Myanmar’s military is developing a wide range of weapons to use against its own people thanks to supplies from companies from at least 13 countries, former top UN officials say.
The US, France, India and Japan are among those, despite sanctions by the Western leadership to isolate Myanmar.
Home-made weapons are used for atrocities against those who oppose the army, the report said.
Myanmar has been in the grip of violence since the February 2021 military coup.
Opponents of the coup, which overthrew the elected government, have joined ethnic rebel groups resisting military rule.
The Special Advisory Council on the Myanmar report noted that several UN member states continue to sell weapons to the military.
“However, an equally important factor is the fact that Myanmar’s armed forces may be developing, within the country, a variety of weapons that are being used to target civilians,” it said.
The report states that the named companies provide raw materials, training and machines to Myanmar’s military, and the resulting weapons are not used to defend its borders.
“Myanmar has never been invaded by a foreign country,” explains Yanghee Lee, a former UN special envoy for human rights and one of the report’s authors.
“And Myanmar does not export any weapons. Since the 1950s, it has made its own weapons to use against its own people.”
Officially, more than 2,600 people have been killed by the military since the recent uprising. However, the actual death toll is estimated to be 10 times higher.
So Win Tin, head of the BBC’s Burmese service, explains, “When it started… it looked like the military could crush these new opposition movements, but in recent months and weeks the tide has turned a bit. has changed.”
“What the opposition lacks is the air power that Myanmar’s junta has.”
The weight of sanctions and international isolation imposed as a result of the insurgency has not stopped Myanmar’s rulers from developing weapons including sniper rifles, anti-aircraft guns, missile launchers, grenades, bombs and landmines.
Along with Yanghi Lee, the report was written by Chris Sadoti and Marzuki Darsman, both of the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar.
