More than 13 million people are affected by the call to the flag, according to a junta spokesperson, although the army only has the capacity to train 50,000 per year.
A first group of several thousand recruits has already started training, according to pro-junta Telegram accounts.
Prison sentence for no-show
The military service law was designed by a previous junta in 2010, but had never been applied until then.
The text is “essential given the situation our country is experiencing,” justified a spokesperson for the junta. It provides for an extension of military service up to five years in the event of a state of emergency. Those who ignore their summons risk a prison sentence of the same length.
More than four million Burmese worked abroad in 2020, according to an estimate by the International Labor Organization, citing government data. Many others are employed illegally far from home, experts have warned.
Effectiveness of the new “People’s Defense Forces”
Decreed by the generals when they took power in 2021, the state of emergency is renewed every six months, in a context of deterioration in the security situation.
The persistence of the state of emergency also postpones new national elections, promised by the army when it overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The putsch sparked a resumption of conflict with ethnic minority fighters active for several decades, and gave rise to dozens of new “People’s Defense Forces” that analysts say surprised the army with their efficiency.
The coordinated offensive by three ethnic minority groups near the Chinese border at the end of October marked a major turning point in favor of the adversaries of power, who took control of certain strategic towns and roads, according to observers.
