NAYPYIDAW, Myanmar - According to three former United Nations experts, companies in the United States, Europe, and Asia have been assisting Myanmar's military in manufacturing weapons used in human rights violations.

Companies from 13 countries, including France, Germany, China, India, Russia, Singapore, and the United States, have been providing supplies that are "critical" to the production of weapons in Myanmar, according to a report released on Monday by the Special Advisory Council on Myanmar (SAC-M).

According to the experts, this assistance includes licenses, raw materials, software, parts, and components.

As a result, the Myanmar military, which seized power in a coup in February 2021 and has launched a bloody crackdown on its opponents, has become largely self-sufficient in manufacturing a variety of weapons, they claim. These weapons, manufactured in KaPaSa factories run by the military's Directorate of Defence Industries (DDI), include guns, ammunition, and landmines and are primarily used to suppress opposition to the coup, according to the SAC-M.