UN: Myanmar military escalated pre-election airstrikes
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) reported that Myanmar's military intensified aerial attacks on civilians in the months before the December 2025-January 2026 military-managed election, targeting homes, schools, medical facilities, religious buildings, and displacement camps
- Myanmar's military increasingly used low-cost paramotors, gyrocopters, and drones for low-altitude strikes with unguided explosives; investigators are examining Sagaing Region incidents in which pilots allegedly cut their engines before reaching targets to glide silently and minimize civilian warning
- The IIMM report documented extensive evidence of arbitrary detention, torture, and sexual violence in military-run facilities, including alleged deaths in custody, while also examining conflict-related sexual violence committed by anti-junta armed groups
- The December 2025-January 2026 election, which Western governments and rights groups called neither free nor fair, was won by a military-backed party, allowing then-junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to become president; he made a landmark visit to Thailand this month seeking international legitimacy
- IIMM head Nicholas Koumjian said communities across Myanmar live under constant threat of violence while coping with lasting trauma, and expressed hope international courts would eventually deliver justice for victims
- The civil war sparked by the 2021 coup against Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government has killed an estimated 100,000 people and displaced millions, with tens of thousands detained since, according to the United Nations
Why it matters: The report lands directly as Min Aung Hlaing courts international legitimacy via his Thailand visit after winning a sham election — undercutting that diplomatic push with UN-documented evidence that his military escalated silent-gliding airstrikes on civilians in the run-up to legitimizing him as president.
Ask SkimNews
