Myanmar: UN Special Envoy calls for New Year ceasefireAs violence continues to escalate in Myanmar, the UN’s Special Envoy for Myanmar has called for all parties to observe a New Year’s ceasefire throughout the country.
Civilians fleeing from violence in MyanmarBy Christopher Wells
The UN’s Special Envoy on Myanmar says she is “deeply concerned by the continued escalation of violence in Kayin State and other parts of Myanmar,” which has resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians, including large numbers of women and children.
Calls for a peaceful solution
In a statement released on Monday, Noeleen Heyzer calls on all parties in the country “to exercise the utmost restraint a seek a peaceful solution in the interests of the people and their livelihood.”
Heyzer urged the various parties to honour their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, to ensure free movement of refugees and displaced persons so that they can reach safety, and to allow humanitarian assistance to be provided to those in need. “To this end,” the statement reads, “she appeals for a New Year’s ceasefire throughout Myanmar.”
Civilians massacred
On Tuesday, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, called on Myanmar authorities to investigate the reported killing of at least 35 civilians that opposition activists blamed on government soldiers.
Griffiths said there were credible reports that civilians, including at least one child, were forced from vehicles, killed, and burned, in an attack in Kayah state on Friday.
“I am horrified by reports of an attack against civilians,” said Griffiths in a statement, adding, “I condemn this grievous incident and all attacks against civilians throughout the country, which are prohibited under international humanitarian law.”
27/12/2021 Cardinal Bo: Myanmar is a war zoneAll of Myanmar a war zone
Earlier this week, Burmese Cardinal Charles Bo, the Archbishop of Yangon, called on the military to stop “bombing, shelling, and killing,” while also calling on the democracy movement and armed ethnic groups “to strive earnestly for peace.”
He denounced the massacre in Kayah State as “a heartbreaking and horrific atrocity,” which he condemned unreservedly.
“The whole of our beloved Myanmar is now a war zone,” he lamented, and he urged “all those holding guns to put down their weapons.”
The UN’s Special Envoy on Myanmar says she is “deeply concerned by the continued escalation of violence in Kayin State and other parts of Myanmar,” which has resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of civilians, including large numbers of women and children.
Calls for a peaceful solution
In a statement released on Monday, Noeleen Heyzer calls on all parties in the country “to exercise the utmost restraint a seek a peaceful solution in the interests of the people and their livelihood.”
Heyzer urged the various parties to honour their obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, to ensure free movement of refugees and displaced persons so that they can reach safety, and to allow humanitarian assistance to be provided to those in need. “To this end,” the statement reads, “she appeals for a New Year’s ceasefire throughout Myanmar.”
Civilians massacred
On Tuesday, the UN’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, called on Myanmar authorities to investigate the reported killing of at least 35 civilians that opposition activists blamed on government soldiers.
Griffiths said there were credible reports that civilians, including at least one child, were forced from vehicles, killed, and burned, in an attack in Kayah state on Friday.
“I am horrified by reports of an attack against civilians,” said Griffiths in a statement, adding, “I condemn this grievous incident and all attacks against civilians throughout the country, which are prohibited under international humanitarian law.”
27/12/2021 Cardinal Bo: Myanmar is a war zone
Earlier this week, Burmese Cardinal Charles Bo, the Archbishop of Yangon, called on the military to stop “bombing, shelling, and killing,” while also calling on the democracy movement and armed ethnic groups “to strive earnestly for peace.”
He denounced the massacre in Kayah State as “a heartbreaking and horrific atrocity,” which he condemned unreservedly.
“The whole of our beloved Myanmar is now a war zone,” he lamented, and he urged “all those holding guns to put down their weapons.”
Save the Children confirms deaths of two aid workers in Myanmar mass killing
Destroyed vehicles in Kayah state's Hpruso township, Dec. 24, 2021.
Karenni Nationalities Defense ForceSave the Children confirmed Tuesday that two of its staff were killed in a Christmas Eve massacre in eastern Myanmar blamed on junta troops who forced 35 people from their vehicles, killed them and burned their bodies in an incident that drew U.N. and U.S. condemnation.
Save the Children, a U.K.-based aid organization with 900 staff operating in Myanmar, had confirmed over the weekend that a car used by their group was found burned near Moso village in Kayah state. On Tuesday they said two aid workers, fathers of infant children, were among the massacre victims.
“It is with profound sadness that we are confirming today that two members of Save the Children’s staff were among at least 35 people, including women and children, who were killed on Friday 24th December in an attack by the Myanmar military in Kayah State, in the east of the country,” the charity said in a statement.
