Correspondent in Asia
Fatal stampede in Mandalay.
At dawn, two women died of suffocation in a ditch, pushed by the crowd gathered in front of the passport issuing office in Burma's second city on February 19.
In the darkness, they sold tokens regulating the long queue to obtain the precious sesame, essential to leave the country torn by a merciless civil war since the 2021 coup d'état. The surprise announcement of compulsory conscription , by the junta on February 10, triggered a wave of panic, and an influx of requests from young people fearing being forcibly conscripted by an army on the retreat, facing resistance guerrillas on the outskirts of the country of the Thousand Pagodas .
In Mandalay, nearly 5,000 people queue every day outside the passport office, which can only process 200 applications daily, according to the
Irrawaddy newspaper.
“
My boyfriend is trying to get a visa to go out.
Many of my friends are even considering…
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