서방의 관심이 우크라이나에 쏠린 사이, 미얀마에서도 참담한 상황이 계속 벌어지고 있습니다.
KBS가 이 실상을 보여 주는 두 개의 영상을 확보했는데요. 미얀마 군의 공격을 피해 주민들이 목숨을 걸고 탈출하고 있습니다. 방콕 김원장 특파원의 보돕니다.
[리포트] 미얀마 남동부 카렌지역. 20여 명의 주민들이 미얀마군의 공습을 피해 서둘러 가재도구를 챙겨 나왔습니다. 갑자기 미얀마군의 총성이 들리고, 혼비백산 뛰어 보지만 어린 아이들이 계속 넘어집니다. 가족들 모두 논두렁에 바짝 엎드려 총격을 피하고, 겁에 질린 어린 딸은 하지만 침착하게 논바닥을 기어서 아버지에게 다가옵니다. 총성이 점점 가까이 들려오자 부모들이 아이들 손을 잡고 목숨 건 질주를 시작합니다. 한참을 뛰어 간 가족들은 농수로 안으로 뛰어들어 숨을 돌립니다. 양곤 등 대도시는 평온을 되찾았지만 국경지대를 중심으로 미얀마 공군의 공습이 이어지고 있습니다. 다웨이 지역의 이 교회는 공습으로 흔적만 남았습니다. 며칠전에는 13살 아이가 폭격으로 두 다리를 잃는 등 안타까운 사고도 잇따랐습니다.
[미얀마군 A : "26명... 나는 26명을 죽였어. (어떻게 죽였는데?)"] 시민방위대(PDF)에 포로로 잡힌 미얀마군의 휴대전화에서 나온 영상입니다. 자신들이 시민 몇 명을 사살했는지 마치 무용담처럼 털어 놓습니다. [미얀마군 B : "나는 5명을 죽였지... 사실은 나도 무서웠어."] 미국 등 서방 선진국의 관심이 우크라이나에 쏠려 있는 동안, 미얀마 군부는 국경지대에서 세력을 더 확장하고 있습니다. 이에 맞서는 소수민족 반군과 시민들의 피해는 제대로 집계조차 이뤄지지 않고 있습니다.
8월 26일, BBC 방글라는인도의미조람주에살고있는친족난민들을취재했다. BBC 기자 Subhajyoti Ghosh는여러난민캠프를방문하여미조람의미조사람들과민족적으로관련이있는약 31,000 명의친족이작년미얀마에서쿠데타이후이웃미조람을위해진스테이트 (Chin State)를탈출했다고보도했다.
군대가 Sagaing와 Magwe 지역의 Bamar 심장부와 Chin, Karen 및 Kayah 주에서습격을계속함에따라인권상황은항상악화되고있습니다. 공중및포병공격은민간인목표물, 즉마을과마을의주거지역에대해점점더많이사용되고있습니다. 그리고이제라카인주에서라카인아라칸군대(AA)와미얀마군대사이의충돌이벌어지고있는지금, 상대적으로평화로웠던나라의마지막지역은이제무력충돌의본거지가될위험에처해있다.
로힝야족공동체는정기적으로군대와 AA 간의전투도중에잡히고특히공격의표적이되는것을발견했습니다. 라카인북부에는여전히 600,000명의로힝야족이거주하고있다. 그들중대다수는미얀마군대가시행하는제한때문에국제기구가운영이금지되는내부실향민을위한캠프에서하루를보낸다. 라카인에서새로운전투가시작되면, 지역주민들은 Sagaing와 Magwe 지역및 Chin, Karen 및 Kayah 주에있는민간인과비슷한상황에처할수있습니다.
Topics: AA, Arakan Army, Chin State, Coup, India, junta, Michelle Bachelet, military regime, Mizoram State, Myanmar Military, Rakhine State, Rohingya, UN, United Nations
Guest Column
Myanmar’s Ethnic Groups Must Unite to Topple the Military Regime
By THE IRRAWADDY 31 August 2022
By THE IRRAWADDY 31 August 2022
On August 26, BBC Bangla covered the Chin refugees living in India’s Mizoram State. BBC reporter Subhajyoti Ghosh visited several refugee camps and reported that nearly 31,000 Chin, who are ethnically related to the Mizo people of Mizoram, have fled Chin State for neighboring Mizoram since last year’s coup in Myanmar.
