I. Introduction

If the South Africa government is satisfied that it has a full understanding of the Ambassador's service record, and that the Ambassador did not command units that may have perpetrated violations of IHL, it should issue a public statement to this effect, outlining the steps it has taken to make these conclusions. If, on the other hand, the South Africa government is not satisfied that the Ambassador did not command units that may have perpetrated violations of IHL, it should continue submitting inquiries to the Government of Myanmar, or consider declaring the Ambassador persona non grata and requesting his recall by Government of Myanmar. If additional information about the service history of Ambassador Myint Naung becomes available, for example regarding different command positions at different times, primary documentation collected by KHRG may be able to identify involvement in other abuses in violation of international norms.The South Africa government should seek to clarify Ambassador Myint Naung's service history and potential responsibility for individual, documented incidents of serious violations of international humanitarian law. KHRG wishes to emphasise that this is not a call to categorically denounce all Tatmadaw officers or Myanmar government officials or disregard basic obligations to treat foreign representatives with courtesy. Rather, in light of the information outlined in Sections II and III below indicating the Ambassador's potential involvement in grave violations of IHL, the South Africa government should request from the Myanmar government comprehensive information about the ambassador's service in the Tatmadaw, including the unit number, dates and deployment locations relating to all command positions previously held by Ambassador Myint Naung. The South Africa government should then examine abuses documented in connection with those units, and further investigate or inquire into specific incidents of concern until it has a full picture of the Ambassador's service history.

KHRG believes that an inquiry by the South Africa government is reasonable given questions and concerns that arise from the information detailed in this note; it is also within South Africa's rights under international law relevant to diplomatic relations,[3] and consistent with obligations under treaty and customary IHL that members of the international community ensure respect for international humanitarian law erga omnes.[4] It is not credible to assume that domestic legal or other accountability procedures within the Government of Myanmar, or specifically the Tatmadaw, have taken any steps to determine Brig-Gen. Myint Naung's involvement in violations of IHL documented by KHRG and others.[5]

Moreover, if an inquiry justifiably results in an adverse impact on the career prospects of a former Tatmadaw officer, KHRG believes that this could help to increase the perceived opportunity costs of utilising abusive practices for currently-serving Tatmadaw officers who will be in a position to order, or permit, violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in the future. It could also encourage the perception domestically that further measures for accountability and compliance with international norms are palatable, and necessary, insofar as they can help to avoid future similar international inquiries into past conduct by Tatmadaw officers. Ultimately, if an inquiry by the South Africa government can contribute to even an incremental reduction or change in abusive conduct by currently-serving Tatmadaw officers, this offers vital assistance to communities currently facing abuse in eastern Burma.

II. Service history of Brigadier General Myint Naung

On March 14th 2011, the state-run New Light of Myanmar reported that an U Myint Naung had been appointed as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar to the Republic of South Africa.[6]On July 12th 2011, U Myint Naung's credentials were presented to and accepted by the President of the Republic of South Africa, Jacob Zuma.[7] Publicly-available information, including articles published by Burma's state media, academic works by experts on the Tatmadaw, and exile news agencies indicates that Ambassador U Myint Naung and Brig-Gen. Myint Naung are the same person, and that the latter likely commanded Tatmadaw units during major combat operations in Karen State.

In August 2010, The Irrawaddy newspaper reported that a Tatmadaw Brigadier General Myint Naung had been transferred to the Myanmar Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[8] Public sources indicate that Brigadier General Myint Naung likely commanded Tatmadaw Military Operation Command (MOC) #4 at least between June 2007 and February 2008. It is possible that he commanded MOC #4 prior to June 2007 and subsequent to February 2008, however KHRG could not confirm a longer period of command via public sources. Some time after February 2008, and prior to September 2008, public information suggest Brig-Gen. Myint Naung was appointed as head of the Tatmadaw's Bayinnaung combat training school, a military institution that trains Tatmadaw personnel in counter-insurgency tactics, located in Toungoo District, or Thandaunggyi Township by government designations.

Figure 1 below shows information which KHRG has gathered to date, listed in roughly chronological order. All information is from public sources unless otherwise indicated; where available, online versions of sources have been hyper-linked in related footnotes.

Figure 1: Service History

Note that some public sources also name a Col. Tint Wai as a former MOC #4 Commander prior to May 2007.[17] Other public sources, meanwhile, including state media suggest that Col. Tint Wai has served as the Myanmar military attaché to China since at least June 2007, and possibly since late 2006.[18] Tatmadaw experts have also noted that it is unlikely that an officer holding the rank of Colonel would server as an MOC commander on anything other than a temporary basis without being promoted to the rank of Brigadier General, or replaced.[19] Due to conflicting sources about the identity of the MOC #4 commander prior to June 2007, however, Section III below only summarises incidents documented in connection to MOC #4 after June 2007, when the New Light of Myanmar described Brig-Gen. Myint Naung as "Phugyi Station Commander." If additional information about the service history of Ambassador Myint Naung becomes available, primary documentation collected by KHRG may be able to identify involvement in prohibited acts perpetrated at other times and related to other units.

III. Documented incidents linked to units under Tatmadaw MOC #4

The information listed in Section II of this briefing document suggests an approximate time frame for Brig-Gen. Myint Naung's tenure as MOC #4 Commander, beginning in June 2007 and lasting until at least February 2008; this period may extend beyond February 2008, depending on when he was appointed to Bayinnaung combat training school. In addition to September 2007 incidents documented by Human Rights Watch and Yoma3 related to the government crackdown on monk-led protests in Rangoon,[20] which KHRG did not document, evidence gathered by KHRG field researchers inside Burma indicates that battalions under MOC #4 committed serious human rights abuses, including grave violations of humanitarian law, during the same time period. KHRG's documentation indicates that these battalions attacked on civilian communities, destroyed villages and agriculture and killed villagers in Toungoo, Nyaunglebin, and Papun districts during the last months of a major Tatmadaw offensive, which spanned the years 2005 to 2008 and took place in northern Karen State and eastern Bago Region.

The repeated and large-scale targeting of civilians in violation of international humanitarian law (IHL) by Tatmadaw units involved in the 2005-2008 Offensive was condemned by both the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar and, in a rare public statement, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).[21] Covering the same period, based upon primary documentation by field researchers in the area, KHRG published 43 reports,[22] each detailing repeated grave violations of IHL by Tatmadaw units. While KHRG field researchers were not in all cases able to identify the specific units responsible for the violations, four reports highlighted abuses committed by soldiers under the command of MOC #4. Importantly, many of these reports can be triangulated by comparison to reporting by Amnesty International and a variety of local organisations active inside Burma, which all have published extensive documentation covering the period.[23]

Figure 2 below summarises documented incidents linked to MOC #4 during the period November 2007 and April 2008, when the unit may have been commanded by Myint Naung. Items are listed in roughly chronological order; all information is from KHRG primary documention and other published sources, and online versions of sources have been hyper-linked in related footnotes.

Figure 2: Incidents linked to MOC #4