Irrawaddy/AFP-Feb 23
Land mines and unexploded munitions injured or killed more than one person every day in Myanmar last year, the United Nations said, pointing to a 40 percent spike in casualties compared to 2021. The military’s toppling of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in 2021 sparked renewed fighting with ethnic rebel groups and the formation of dozens of People’s Defense Forces in areas previously untouched by decades of conflict in Myanmar. The Southeast Asian nation is not a signatory to the United Nations convention that prohibits the use, stockpiling or development of anti-personnel mines. The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, on Tuesday reported that 390 people were wounded or killed by land mines or unexploded ordnance in 2022, an almost 40 percent spike compared to the previous year.Around two-thirds of the incidents were reported in border areas where ethnic rebels have battled the army and each other for decades over autonomy and control of resources like timber, jade and the drugs trade. And almost one-fifth of the casualties were reported in northern Sagaing Region, an area that was largely peaceful before the coup but has since emerged as a hotspot of resistance to military rule. In 2020, the year before the coup, there were 254 victims, according to UNICEF. Read more at:
https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-land-mine-casualties-surge-two-years-after-coup-un.html
