Kayah State, MINA – The United Nations has warned Myanmar’s Kayah state is in danger of starvation with more than 100,000 people fleeing conflict, according to Anadolu Agency.
“The junta’s brutal attacks indiscriminately threaten the lives of thousands of men, women and children in Kayah State,” Thomas Andrews, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said in a statement Wednesday.
Kayah State, which borders Thailand, is one of the few areas where People’s Defense Force volunteers are fighting with the Myanmar army.
The junta soldiers responded to civilian resistance with artillery and air strikes, triggering an exodus of residents into nearby forests.
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“Mass deaths from hunger, disease, on a scale we haven’t seen since the February 1 coup, could happen in Kayah State,” he said.
Thailand, which fears a flood of refugees, has expressed concern about the fighting in Myanmar and urged the junta to take steps agreed by other Southeast Asian countries to resolve the conflict.
However, the junta paid little heed to ASEAN’s demands to respect the GUNA “consensus” to end the violence and hold political talks with the opposition.
Civilian monitoring groups say Myanmar’s junta has killed at least 857 protesters since the February 1 coup. (T/RE1)
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