Myanmar’s military is said to be losing control

Nearly three years after seizing power and detaining the democratically elected Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s military junta is said to be close to collapse. A combined operation by three rebel militias starting in October took control of towns, border trade zones and military outposts in the north. More attacks are planned and the military’s morale is “at its lowest in history”, the foreign minister for Myanmar’s democratic government in exile said in an interview with Nikkei Asia. Zin Mar Aung of the National Unity Government, speaking in Tokyo, said soldiers were defecting in numbers and whole army camps were ready to surrender. General Min Aung Hlang, the junta’s leader, appealed to the rebels to “solve their problems politically”, but an NUG spokesman rejected the overture as a plea for an exit route from a regime losing control. Reuters has verified footage of police and military personnel surrendering in Shan state in the north and Rakhine and Chin states in the west.