UN warns of ‘deterioration’ of humanitarian situation in Myanmar

Bangkok, Nov 9 (EFE).- The United Nations has warned of a deterioration in Myanmar’s humanitarian situation as a result of the conflict between the military and armed groups, and said 3 million people need urgent aid.

“The humanitarian situation in Myanmar is deteriorating,” said the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths in a statement Tuesday, adding that “without an end to violence and a peaceful resolution of Myanmar’s crisis, this number will only rise.”

In recent weeks there has been an escalation of violence in the northwest as a result of fighting between the military and the Chinland Defense Force in Chin state, and the People’s Defence Forces in the central Magway and Sagaing regions.

“More than 37,000 people, including women and children, have been newly displaced, and more than 160 homes have been burned, including churches and the offices of a humanitarian organization,” said Griffiths, adding the situation in the northwest is “extremely concerning.”

He added that attacks directed at civilians, humanitarian workers and civilian infrastructure are “clearly prohibited under international humanitarian law.”

The humanitarian crisis is also reaching urban areas such as Yangon and Mandalay, the two most populated cities, where the UN coordinator highlighted worrying “reports of rising levels of food insecurity.”

Griffiths called on the military and the rest of the parties involved to “facilitate safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access” to thousands of people in desperate situations throughout the country.

The appeal comes after Monday’s made by the high representative of the European Union for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, who also condemned military attacks “on civilians and villages in Chin State, including the use of torture, sexual violence, arbitrary detention and the destruction of private property and religious sites, which are blatant violations of human rights and international law.”

“The current military build-up in the central and northwestern part of the country, including the Sagaing and Magway regions, and the resulting escalation of violence particularly in Chin State, are of deep concern,” Borrell added.

The military junta justifies its Feb. 1 seizure of power alleging fraud during the general election of November 2020, the result of which has been annulled and in which Suu Kyi’s party won by a landslide, with the endorsement of international observers. EFE

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