Myanmar’s bishops have called for humanitarian corridors, respect for places of worship, and prayers for peace in the context of escalating violence in the country, especially in ethnic minority areas.
In an appeal on 11 June, Cardinal Charles Bo and the 12 other bishops reported the destruction of humanitarian aid intended for destitute people in the Catholic Diocese of Pekhon. They said refugees “are in urgent need of food and medical supplies” amid conflict between the army and militias. They reported that four churches in the diocese of Loikaw were attacked and thousands fled into forests.
Meanwhile the trial of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi got under way on Monday, four months after a military coup removed the elected government from office. Ms Suu Kyi, 75, has been held under house arrest since the 1 February coup and little has been seen or heard of her apart from her brief court appearances.
She is charged with owning unlicensed walkie-talkies and violating Covid restrictions.
Later trials will focus on allegations of corruption and breaking the official secrets act.
Another trial will begin on 15 June over sedition charges. If convicted of that charge alone, she faces up to 14 years in prison.
Human rights groups have condemned the trials as an attempt to stop her running in future elections.
Meanwhile according to UCANews anti-junta protesters flooded Myanmar's social media with pictures of themselves wearing black on 13 June in a show of solidarity with the Rohingya minority group. The mostly Muslim Rohingya – long viewed as interlopers from Bangladesh by many in Myanmar – have for decades been denied citizenship, access to services and freedom of movement.
Activists and civilians took to social media to post pictures of themselves wearing black and flashing a three-finger salute of resistance in posts tagged #Black4Rohingya.
Local media also showed a small protest in Yangon, with black-clad demonstrators holding signs in Burmese that said they were "protesting for the oppressed Rohingya”. By evening, the #Black4Rohingya hashtag was trending on Twitter in Myanmar with more than 332,000 mentions.
The show of support from the mostly Buddhist, ethnic Bamar-majority population is a far cry from previous years. In 2017, a bloody military campaign in Myanmar's west sent some 740,000 Rohingya fleeing across the border into Bangladesh carrying accounts of rape, mass killings and arson.
The military has long claimed the crackdown was justified to root out insurgents, and Suu Kyi also defended the army's conduct by travelling to the Hague to rebut charges of genocide.
A recent announcement from the shadow National Unity Government – made up of ousted lawmakers working to topple the junta – has also extended an olive branch to the Rohingya, inviting them to “join hands ... to participate in this Spring Revolution”.
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