Video emerges as negotiators from the civilian-led government of Aung San Suu Kyi and the military held peace talks with more than a dozen ethnic rebel groups
The video emerged as
negotiators from the civilian-led government of Aung San Suu Kyi and the
military held peace talks with more than a dozen ethnic rebel groups in the
capital, aimed at ending some of the world’s longest-running civil wars.
The unverified video first surfaced on Facebook on Saturday morning and quickly went viral. It showed several men dressed in army uniform kicking three handcuffed men in civilian clothes, part of a wider group of people detained outside some rural houses.
The uniformed men
can be heard asking the handcuffed detainees whether they belong to the Ta’ang
National Liberation Army (TNLA), an ethnic rebel group from north-eastern Shan
State currently fighting the military. Rights groups called on Myanmar’s
government to investigate whether troops were responsible.
After decades of
crippling junta rule, distrust of Myanmar’s notoriously abusive military runs
deep, especially among ethnic rebel groups.
“That’s a major
reason why many of the ethnic armed groups are reluctant to place any trust in
the Myanmar army’s promises.”
28 May, 2017
AFP
Myanmar authorities
must investigate a video showing men in military uniforms viciously beating
handcuffed detainees suspected of being ethnic rebel fighters, rights groups
said on Sunday.
The unverified video first surfaced on Facebook on Saturday morning and quickly went viral. It showed several men dressed in army uniform kicking three handcuffed men in civilian clothes, part of a wider group of people detained outside some rural houses.
At one point in the
17-minute long video, a uniformed man smashes his helmet into the face of one
of the victims.
“The Myanmar
authorities should immediately investigate this footage, and with urgency the
authority should determine the well-being and whereabouts of the men detained
in the footage,” said Matthew Smith from Fortify Rights.
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Myanmar’s border
regions have burned for decades with insurgencies led by ethnic minority
militias fighting for greater autonomy.
Suu Kyi has made
signing a nationwide peace deal a priority of her government with the latest
round of peace talks currently underway in Naypyidaw. But the peace process has
had limited success so far.
Under Myanmar’s
junta-era constitution Suu Kyi has little control over the military and
fighting between the army and ethnic rebels is currently at its most ferocious
in years.
“These kinds of
beatings and abuse are all too common,” said Phil Robertson from Human Rights
Watch.
“That’s a major
reason why many of the ethnic armed groups are reluctant to place any trust in
the Myanmar army’s promises.”
Robertson said Suu
Kyi should “publicly condemn these abuses and demand an independent
investigation”.
The Nobel laureate
has repeatedly defended the army’s operations in western Rakhine state where
tens of thousands of Muslim minority Rohingya have fled a recent military
crackdown.
The UN says
authorities may have committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in
the crackdown but Suu Kyi has rejected calls for an independent fact finding
commission.
Last week Myanmar’s
military said its own probe had found no evidence of atrocities committed by
its troops in Rakhine – although it said one soldier was punished for stealing
a bike.