Myanmar’s anti-coup government says forming ‘people’s defense force’

Myanmar’s anti-coup government says it has formed a “people’s defense force” to protect people from military attacks and violence directed by the junta, taking the country one step closer to civil war.

The so-called National Government, set up last month by an array of groups opposed to the military junta, said the defense force was formed as a precursor to a Federal Union Army.

It said the force was responsible to “make effective reforms in the security sector in order to terminate the 70-year-long civil war,” and to deal with “the military attacks and violence from [the] state administration council on the people.”

The unity government also pledged to end violence, restore democracy, and build a “federal democratic union.”