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Facing setbacks against resistance forces, Myanmar's military government activates conscription law
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FILE - Military officers march during a parade to commemorate Myanmar's 78th Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on March 27, 2023. Myanmar’s military government on Saturday Feb. 10, 2024 activated for the first time a decade-old conscription law that makes young men and women subject to at least two years of military service if called up, effective immediately. - photo by AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo, File
BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government on Saturday activated for the first time a decade-old conscription law that makes young men and women subject to at least two years of military service if called up, effective immediately. The announcement of the measure on state television amounts to a major, though tacit, admission that the army is struggling to contain the nationwide armed resistance against its rule. Under the 2010 People’s Military Service Law, passed under a previous military government, males between the ages of 18 and 45 and females between 18 and 35 can be drafted into the armed forces for two years, extendable to five years during national emergencies.