Bangkok (AP) – The UN Humanitarian Aid Agency says the number of internally displaced people devastated by the conflict in Myanmar has exceeded one million for the first time, with more than half losing their homes since the evacuation military last year.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report that the ongoing battle between the military government and its rivals, rising prices of essential commodities and the arrival of the rainy season in time of its financing, has been exacerbated by the crisis. The help measures are grossly inadequate. His report addresses the situation on May 26.
The military has blocked or denied independent access to areas outside its control, hindering relief efforts.
Myanmar’s military seized power from Aun San Suu Kyi’s elected government in February last year, sparking widespread peaceful protests. When they were overthrown by a deadly force from the army and police, the nonviolent opposition turned into armed resistance and the country fell into the hands of some UN experts. Characterized as a civil war.
OCHA said the fighting has intensified recently.
“The impact on civilians is worsening daily with frequent attacks and indiscriminate incidents. Explosion hazards” Include anti-personnel mines and explosive war remnants, “the report said.
It says more than 694,300 people have fled their homes since the army was captured, thousands more have been uprooted a second or third time, and about 346,000 have been displaced by fighting before the takeover. last year, mostly in border areas inhabited by ethnic minorities. Groups that have been fighting for more autonomy for decades.
The report also states that approximately 40,200 people fled to neighboring countries after the occupation and that more than 12,700 “civil property”, including homes, churches, monasteries and schools, were destroyed.
By the end of the first quarter of this year, humanitarian aid to Myanmar had reached 2.6 million people, or 41% of 6.2 million people, according to OCHA. The total population of the country is over 55 million.
But he warned that this year’s Myanmar Humanitarian Response Plan has only been funded by 10% so far, with a delay of $ 740 million.
A spokesman for the military government’s Ministry of Social Security, Welfare and Housing said at a press conference in Naypitwa, Myanmar’s capital, on Wednesday that the government had provided humanitarian assistance to more than 130,000 internally displaced people in between of May 20 and May 27, 2021.
An official, whose testimony was released but not named, said 1,255 homes and five religious buildings were burned or destroyed in clashes between the army and local resistance militia and thus received state assistance. for rebuilding.
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said last month that the number of people forced to flee fighting, violence, human rights violations and persecution had exceeded a record 100 million for the first time. It represents more than 1% of the world’s population and includes refugees and asylum seekers, as well as those displaced due to fighting in their countries.
Violence and conflicts in countries including Ethiopia Burkina Faso, Myanmar, Nigeria, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo reached a total of 90 million by the end of last year. The War in Ukraine The number exceeds 100 million.
The independent Geneva -based NGO said 53.2 million people were internally displaced due to fighting and violence on December 31.
Source: Huffpost
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