Myanmar Junta Enforces Sham Election Amid Escalating Air War on Rebel Territories

11 hours ago7 min read

In Myanmar's rebel-held territories, the junta's push to hold a widely condemned national election is being enforced not with ballots, but with bombs. As the military regime prepares for a late-October poll designed to legitimize its power, its air force is conducting relentless strikes on civilian areas in a brutal campaign to crush resistance.The BBC's access to these contested zones reveals a country fractured by war, where the junta's political theater collides with the grim reality of its aerial terror. The election follows the military's February 2021 coup, which overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government, and is rejected by a sprawling alliance of ethnic armed organizations and local People's Defence Forces.These groups now govern large portions of the country, from Kayin to Chin State, where the junta's authority ends at the runway. Using Russian-supplied jets, the military targets villages, schools, and clinics in indiscriminate attacks that have displaced over 2.5 million people and killed thousands. Internationally, response has been feeble: ASEAN's peace plan is ineffective, Western sanctions have limited impact, and China and Russia provide crucial diplomatic and military support.Analysts warn the sham election aims to create a facade of legitimacy, potentially fracturing global opposition. On the ground, however, parallel administrations in resistance areas are providing services and collecting taxes, directly challenging the junta's claim to control.The regime's reliance on air power, a tactic born of stretched and demoralized ground forces, has only fueled local hatred and fortified rebel resolve. The coming weeks will juxtapose state media's images of voting with the flash of airstrikes in northern and eastern conflict zones. While the election's result is pre-determined in the capital Naypyidaw, in the smoke-filled valleys where the war rages, the struggle is a raw fight for survival against a regime determined to subjugate by any means.

#Myanmar

#civil war

#air strikes

#rebel-held territory

#election

#human rights

#BBC

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