JakartaPost/Reuters-June 10
Myanmar’s Kayah State could suffer a “massive” loss of life beyond anything seen since the military seized power, with more than 100,000 people fleeing their homes to escape conflict, a United Nations human rights investigator warned on Wednesday. Myanmar’s military has been battling on multiple fronts to impose order since its Feb. 1 coup against Aung San Suu Kyi and her elected government sparked nationwide protests. Kayah State, which borders Thailand, is one of several regions where volunteer People’s Defense Forces have clashed with Myanmar’s well-equipped army, which has responded with artillery and air strikes, triggering an exodus into nearby forests. Thomas Andrews, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said in a statement, “Let me blunt. Mass deaths from starvation, disease, and exposure, on a scale we have not yet seen since the February 1 coup, could occur in Kayah State absent immediate action,” he said.
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