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From Our Own Correspondent: The Myanmar soldiers refusing to fight

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The Myanmar soldiers refusing to fight

17/06/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, The Myanmar soldiers refusing to fight

The soldiers in Myanmar's civil war who are defecting to avoid killing their own people.

The Myanmar soldiers refusing to fight; calls for change as South Africa’s electricity crisis continues; Donald Trump's day in court; and remembering Italy's Silvio Berlusconi.

Pascale Harter introduces stories from correspondents in Thailand, South Africa, the United States and Italy.

Since the military overthrow of the democratically elected government in Myanmar in 2021, the country has slid into civil war. When initial, peaceful demonstrations against the military coup failed, civilians took up arms. Now, some of the soldiers they are fighting are deciding to defect - refusing to fight against their own people. Many have fled to Thailand, where Rebecca Henschke met them.

South Africa's electricity supply crisis has made 'load shedding' a term many people now dread - it can mean power cuts of up to 12 hours a day. Stephen Sackur saw the effects on life in the township of Khayelitsha in Cape Town, and asked whether the problem's now fuelling demands for political change.

In Florida this week, Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges relating to unauthorised possession of classified material, obstruction of justice and making false statements to law enforcement. Nomia Iqbal was outside the federal courthouse in Miami where the arraignment took place, and spoke to some of the former president's supporters.

And as Italy mourns its former four-time prime minister, the flamboyant media magnate and billionaire businessman, Silvio Berlusconi, David Willey remembers a visit to Mr Berlusconi's palatial villa in Milan. He was there to see the almost pharaonic mausoleum Mr Berlusconi had had built in the grounds and where he planned to be buried, alongside family, friends - and some unnamed business associates.

Producer: Louise Hidalgo
Production Coordinator: Janet Staples
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

Image: Myanmar-Conflict-Coup-Rebels, Credit: Getty Images

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