Moe Tallui, a primary school teacher in Myanmar, is one of the refugees who is facing an uncertain, precarious future. He is one of the many millions of Myanmar people whose future and dreams have been destroyed by the Myanmar military.
Similar tales of dashed hopes can be found in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. The Myanmar military’s 2017 campaign of ethnic cleansing in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State resulted in 760,000 Rohingya fleeing Rakhine for Bangladesh.
Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, spoke with Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar on August 16. One Rohingya teacher told the commissioner how she had excelled at school in Myanmar and had a dream of becoming a doctor. But after being forced out of her country by the Myanmar military, she has instead spent the last five years in a refugee camp. “I still get emotional at night when I think of my dream. My Buddhist friends are now physicians in Myanmar,” she told Bachelet.
Typically, the purpose of a nation’s military is to defend the country from external threats. Since the coup, though, the Myanmar military has been targeting and killing its own people. The military continues to act as if it is a state within a state, despite supposedly being the servants of the people, hungry for power and ready to slaughter its own people to achieve that end.
History shows us that this desire for dominance originates with one person or group, such as the coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who then manipulates others to further their own interests.
Since the military takeover, the junta has killed at least 2,249 people, detained another 15,000 and burned down over 28,000 houses. The victims of the violence include many Bamar, the majority ethnic group in Myanmar and traditionally the people who make up the ranks of the army. The barbarity on display is beyond comprehension.
The hopes of the Myanmar people are being shattered by the violence of the military. Students are unable to continue their studies adequately. Teachers who support the Civil Disobedience Movement have been detained or even killed. Some educational institutions have been torched by the military regime.
Around 800,000 people have become internally displaced since the coup, with no idea when they will be able to resume their regular lives. To scare the population and break the links between the armed resistance and civilians, aid workers have been killed. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights found that the junta routinely commits substantial and severe violations of international humanitarian law, including crimes against humanity and war crimes.
With the military continuing to conduct raids in the Bamar heartland of Sagaing and Magwe regions and in Chin, Karen and Kayah states, the human rights situation is deteriorating all the time. Air and artillery strikes are increasingly being used against civilian targets: villages and the residential areas of towns. And now that clashes are breaking out in Rakhine State between the ethnic Rakhine Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar military, the last region of the country that was relatively peaceful is now in danger of becoming home to armed conflict.
Rohingya communities have regularly found themselves caught in the middle of battles between the military and the AA, as well as being specifically targeted by attacks. There are still 600,000 Rohingya residing in northern Rakhine. The majority of them spend their days in camps for the internally displaced, where international organizations are prohibited from operating because of limitations put in place by the Myanmar military. If new battles start in Rakhine, the locals may end up in a similar situation to the civilians in Sagaing and Magwe regions and Chin, Karen and Kayah states.
So how can the Myanmar people get rid of the military that eats its own like a cannibal and which is causing the whole country to fall into ruin? There is only one solution and that is to eradicate all forms of inhumanity from the institution. A united Myanmar can destroy evil in any of its institutions. The moment has come for the Bamar, Kachin, Karen, Shan, Karenni, Arakanese and all the ethnic groups in Myanmar to band together and overthrow the tyranny of military dictatorship.
Myanmar’s beauty becomes apparent if you picture it as a united country. In every region of the nation, people from many different ethnic groups coexist. Equality amongst all peoples and religions is a stated goal of the civilian National Unity Government. Perhaps one day, Myanmar’s wealth of natural resources may enable the country to develop into an economic power in Southeast Asia.
The creation of a united Myanmar will lead to the realization of the Myanmar peoples’ aspirations. We hope that the people of Myanmar will unite to fight against the military oppressors by channeling their sorrow for their lost brothers and sisters into strength. Only then will they achieve victory and regain their freedom.
Sandip Roy from West Bengal is a political analyst on South & Southeast Asia
Topics: AA, Arakan Army, Chin State, Coup, India, junta, Michelle Bachelet, military regime, Mizoram State, Myanmar Military, Rakhine State, Rohingya, UN, United Nations
