JUDY WOODRUFF: The general who led the coup in Myanmar criticized foreign interference
today, days after the U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution calling for an arms
embargo. It comes as a new militia has begun fighting his military. As Nick Schifrin reports,
the fighting in Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city, exposes the country's increasing
violence and fragility. NICK SCHIFRIN: In Myanmar's central heartland, government troops
left scorched earth. Last week, residents say soldiers torched the village of Kin Ma.
Now its residents and thousands of families around the country are hiding in forests,
scared of the military ruling junta that's hunting them down. Army forces have injured
thousands and killed more than 800 protesters. And in Mandalay this week, a regime soldier
fired a rocket-propelled grenade into a house full of protesters. But, increasingly, the
resistance is responding with more force. In cities, protesters build barricades to
protect neighborhoods from government soldiers, and around the country, ethnic militias attack
army checkpoints. Increasingly, their soldiers are civilians from cities who journey to ethnic-controlled
territories to join the fight. For decades, ethnic minorities in Myanmar have fought repression
and political persecution by central authorities who deny those minorities full rights. And
now that fight has new political momentum. KO AUNG MYO MIN, Human Rights Minister, National
Unity Government: We may be different in religion, ethnicity, but we are human beings, and we
must respect the identity of the people. NICK SCHIFRIN: Ko Aung Myo Min is the human rights
minister in Myanmar's opposition National Unity Government. It works in exile, or in
hiding, and was created in response to the February 1 coup that deposed an elected civilian
government and installed army leader Min Aung Hlaing. The National Unity Government recently
released a historic policy paper that calls for Burmese to have equal rights as citizens
regardless of ethnicity. KO AUNG MYO MIN: That is our bottom line approach, make sure
that everyone is equally entitled citizenship, to stop all kinds of violations, to stop all
kinds of corruptions and power abuse. NICK SCHIFRIN: The statement focuses on the Rohingya,
a Muslim minority in a largely Buddhist Myanmar. In 2017, a military campaign that a U.N. panel
said had genocidal intent massacred thousands of Rohingya civilians. More than 700,000 fled
their homes. For the first time, the National Unity Government statement acknowledges violence
and gross human rights violations inflicted upon Rohingya by the thuggish military. It
calls for repatriation of Rohingya refugees and Rohingya birth citizenship. KO AUNG MYO
MIN: Everyone born by the citizen of Myanmar are entitled to become a citizenship of the
country. NICK SCHIFRIN: But Rohingya activists say that is not enough. WAI WAI NU, Rohingya
Activist: Unless they acknowledge Rohingya as their own ethnic nationality group, the
apartheid and discriminations and treating Rohingya as second class will never end. Citizenship
alone cannot address this issue. That's what we all need to understand. NICK SCHIFRIN:
Wai Wai Nu is a former political prisoner. She thinks the National Unity Government needs
to use this unstable moment to envision a future, more stable Myanmar, where Rohingya
are protected with individual and collective rights. WAI WAI NU: What they have to acknowledge
is, Rohingyas are bona fide citizens of the country as a group. We are insistent on the
National Unity Government to acknowledge Rohingya as an ethnic nationality group, and assure
rights under the federal union. NICK SCHIFRIN: That would push a future civilian government
to defend the Rohingya more than in the past. In 2017, civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi
defended the military. AUNG SAN SUU KYI, Myanmar State Counselor: Surely, under the circumstances,
genocidal intent cannot be the only hypothesis. NICK SCHIFRIN: Do you expect a future government
to hold them more accountable, frankly, than Aung San Suu Kyi did in the past? KO AUNG
MYO MIN: Accountability must be ensured in the future. NICK SCHIFRIN: But, right now,
the military faces little accountability, and the violence across the country since
the coup threatens the state's very stability. A massive civil disobedience movement and
national strike paralyzed the financial sector. Crowds line up outside banks because of caps
on withdrawals. The U.N. expects half of Myanmar's 55 million residents, to fall into poverty
within six months. And the World Food Program says 3.5 million more people will face hunger.
WAI WAI NU: If the international community, the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council
does not stop the military by taking actions, the country, we are at the brink of collapse.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The Biden administration has imposed eight rounds of sanctions on military
officials and military-owned enterprises, including its profitable gems business. And,
in a rare move last week, the U.N. General Assembly condemned the coup and called on
countries to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar. VOLKAN BOZKIR, President, U.N. General
Assembly: A system built on brutality and bloodshed will not survive. It is not too
late for the military to reverse the negative trajectory on the ground, exercise restraint,
and respect the will of its own people. NICK SCHIFRIN: But there is no sign of military
restraint or respect. And that means ethnic and economic fissures will continue to grow
in the fight for the heart and the future of Myanmar. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick
Schifrin.