In Myanmar's rebel strongholds, internet can mean life or death

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SAGAING — For Mr Zaw Myint Thein, a farmer in northwestern Myanmar, having no internet in the area for more than a year causes many inconveniences — his son is unable to study, he can no longer sell his watermelon crops online, and he feels cut off.

But in this stronghold of resistance to the military junta that seized power in a coup early last year, the army-ordered internet shutdown — and sporadic cuts to mobile phone communications — puts lives on the line, Mr Zaw Myint Thein said.

Shutting down the internet was one of the army's first moves after it ousted the country's elected government on Feb 1, 2021, unleashing a wave of mass protests that the military sought to quell with a bloody crackdown on dissent. Myanmar imposed more internet shutdowns than any country except India last year, with 15 blackouts, according to the Access Now group. In some areas such as Sagaing the blackouts continue.

Junta leaders have ordered telecommunications companies to shut off mobile and wireless internet — the only kind available in most parts of the country — targeting places in the countryside where a resistance movement has built up. Phone links are also sometimes snapped. "I was reliant on Facebook for marketing and sales," Ms Khin told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a voice message from Thailand, where she moved last year and is trying to relaunch her business.

 

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