Myanmar's junta has handed out lengthy prison sentences to almost 30 people for torching Chinese-owned factories, state media said.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the generals ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February, with more than 800 civilians killed in an ongoing bloody crackdown, by a local monitoring group's count.

According to Chinese state media, demonstrators in the commercial capital Yangon torched dozens of Chinese-owned textile factories in March, causing around $37 million in damage.

Twitter accounts of Myanmar pro-democracy groups allege -- without offering clear proof -- that the army carried out the factory attacks to justify a crackdown in which dozens of protesters died.

Beijing -- Myanmar's top foreign investor -- said two employees were also injured and demanded the immediate protection of Chinese citizens and property.

On Monday, a junta tribunal sentenced 28 people to 20 years in prison for attacks on the Myanmar Rong Wei New shoes factory and Yuan Hong Garment factory, Myanmar state media reported Thursday.

Nineteen of the convicted were still on the run, it added.

Beijing enjoys exceptional leverage over Myanmar and has refused to label the military action a coup.

It supplies Myanmar with military hardware but observers say it also maintains alliances with some ethnic militias on the long China border that have been fighting the army for decades.

During a January 2020 visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping elevated the Southeast Asian neighbour to "country of shared destiny" status, Beijing's highest diplomatic stripe.

The aim was to nudge Myanmar politically towards China -- and away from the United States -- and drive through projects worth billions of dollars under the Belt and Road Initiative, including an oil and gas pipeline and a port to the Indian Ocean.

Myanmar shadow govt says allying with rebels to 'demolish' junta
Bangkok (AFP) May 29, 2021 - A shadow government in Myanmar seeking to reverse the February 1 coup has joined forces with a rebel group to "demolish" junta rule, it said Saturday.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy government and launched a brutal crackdown on dissent.

A group of ousted lawmakers later set up a shadow "National Unity Government" which has sought to bring anti-coup dissidents together with Myanmar's myriad ethnic rebel fighters to form a federal army to challenge the junta.

On Saturday, the rebel Chin National Front signed an agreement to "demolish the dictatorship and to implement a federal democratic system" in Myanmar, the NUG said in a statement.

They pledged "mutual recognition" and to "partner equally" the statement added, without giving further details. A CNF spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment.

The group -- which represents the mainly Christian Chin minority in western Myanmar -- signed a ceasefire with the country's military, also known as Tatmadaw, in 2015.

In recent years its fighters have dwindled.

"The CNF has no real military strength, so this move is symbolic," Richard Horsey, senior advisor on Myanmar to the International Crisis Group, told AFP.

"But [it is] nevertheless significant as CNF has been quite prominent in the peace process, due to its well respected political leaders in exile."

Several of Myanmar's rebel armed groups have condemned the military coup and the use of violence against unarmed civilians.

Some are also providing shelter and even training to dissidents who flee into their territories.

But the more than 20 outfits have long distrusted the ethnic Bamar majority -- including lawmakers affiliated with Suu Kyi's government.

On Friday, the NUG released a video it said showed the first batch of fighters from its "People's Defence Force", formed to protect civilians, completing their training.

Around a hundred recruits were shown marching across flat ground surrounded by jungle. None appeared to be carrying weapons.

"Let all Burmese people be freed from military slavery," the recruits were heard shouting together.

More than 800 people have been killed by the military, according to a local monitoring group, though the coup leader has given a much lower civilian toll.

The junta has classified the NUG and the People's Defence Force as "terrorists", meaning anyone speaking to them -- including journalists -- can be subjected to charges under counter-terrorism laws.

Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing has justified his February 1 power grab by claiming electoral fraud in November elections won by Suu Kyi's NLD party.

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Myanmar excluded from WHO annual meeting
Geneva (AFP) May 26, 2021
Faced with the dilemma of who to recognise as Myanmar's legitimate representative following February's coup, World Health Organization members opted Wednesday to exclude the country from their annual assembly. The 74th World Health Assembly had received requests from both Myanmar's ousted civilian authorities and the military junta that seized power nearly four months ago to represent the country. This year's gathering of the WHO's main decision-making body, which began Monday and lasts through ... read more