YANGON: The death toll in the Myanmar military’s crackdown on protesters passed 500 as armed rebel groups on Tuesday threatened the junta with retaliation if the bloodshed does not stop.

World powers have ramped up their condemnation of the military’s campaign against the anti-coup movement that is demanding the restoration of the elected government and the release of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Washington suspended a trade pact with Myanmar and UN chief Antonio Guterres called for a united global front to pressure the junta after more than 100 protesters were killed in a bloody weekend.

Adding to that pressure campaign, a trio of ethnic rebel groups on Tuesday condemned the crackdown and threatened to fight alongside protesters unless the military reined in its violence.

Rebel groups threaten junta with retaliation for bloodshed

Daily rallies across Myanmar by unarmed demonstrators have been met with tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said it had confirmed a total of 510 civilian deaths but warned the true toll was probably significantly higher.

On Tuesday, protesters in Yangon emptied rubbish bags in the streets as part of the latest action, while in the town of Muse in Shan state a 35-year-old protester was shot dead.

There was another fatality at Myitkyina, Kachin state, rescue workers confirmed.

State media also reported a protester’s death in South Dagon, Yangon, while authorities are investigating a hand-made bomb explosion at a police station in Bago city which injured a few officers.

Air strikes launched by the junta also killed six people in eastern Karen state, according to the Fifth Brigade of the Karen National Union (KNU), one of the country’s largest armed groups.

Rebels’ warning

Three of the country’s myriad armed ethnic insurgent groups — the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army and the Arakan Army (AA) — issued a joint statement threatening military junta with retaliation.

“If they do not stop, and continue to kill the people, we will cooperate with the protesters and fight back,” the statement said.

If such groups take up arms, Debbie Stothard at the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) warned the situation could degenerate into civil war.

Two dozen ethnic minority rebellions have flared in Myanmar since independence from British colonial rule in 1948, fighting over autonomy, identity, drugs and natural resources.

The military has sought to cut deals with some armed groups and earlier this month took the AA off the list of terrorist organisations.

But over the weekend it launched air strikes in Karen state — the first such strikes in 20 years — targeting the KNU after the group seized a military base.

Further strikes were launched on Tuesday, but Padoh Saw Taw Nee, the KNU’s head of foreign affairs, said it would continue its position of “strongly supporting people’s movement against (the) military coup”.

An estimated 3,000 people fled through the jungle to seek safety across the border in Thailand, according to local groups.

“I have never seen it (air strikes) before — I am so afraid,” Naw Eh Tah, 18, said after reaching the Thai side of the border following a day’s walk through the jungle.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2021