2023-11-07 06:46:14
The United Nations is once again sounding the alarm on the tragedy unfolding in Burma. The UN was concerned on Monday about “violent fighting” between the army and an alliance of ethnic minority groups in the north of the country.
Reports are “reporting artillery fire and airstrikes which have caused civilian casualties”, particularly in Shan State, declared Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary General, without giving further details. details.
Guterres “reaffirms that civilians must be protected”
The fighting has also left “tens of thousands of new people displaced”, several hundred of whom have left the country, he added. “According to our humanitarian colleagues, since October 26, nearly 33,000 men, women and children have been displaced, which increases humanitarian needs.”
Secretary General Antonio Guterres “reaffirms that civilians must be protected,” insisted Stéphane Dujarric, also calling for “unhindered” access to humanitarian aid.
Intensification of fighting
Fighting intensified last week in large areas of northern Shan State, near the border with China. Armed groups said Saturday they had seized dozens of outposts and four towns, and blocked important trade routes to China. A few days earlier, a junta spokesperson had described claims that armed groups had taken control of several towns in Shan State as “propaganda”.
More than a dozen ethnic groups operate in Burma, particularly in the border regions, demanding more political autonomy, control of part of the country’s natural wealth or lucrative trafficking. Some of them trained and equipped the armed groups made up of political opponents who spread across the country after the 2021 coup against Aung San Suu Kyi and the repression that followed. These fighting represent an unprecedented threat to the army since the putsch.
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