Mandalay Division

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Title: Myanmar Junta Bolsters Security in Mandalay as Clashes Intensify
Description: "The military regime has bolstered security at entrances to Mandalay amid fierce fighting near Myanmar’s second-largest city. More junta soldiers, police and affiliated Pyu Saw Htee militias have been posted at city entrances since July 8. Around 50 personnel are deployed in Chanmyathazi Township and around 30 in Thalae Kone village on the Mandalay-Pyin Oo Lwin road in Patheingyi Township, according to residents. The imposition of tight checks follows clashes in Patheingyi Township north of Mandalay city, and the seizure of Nawnghkio town in Shan State by resistance forces after the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) resumed its anti-regime offensive on June 25. The Brotherhood Alliance of three ethnic armed organizations including the TNLA launched Operation 1027 in October last year. The ethnic alliance seized several hundred junta frontline bases and military command centers, plus 24 battalion headquarters, around 20 towns, and vital trade routes with China, before a truce was brokered by Beijing in mid-January. “The Mandalay-Pyin Oo Lwin road passes through the middle of our village. Since they [junta soldiers] arrived, they have been checking villagers who use the road to cross the village. Young people are forced to do sit-ups as a punishment when they fail to give satisfactory explanations for why they want to go to the other side of the village,” one resident said. Locals report that junta soldiers are stopping travelers day and night on the Mandalay-Pyin Oo Lwin road. The regime has also reinforced Mandalay with militias and former military personnel as clashes in Madaya and Mogoke townships threaten its Central Command in the city. After fighting spread to villages on the border of Madaya and Patheingyu townships, the regime has turned Madaya town into a fortress while also deploying large troop numbers in Patheingyi to deter advances on Mandalay. A junta administrator in Mandalay insisted that a security alert had not yet been issued in the city. The regime has imposed tight checks on vehicles at three entrances east and north of Mandalay since June 26. It has also deployed large numbers of guards on ring roads and is conducting frequent patrols in the town. The Irrawaddy reached out to Mandalay Region’s junta spokesman, Thein Htay, for comment but got no reply. Mandalay residents have been withdrawing cash from banks and buying up food, according to locals. Junta personnel are checking homes for unregistered overnight guests and making arrests, they added..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2024-07-16
Date of entry/update: 2024-07-16
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Title: Royal capital to 'smart city': Myanmar's Mandalay gets high-tech makeover, sparks 'spy' fears
Description: "Once a seat of kings, the city of Mandalay in northern Myanmar has seen turbulent chapters in its 162-year history – the fall of Burma’s last royal dynasty and decades of colonial rule. Now, officials are attempting to transform the former royal capital into Myanmar’s first “smart city”. In a country where officials still largely labor with pen and ink, surrounded by stacks of moldering papers, authorities in Mandalay are tapping social media and new technologies such as artificial intelligence software and drones to revamp a lethargic bureaucracy. Under the secretive military junta that ruled Myanmar until 2011, people in the country’s second largest city rarely had any contact with those who governed them. Now, they talk to the mayor on Facebook and pay for services with QR codes, something not available in Myanmar’s commercial capital, Yangon. Authorities track garbage disposal with GPS and control traffic flows with remote sensors. “It is very good that we can communicate with the mayor like this,” said 55-year-old taxi driver Kyi Thein. “Before, we could only see their motorcades.”..."
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Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication: 2019-08-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-12-07
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Title: Highway accidents kill 2, injure 72 in Myanmar during traditional holidays
Description: "Two people were killed with 72 others injured in the highway accidents of Myanmar during the public holidays of the traditional Thadingyut Lighting Festival, according to a release from the Highway Police Force on Wednesday. From Oct. 10 to Oct. 15, 26 highway accidents took place on Yangon-Mandalay highway. The Thadingyut Festival, known as the Festival of Lights, is traditionally celebrated for three days and falls on the 15th of the seventh month according to Myanmar calendar year, marking the end of the rainy season. Setting the festive days as the official holidays, well-known destinations and places in Myanmar were crowded with visitors from both home and abroad and its Yangon-Mandalay highway was packed with express buses and vehicles carrying holidaymakers. Reckless driving and over-speeding are mostly blamed for triggering accidents on the country's busiest highway..."
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Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
Date of publication: 2019-10-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-16
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