Irrawaddy-June 1, 2022
Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government (NUG) and three allied organizations have objected to ASEAN’s decision to provide humanitarian aid to post-coup, conflict-torn Myanmar through the country’s military regime, reasoning that the junta “will weaponize the aid and allow international whitewashing of the regime’s ongoing atrocities” against civilians. In a statement issued Monday, the NUG’s Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management (MoHADM) along with the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), Karen National Union (KNU) and Chin National Front (CNF) called on the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to negotiate with ASEAN and Myanmar’s neighbors India and Thailand to allow cross-border aid to reach those in need. The request came before an expected visit by Noleen Heyzer, the UN Special Envoy for Myanmar, to the country, as delivery of aid to those in need in Myanmar is expected to be one of the issues she will focus on during her visit. The statement said the regional bloc’s aid would be used by the regime and, instead of being delivered to the most needy communities—the very ones it is attacking—delivered to military outposts in the agreed areas, which the military itself strategically selected. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as of April 11, 346,000 of the 566,100 people internally displaced since the military takeover were from Chin State and Sagaing and Magwe regions. Amnesty International said the regime’s air strikes in Karen and Kayah states killed nine civilians and wounded at least nine others from December to March this year. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmars-nug-allied-eaos-urge-asean-un-not-to-work-with-junta-on-aid.html
