Concerns are mounting over the fate of a prominent social welfare leader in Mon State, who has remained missing for over a week after being detained by the Myanmar military.
U Win Myint Oo, the chairman of the Nhit Kayin Social Welfare Association, was seized by junta troops on 22 February during a military operation near Nhit 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, and his current whereabouts are unknown.
“At first, we heard he was being questioned and would be released because he had done nothing wrong,” a source close to the association told the Myanmar Pressphoto Agency (MPA). “Now that there is zero contact, we are deeply concerned for his life”.
The detention follows a period of heightened military activity in the area. Shortly before the arrest, junta forces reportedly suffered casualties during a drone attack launched by revolutionary alliance forces near the village. Local residents suggest that U Win Myint Oo, who is in his 30s, is being falsely accused of providing intelligence to the resistance.
“They are accusing him of communicating with the PDF [People’s Defence Force], but everyone knows he has no such affiliations,” a local villager stated.
The Nhit Kayin Social Welfare Association is a long-standing philanthropic group that provides free ambulance services and financial support to impoverished families. Despite the chairman’s disappearance, the group is reportedly attempting to continue its humanitarian work.
The case is part of a broader pattern of intimidation against humanitarian workers in Myanmar. In September 2024, another charity leader in nearby Thanbyuzayat was charged under anti-terrorism laws for alleged links to the resistance.
A former aid worker in Mon State, who requested anonymity, highlighted the impossible position humanitarian groups now face. “We have to interact with all sides just to pass through checkpoints and reach patients in time,” he explained. “These interactions are purely for the sake of saving lives, yet we are constantly targeted. More than half of the social welfare groups in the region have now been forced to stop their operations”.
Since the 2021 coup, arbitrary detentions and attacks on humanitarian vehicles have severely hampered aid efforts across Myanmar, leaving vulnerable populations without essential emergency services.
