[ Myanmar Now ] Myanmar’s shadow government declares ‘resistance war’ against military junta
Myanmar’s acting president Duwa Lashi La of the National Unity Government (NUG) announced on Tuesday that the people’s “resistance war” against the junta had started and urged the public across the country to revolt against the military coup regime led by Min Aung Hlaing.
In an seven-minute emergency speech, the acting president also called on the NUG’s People’s Defence Force (PDF) to target “every pillar of the junta’s ruling mechanism,” as well as to protect the lives of Myanmar’s people, to follow orders and to behave in line with the PDF’s code of conduct.
Duwa Lashi La urged local administrators working under the junta to resign immediately.
People were warned not to undertake unnecessary travel, to stock up on food and medical supplies and to help the PDFs and civilian resistance forces by informing them of the military’s activities.
He urged ethnic armed organisations to attack the coup regime’s forces in every way possible and to maintain control over their territories. He also called on Border Guard Forces, junta-allied militias, and individual soldiers and police to defect from the military council and collaborate with those forces on the side of the people.
“This revolution is a just and fair revolution and is necessary to build a federal union with sustainable peace,” Duwa Lashi La said in the speech.
He explained that he hoped Myanmar’s neighbours, members of ASEAN, and the United Nations would understand that their action against the junta was “based on necessity.”
NUG Prime Minister Mahn Win Khaing Than also announced that starting from Tuesday all civilian departments and offices under the military council—in which many of the workers continue to strike in defiance of the junta—would be closed indefinitely.
“The public revolution has started today. I urge all the people in the country to take part as much as they can, in order to eradicate the military dictatorship that has been ruling our country for years,” said Yee Mon, the NUG’s defence minister.
