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Coup Watch October 2022 – ASEAN Sticks to Failing Consensus as Crisis Deepens

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Key summary points:

  • As of 28 Oct, there had been at least 16,651 armed clashes and attacks, resulting in the displacement of 1,161,800 people since the coup began. Junta troops continued to slash their way through the country in October, torturing and killing civilians, and torching villages.
  • On 23 Oct, regime jets bombed a music concert in Kachin State, killing up to 80 people and drawing international outrage, days before an ASEAN emergency meeting on the crisis. In Rakhine State, indiscriminate junta artillery fire amid intensifying clashes with the Arakan Army killed at least nine civilians in October, including three children.
  • Junta forces have killed at least 2,404 civilians and arrested 16,016 as of 31 Oct. The regime continued to target former officials and NLD members, as well as perceived opponents and their families. A junta court sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi to a further three years in prison, bringing her total sentence to 26 years.
  • Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing further cemented his grip on the military’s proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party by appointing retired generals to key positions. The junta’s Union Election Commission stepped up preparations for the regime’s sham 2023 election.
  • On 21 Oct, the Financial Action Task Force, a global finance watchdog, blacklisted Burma over the regime’s failure to head off money laundering and other financial crimes.
  • The junta tightened banking regulations and organized another gem emporium to secure much needed cash. More local companies went out of business while international energy firms boycotted regime tenders.
  • ASEAN Foreign Ministers decided to stick to the failing Five-Point Consensus despite the regime’s unwillingness to implement it. Human Rights Watch called the decision a huge disappointment.
  • Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, an outspoken junta critic, stopped attending ASEAN meetings after his government became a caretaker administration. Human rights groups and UN agencies lashed at Malaysia over the summary deportation of at least 2,000 Burma nationals since mid-August.

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