By Min AB / MPA
Ye, Mon State – Fears are mounting for the safety of a local charity leader in southern Myanmar who has remained incommunicado for over a week after being detained by military forces.
U Win Myint Oo, the president of the Hnit Kayin Social Welfare Association, was taken into custody on February 22 during a military sweep through Hnit Kayin village in Ye Township.
While initial reports suggested he was being interrogated at a military base in Ye, all contact has since been lost.
The detention follows a period of heightened tension in the region. Shortly before U Win Myint Oo’s arrest, resistance forces reportedly launched drone strikes against military columns moving through the area.
Local sources suggest the military is accusing the charity leader of providing information to revolutionary forces.
“They are alleging he has links with the PDF (People’s Defense Force),” a resident told MPA. “But everyone here knows he is a humanitarian worker with no political affiliations. We are deeply concerned because he has done nothing wrong.”
Speculation also surrounds a social event held at his home late last year, which was allegedly visited by members of an armed group—an incident observers believe the military is now using as grounds for his arrest.
The Hnit Kayin Social Welfare Association is a long-standing community organization providing free ambulance services and financial aid to impoverished families. Its president’s disappearance is part of a troubling trend in Mon State, where humanitarian workers increasingly find themselves targeted by both sides of the conflict.
In September 2024, the head of another charity, the Paing Shin Mae Association in nearby Thanbyuzayat, was charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law for alleged PDF links.
“To do our job, we have to pass through checkpoints held by both the military and resistance groups,” explained a former aid worker who fled the region. “We interact with everyone just to get patients to the hospital on time. It doesn’t mean we are part of the revolution, but the military often sees it that way.”
The ongoing risks have forced more than half of the social welfare organizations in Mon State to suspend their operations. For those that remain, like the Hnit Kayin Association, the work continues under a shadow of fear.
The family of U Win Myint Oo remains unable to reach him, and military authorities have yet to issue a formal statement regarding his status or any potential charges.
