Myanmar conflict deaths surpass 100,000 five years after coup: monitor

More than 100,000 people have been killed across all sides in Myanmar since a military coup five years ago triggered a civil war, according to data released on Wednesday by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). The monitoring group tallies conflict-related fatalities from media reports and other sources.

The military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, detaining the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and ending Myanmar’s decade-long experiment with democracy. Anti-coup protests were met with force, leading many activists to flee cities and form pro-democracy guerrilla groups, often fighting alongside ethnic minority armies that have long resisted central rule.

ACLED recorded 100,114 conflict-related deaths since the coup. No official toll exists, and estimates vary widely, but analysts regard the half-decade civil war as Asia’s deadliest active conflict. The group identified more than 1,200 distinct armed groups in the civil war, calling it "the most fragmented conflict in the world."

"The pain is just endless," said 49-year-old Thein Aye Nu, whose husband was killed in an airstrike in Rakhine state last month. "I am so deeply resentful and very angry. But I don’t even know who to be angry at anymore. I just have to console myself by accepting it as fate."

Myanmar was ruled by military chief Min Aung Hlaing for five years after the coup. He retired from the armed forces in April to assume the role of civilian president after tightly controlled elections that were boycotted by rebel groups and widely dismissed as a sham. Min Aung Hlaing has called for peace talks, but rebels view this as an insincere attempt to improve his image.

"If there was no coup, children would be studying at schools," said a man from Myit Chay in Magway region, whose teenage son was killed after running away to fight for pro-democracy rebels. "We didn’t even get a chance to properly chant Buddhist funeral rites. Heavy artillery was being fired."

The conflict has displaced more than 3.7 million people internally, according to the United Nations, and over one in five people face acute food insecurity as the country slips back into poverty. In Yangon, violence often takes the form of occasional assassinations, while other areas are torn by entrenched warfare or daily airstrikes from the military’s Russian- and Chinese-supplied jets.

According to ACLED, Myanmar was the second-most conflict-hit area in the world last year, behind only the Palestinian territories. The conflict dynamic has shifted: a combined rebel offensive starting in late 2023 led to stunning advances, but the military regained ground after China threw support behind it, brokering truces with two powerful ethnic minority armies.

In February 2024, the military activated conscription legislation, aiming to forcibly recruit 50,000 citizens. "These conscripts can’t do anything. It’s like they are just being sent to die," said a 20-year-old former conscript who deserted after serving on the front lines, speaking on condition of anonymity. "If you don’t die in one place, they send you to another."

The war has also had far-reaching consequences abroad, filling camps in neighbouring Thailand and other countries with refugees fleeing the violence.