UN says 100,000 flee fighting in Myanmar border state

[YANGON] The United Nations said on Tuesday an estimated 100,000 people in Myanmar's Kayah state had been displaced by fighting that included "indiscriminate attacks by security forces" in civilian areas.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since a military coup on Feb 1, with daily protests in towns and cities and fighting in borderlands between the military and ethnic minority militias, some of which have only existed for a few weeks.

"This crisis could push people across international borders seeking safety, as already seen in other parts of the country," the United Nations in Myanmar said in a statement.

It urged all parties to "urgently take the necessary measures and precautions to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure".

Myanmar's foreign minister defended the junta's plan for restoring democracy, state media reported on Tuesday, after a meeting at which his counterparts from Asean member states pressed the junta to honour a consensus agreement to halt violence and start dialogue with its opponents.

Asean foreign ministers on Monday expressed disappointment at a meeting in China with Myanmar's "very slow" progress in implementing a five-point plan that it agreed to, by consensus, at an Asean summit in April.

State media cited the junta's envoy, retired army colonel Wunna Maung Lwin, as telling the meeting the military had made progress on its own five-step road map, unveiled after the coup.

That plan has few similarities with the Asean blueprint and centres on investigating alleged fraud in November's election, managing Myanmar's coronavirus epidemic and organising another election, after which the junta has promised to cede power.

The United Nations on Monday said those who had fled Kayah urgently needed shelter, food, water and healthcare, and urged security forces to let aid workers and supplies through.

Kayah, which borders Thailand, is one of several regions where volunteer People's Defence Forces have attacked the well-equipped military, which has responded with heavy weapons and air strikes, triggering an exodus into nearby forests.

Thailand, which fears a flood of refugees, has expressed its concern about the fighting and urged the junta to take the steps agreed with Asean.

Images taken on Monday and obtained by Reuters showed a plume of smoke above the Kayah town of Mobye, which anti-junta militias were forced to flee after the army used heavy weapons, one fighter told Reuters.

Reuters is unable to independently verify the accounts.

State television made no mention of conflict in Kayah in its nightly newscast and a junta spokesman did not answer several calls seeking comment.

Fighting has also taken place in the past few weeks in Demoso, Hpruso and the state capital Loikaw, where a resident described a climate of fear, with troops looting shops and questioning local people.

"People are scared to go out," said the 25-year-old woman, who asked not to be identified for security reasons.

"If people go out, soldiers stop them and interrogate them and sometimes shoot at them."

REUTERS