Since the February 2021 coup, resistance to the junta in Myanmar has grown from protest rallies and civil disobedience campaigns to a nation-wide civil war that encompasses terrorist-style attacks in urban centres and guerrilla campaigns in rural districts. The military regime has responded to these challenges, in part, by exploiting its command of the air.
This has in turn led to louder and more frequent calls for the imposition of a no-fly zone over Myanmar, policed by foreign powers under the aegis of the United Nations (UN). These calls, however, are likely to be in vain. An effective and internationally-enforced air exclusion zone over Myanmar is one idea that, for several reasons, will not fly.
Anti-junta groups started calling for the imposition of a no-fly zone soon after the coup. Last April, for example, Myanmar’s UN representative (who was appointed by the former government) called for a no-fly zone ‘to avoid further bloodshed caused by military air strikes on civilian areas’. At the time, the Myanmar Air Force (MAF) was hardly in evidence and his request attracted little attention.
Please click here to read the full “A no-fly zone won’t fly in Myanmar” article published at East Asia Forum, written by Griffith Asia Institute Adjunct Professor Andrew Selth.
