Laukkai and Konkyan townships of Kokang Self-Administered Zone (SAZ) in northern Shan State was extended on Monday. States of emergency and martial...

By NAN LWIN HNIN PWINT NAMTU, Shan State – Villagers in Manli, which is beside the Hsipaw-Namtu Highway in Namtu Township in northern Shan State, do not like curious journalists, believing that...

By LAWI WENG The alliance of three ethnic armed groups that has been fighting the Myanmar military in northern Shan State on Monday announced a unilateral one-month ceasefire as a trust-building...

By SAN YAMIN AUNG 5 September 2019 YANGON—Dengue fever has killed a total of 68 people across Myanmar in the past eight months, while more than 10,000 others have been infected, according to the...

By NYEIN NYEIN CHIANG MAI, Thailand—Five civilians including three children were killed when mortar shells struck their homes in Kutkai Township’s Mawhit village in Shan State on Saturday. The...

By KYAW KHA & LAWI WENG After being trapped for 10 days by fighting in northern Shan State, two wounded civilians in urgent need of medical treatment were transported to a hospital on Monday,...