News Monitor #10
APRIL 2026

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NEWS ROUNDUP

• The junta’s first weeks after coup leader Min Aung Hlaing assumed the presidency on April 10 were marked by ongoing attacks on civilians, an increase in fighter jet deployment, and increased single targeting. 
  

• Ousted former president Win Myint was released in an April 17 mass amnesty that freed over 4,000 political prisoners, and ousted State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi was moved to house arrest on April 30.

HUMAN RIGHTS & SECURITY

• The Department of Justice has charged two Chinese nationals for operating a large-scale cryptocurrency fraud operation from a scam compound in Myanmar, part of a larger fraud network, highlighting the growing concerns of these operations across Southeast Asia.

• The Myanmar military imposed bans on period products and other first-aid items with the justification that they were being used to treat wounded resistance fighters, despite the known futility of these in conflict. 

• The junta forcibly conscripted youth by abduction, with reports of daily incidences. In some cases, the junta leveraged ransoms of millions of Myanmar kyats in exchange for the abductees’ release in Chin, Shan, and elsewhere.

ARMED CONFLICT

• Chin State: The regime recaptured Falam, Chin’s second city, on April 27 after a six-month offensive. 

• Mon State: Over 13,000 newly displaced civilians fled fighting in Bilin Township and face urgent humanitarian needs.

• Kachin State: Military troops rampaged a hospital in Hpakhant on April 21, abducting 21 medical workers and patients.

• Kayin/Karen State: A junta drone strike hit a Chinese telecommunications scam center in a village near Myawaddy Town, killing three Chinese nationals and injuring 13 others. The junta had struck the same compound in January, when at least 10 were killed and 20 injured. Airstrikes on civilian targets killed four in Papun between April 11 to 14.

• Kayah/Karenni State: The junta carried out drone attacks across the state. On April 24, an armed clash between revolutionary groups killed nine.

• Rakhine State: Heavy artillery erupted as the Arakan Army (AA) advanced on state capital Sittwe, the last junta stronghold in the region. In response to the AA’’s advance, the junta imposed a blockade cutting off around 250,000 civilians from food, fuel, and electricity. The junta increased naval deployments in the south. The junta also carried out airstrikes and heavy artillery attacks on April 29 in Pauktaw, Ponnagyun and Rathedaung.

• Shan State: Kachin Independence Army chief Gum Law met with Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) to address tensions following the groups’ ceasefire agreement with the regime. The MNDAA and TNLA both reasserted solidarity with Rakhine’s AA.

• Bago Division: Fighting continued, with local People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) reporting losses. PDFs seized two military outposts after battles between April 7 to 12.

• Magway Division: Military forces raided and looted villages throughout the region, causing thousands of people to become newly displaced as the regime ratcheted up attacks on civilians in the heartland. 

• Mandalay Division: Clashes between military and resistance forces continued, with dozens of civilian casualties including the killing of a 15-year-old girl. Military troops burned down hundreds of houses.

• Sagaing Division: Heavy airstrikes in the first two weeks of civilian rule included an attack on a Buddhist monastery sheltering displaced families in Kani township, killing 80. The junta advanced on Katha, held by resistance forces since last year, but the resistance portrayed claims of recapture as rumors being spread to lure civilians back to areas of conflict. Elsewhere, arson attacks on civilian homes escalated, causing thousands to be newly displaced.

• Tanintharyi Division: Troop movements and clashes continued, including between resistance groups. The military recaptured a key outpost shortly after it was seized by resistance forces.

REPORTING AND ANALYSIS

• A report by the Asian network for Free Elections (ANFREL) and the Special Advisory Council on Myanmar (SAC-M) found that the recent junta-run elections were illegitimately run, as the process was tightly controlled to ensure a predetermined outcome favoring the military government.

• A COAR report analyzes Myannmar’s fuel crisis as resulting from a systemic collapse in distribution, not just an outcome of recent conflict in the Middle East. Effects include food shortages and economic breakdown.

• European Civil Society groups are urging the EU to start sanctioning the military junta in Myanmar by targeting the fuel supply chain. Despite already sanctioning the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, other European firms still supply the military.

