Important Update about Burma/Myanmar's Military Coup from Dave Eubank

February 4, 2021

Reports from Burma (Myanmar) have been the focus of international news this week. A military coup has overthrown the quasi-democratic government, and has placed the already-struggling Burmese people in a tenuous and potentially dangerous situation. Widespread displacement is already taking place, uncertainty has gripped the country and persecuted religious minorities—particularly Christians—are at greater risk than ever.

Many of us who are concerned about religious freedom are familiar with the remarkable story of Dave Eubank and his Free Burma Rangers. This man and his heroic efforts are legendary in today’s broken world. As Lara Logan reported about him last year on Fox News:

There is an army of volunteers who seek to serve in the world’s most dangerous places — not by killing an enemy, but by rescuing the innocent. They go where most humanitarian aid organizations will not, from the jungles of civil war-torn Myanmar to the desert killing fields of Mosul, Iraq. They are the Free Burma Rangers (FBR) and their leader is a Green Beret veteran and Christian missionary.

Ask anyone who follows him, they’ll tell you Dave Eubank is a soldier of God. He enlisted in the U.S. Armed Forces at the age of 18, following the example of his father. His career began as an infantry officer before joining the 2nd Ranger Battalion and finally the special forces. Eubank ran missions in South and Central America and in Thailand.

After 10 years of service, he left the military, but he was called back to conflict for a different purpose. His father called him to say that he had met a man seeking help for Burmese people caught in a seemingly endless civil war.

“We started the Free Burma Rangers,” Eubank responded, “to give help, hope, and love to people under attack and get the news out and to stand with people.”

Today as always, Dave Eubank’s heart remains with the suffering Burmese people, and this week’s news about the Burmese coup has touched him deeply. He sent the following update to Family Research Council. It is not only important and newsworthy, but it is a call to prayer, so we are sharing it with you.

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We are on a relief mission in Burma (Myanmar). The recent coup has revealed to the world what the people here knew already—that the military is in charge, has been in charge and will not share power. And attacks against the ethnic peoples have not stopped. Here where we are in Karen state, Burma, over 5,000 have been displaced in the past two months due to Burma army attacks. This is in spite of a cease-fire. Now the Burma Army are sending reinforcements—all around us—I just walked back to our camp from one group of 1,100 displaced people hiding in the mountains.

Our teams are giving them medical care and coordinating rice and tarp delivery on foot. Also attacks continue up north in Kachin State where over 100,000 remain displaced and in northern Shan state where Shan and Taang people are under regular attack. In Arakan state, western Burma, there is a lull in the fighting but over 70,000 are displaced there. Also in Arakan State the over 750,000 Rohingya who were chased out earlier are still in Bangladesh. 

Here in Karen State, the Karen people feel like the coup only reveals overtly what they and every ethnic already knew, that the army is totally in charge and they hope that this revelation will cause people who are ignorant of that fact or try to ignore it to not be able to ignore it anymore and realize the evil of the situation. Their own lives haven’t changed because they were attacked before the coup and they’re being attacked after the coup. Holding their babies in hiding places under the trees, they told me, “We don’t need you to give us food and medicine and shelter just stop the Burma army from attacking our villages. We are not attacking them in their cities—why are they attacking us? If you stop them we can take care of ourselves.”

Right now the best we can do is pray with the people in their hiding places in the jungle and deliver rice and medical care. Please pray as God leads you and we request that the US Government provides direct humanitarian relief to the ethnic groups or cross border relief groups who have proven track records for providing relief efficiently, accountably and transparently. Please pray for but do not send relief through the Burma government as they will not help the people their army is attacking. Also the ethnic groups need recognition and need to be part of a solution for a free, just and reconciled Burma. The US can help provide relief for those under attack and help the ethnics and Burmans who want change to work together to achieve the goal of a free and democratic Burma. 

Thank you for caring and God bless you,
David Eubank, family and the Free Burma Rangers 
freeburmarangers.org