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WORLD NEWS Monday 28 March 2022
Myanmar leader vows to ‘annihilate’ opponents of army rule

(AP) — Myanmar’s leader Myanmar, and in Kayah
vowed Sunday to intensify State, in the country’s east,
action against homegrown using airstrikes, artillery bar-
militia groups fighting the rages and the burning of
military-run government, villages. The army recently
saying the armed forces seems to have expanded
would “annihilate” them. its offensive into Chin State
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hla- in the west and Kayin State
ing, speaking at a military in the southeast as well.
parade marking Armed Last year’s Armed Forces
Forces Day, also urged eth- Day was the single bloodi-
nic minorities not to support est since the military’s Feb.
groups opposed to army 1, 2021, seizure of power.
rule and ruled out negotia- Security forces across the
tions with them. country opened fire on
The military seized power demonstrators, killing as
last year from the demo- many as 160 people.
cratically elected govern- Anti-military protests were
ment of Aung San Suu Kyi. held Sunday despite the
Security forces used lethal risks in Yangon, the coun-
force to suppress mass na- try’s biggest city, and else-
tionwide protests, resulting where. To avoid arrest or
in the deaths of more than injury, urban street protests
1,700 civilians, according to usually involve flash mobs,
a detailed tally compiled which quickly disperse be-
by the Assistance Associa- fore security forces crack
tion for Political Prisoners. down. The main opposi-
Forced to turn away from tion group, the self-styled
peaceful protests, many of National Unity Govern-
those opposed to military ment, urged people to join
rule took up arms, forming a “Power Strike” Sunday
hundreds of militia groups pyitaw, said he would not whether they are directly struggled to crush the new night by switching off the
called People’s Defense negotiate with “terrorist engaged in armed strug- militia units. Outgunned lights and their televisions
Forces — better known as groups and their supporters gle — as terrorist groups. and outmanned, the PDFs for 30 minutes while the mil-
PDFs. In some parts of the for killing innocent people” Membership or even con- have relied on support from itary parade is broadcast
country, they’ve joined and threatening peace tact with them carries harsh local communities and on state-run TV channels.
forces with well-organized, and security. He said the punishment under law. knowledge of the terrain to The group said the strike
battle-hardened ethnic military — known as the Tat- “I would like to highlight carry out often surprisingly also is intended to protest
armed groups, which have madaw — “will annihilate that there are no govern- effective attacks on con- daily power outages. The
been fighting for greater them to (the) end,” ac- ments or armies worldwide voys, patrols, guard posts, blackouts started several
autonomy for decades. cording to an official trans- that negotiate with any ter- police stations and isolated months ago, and the gov-
Min Aung Hlaing, address- lation of his speech. rorist groups,” he said. bases in remote areas. ernment blames them on
ing thousands of military His government has de- Despite a huge advantage The military is currently high gas prices and dam-
personnel during the pa- clared major resistance or- in equipment and numbers, conducting operations in age to power lines caused
rade in the capital Nay- ganizations — regardless of Myanmar’s military has Sagaing, in upper central by sabotage.q

German state election offers 1st test since Scholz took over

(AP) — The western Ger- Ukraine prompted the Germany’s smallest states over now,” Merz said. Saarland’s governor in
man state of Saarland is chancellor to upend Ger- with nearly 1 million resi- He pointed to a sharp de- the 1980s and 1990s — re-
holding an election Sunday man defense policy and dents. It has been run for cline in support for the cently left the party. It only
that offers the country’s first Germany to welcome the past decade by a co- hard-left Left Party, whose narrowly avoided being
test at the ballot box since large numbers of refugees. alition of the CDU and the co-founder — Oskar La- ejected from the German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Germany also is grappling Social Democrats. fontaine, a one-time So- parliament in September’s
national government took with a persistent wave of This time, polls show Social cial Democrat who was national election.q
office in December. coronavirus infections, re- Democrat Anke Rehlinger
Polls before the election for cently seeing over 200,000 — the state’s deputy gov-
the state legislature point cases per day. ernor and economy minis-
to a solid lead for Scholz’s All the same, it’s the first of ter since 2014 — as voters’
center-left Social Demo- three state elections within favored candidate. Cen-
crats in a region led since two months — all in regions ter-right incumbent Tobias
1999 by the center-right currently led by CDU gover- Hans is trailing.
Christian Democratic Union nors — that will help set the The CDU’s new national
party of former Chancellor political tone for the com- leader, Friedrich Merz, is
Angela Merkel. ing year. The most impor- downplaying the signifi-
That doesn’t necessar- tant vote, on May 15, is in cance of his party’s poll
ily have much to do with Germany’s most populous showing before Sunday’s
what has been a turbulent state, North Rhine-West- vote, citing local factors.
first 100 days for Scholz’s phalia. “We have always been
three-party coalition, dur- Saarland, located on the good in Saarland when the
ing which Russia’s war in French border, is one of left was divided, and that is