HUMANITARIAN, ECONOMIC & SOCIAL CONDITIONS

• About 250 Rohingya refugees have gone missing after their boat travelling from Bangladesh to Malaysia capsized in the Andaman Sea. 2025 was the deadliest year on record for regional sea crossings, with 900 Rohingya reported missing, and numbers continue to rise amid shrinking food rations, aid cutbacks, and lack of protection options in the Cox’s Bazar camps.

• The UN World Food Programme warned of the far-reaching effects of the Middle East crisis in hunger, highlighting how in the case of Myanmar, rising global fuel, food, and fertilizer prices are worsening an already severe food crisis: complicating recovery from recent shocks and pushing vulnerable families further into food insecurity.

• Already fragile health services in conflict-affected regions continued to be disrupted, with dozens of attacks on health care in Myanmar reported between April 1st and 14th, including: strikes on facilities, ambulances, and medical personnel, all of which have resulted in injured or dead workers and patients. 

U.S. INTERNATIONAL & REGIONAL
POLITICS DIPLOMACY

• A group of civil society organisations in Indonesia filed a criminal case against Myanmar's newly-elected President Min Aung Hlaing, accusing him of genocide against the Rohingya. The Attorney General accepted the case under Indonesia’s new universal jurisdiction law.

• The United Nations officially declined to recognize Senior General Min Aung Hlaing as the president of Myanmar, reaffirming their recognition of the pre-coup leadership. Thus, the military leader’s transition to power lacks legitimacy from the international community.

• Longtime political operative and Trump ally Roger Stone has made a comeback, signing a $50,000 per month deal with the DCI group, which has had an agreement with the Myanmar military since June 2025, to lobby for Myanmar’s Ministry of Information. This move is tied to Donald Trump’s broader interest in acquiring natural resources abroad for U.S. defense efforts, including rebuilding relations with pariahs.

• U.S. Special Envoy for Best Future Generations Charles Harder visited Dhaka to discuss U.S.-Bangladesh relations and advance the well-being and education of children in Bangladesh, including Rohingya refugees.

ROHINGYA CRISIS

• A controversial aid categorization system has taken effect in Sittwe Township internment camps and in Cox’s Bazar, where refugees staged peaceful protests.

• India exhibited a hard stance against illegal immigration, targeting mostly Rohingya refugees, by suggesting it would release crocodiles and venomous snakes in waters along the eastern border with Bangladesh.

• The Bangladesh government has created a new committee, led by the Home Minister, to manage all matters relating to the Rohingya. One of the key areas the committee will be focused on is repatriation.

DOMESTIC POLITICS

• Min Aung Hlaing unexpectedly handed over the position of Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services to “spymaster” Ye Win Oo, his loyalist former intelligence chief. The move signals an intention to sustain the junta’s brutal policies. Ye Win Oo is seen as a relatively weak figure unlikely to challenge Min Aung Hlaing’s authority.

• Min Aung Hlaing invited ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and PDFs to peace talks, calling for PDFs to disarm and enter the “legal fold” while offering negotiations to EAOs, hence reflecting their different leverage and political status. Considered self-serving and not credible, the proposal has been broadly rejected.

BUSINESS, TRADE & NATURAL RESOURCES

• Despite ongoing instability and conflict, the Myanmar military began to reopen routes for international trade along the Asian highway, a key trade route with Thailand. On the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, the Teknaf Land Port reopened after a year, but traders questioned the feasibility of the decision, citing extortion, unsafe waterways and stalled trade, which could quickly disrupt activities again.

• A report from Mon State indicated that official fuel restriction policies are not properly implemented locally, with emergency vehicles denied exemptions granted by the government.

• A class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of Myanmar customers against Norwegian telecoms giant Telenor for having knowingly disclosed personal data to military authorities of customers suspected of opposing the 2021 coup. If successful, this case would be the first to hold a telecommunications company to account for not sufficiently protecting users from an authoritarian regime. 

• A Kachin human rights group responded to the revival of the suspended China-backed Myitsone Dam project, accusing the military junta of legal threats, inflated incentives and coercion. They asked for the plan to be permanently abandoned and warned that, if carried out, the project would result in community displacement, as well as environmental and seismic risks. 

• Independent testing of the Salween River was underway to study the effects of unregulated mining upstream in Myanmar.

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