“The men were on their way back to their office after working on a humanitarian response in a nearby community when they were caught up in the attack. The military forced people from their cars, arrested some, killed many and burnt the bodies,” it added.
The men were not named for security reasons, said Save the Children.
The group has temporarily suspended operations in Kayah, Chin, and parts of Magway and Kayin, said Inger Ashing, chief executive of Save the Children.
“This news is absolutely horrifying. Violence against innocent civilians including aid workers is intolerable, and this senseless attack is a breach of International Humanitarian Law,” said Ashing, who called for an arms embargo on Myanmar and action by the U.N. Security Council and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Members of the ethnic Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF), an armed group fighting the junta, told RFA’s Myanmar Service Monday that women and children were among those slaughtered along a highway near Moso village in Kayah’s Hpruso township.
On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken condemned the attack and called for an end to the sale of arms and dual-use technology to the junta that took over the country in a coup on Feb. 1.
“We are alarmed by the military regime’s brutality across much of Burma, including most recently in Kayah and Karen States,” he said a statement.
“The targeting of innocent people and humanitarian actors is unacceptable, and the military’s widespread atrocities against the people of Burma underscore the urgency of holding its members accountable,” Blinken added.
The top U.S. diplomat’s remarks followed a statement of condemnation on Sunday from Martin Griffiths, the U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, who said he was “horrified” by the reports and demanded a probe into the attack.
“I condemn this grievous incident and all attacks against civilians throughout the country, which are prohibited under international humanitarian law,” he said in a statement.
“I call upon the authorities to immediately commence a thorough and transparent investigation into the incident so that perpetrators can be swiftly brought to justice,” said Griffiths.
Junta spokesman and Deputy Information Minister Zaw Min Tun said on Monday that an incident had occurred in the area involving people “killed in the crossfire” between the military and unidentified “gunmen.”
“Our security forces encountered seven vehicles in the area, so they asked the vehicles to stop, but they refused and started to drive away. When our forces opened fire with small arms, they fired back at us,” he said.
Myanmar, which has endured five decades of harsh military rule since its independence from Britain in 1948, was thrown into political crisis on Feb. 1 when the military seized power from the country’s democratically elected National League for Democracy (NLD) government.
In the more than 10 months since, the military has killed at least 1,377 civilians and arrested nearly 8,300 others, mostly during widespread peaceful protests of the junta. The military has also launched offensives against several armed ethnic groups and prodemocracy People’s Defense Force militias in the country’s remote border regions.
Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Written in English by Paul Eckert.
Save the Children staff confirmed dead in
Myanmar massacre
In this photo provided by the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF), vehicles smolder in Hpruso township, Kayah state, Myanmar, Friday, Dec. 24, 2021. Myanmar government troops rounded up villagers, some believed to be women and children, fatally shot more than 30 and set the bodies on fire, a witness and other reports said Saturday. (KNDF via AP)
Published Tuesday, December 28, 2021 9:34AM EST
Last Updated Tuesday, December 28, 2021 9:34AM EST
BANGKOK (AP) -- The humanitarian group Save the Children said Tuesday it has confirmed that two of its staff were among at least 35 people, including children, who were killed in eastern Myanmar on Christmas Eve in an attack it blamed on the country's military.
It said the two staff members were caught up in the attack in Kayah state as they were traveling back to their office after conducting humanitarian activities in a nearby community.
“Violence against innocent civilians including aid workers is intolerable, and this senseless attack is a breach of International Humanitarian Law,” the group's chief executive, Inger Ashing, said in a statement.
“This is not an isolated event. The people of Myanmar continue to be targeted with increasing violence and these events demand an immediate response,” Ashing said.
The army seized power in February, ousting the elected government and arresting top officials. Its action was met by nonviolent nationwide demonstrations, which security forces quashed with deadly force, killing nearly 1,400 civilians, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Peaceful protests have continued, but an armed resistance has also grown amid the severe crackdown, to the point that U.N. experts have warned the country could be sliding into civil war.
Save the Children called on the U.N. Security Council to respond to the army violence with steps including an arms embargo. It also urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to press for the implementation of an agreement reached in April with Myanmar's leader calling for the cessation of violence in the country and mediation by an ASEAN special envoy.
Photos of the attack have spread on social media in Myanmar, fueling outrage against the military.
The photos show the charred bodies of over 30 people in three burned-out vehicles who were reportedly shot by government troops as they were fleeing combat.
On Sunday, the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar said it was appalled by the “barbaric attack in Kayah state that killed at least 35 civilians, including women and children.”
“We will continue to press for accountability for the perpetrators of the ongoing campaign of violence against the people of Burma,” it said, using Myanmar's previous name.
A villager who said he went to the scene told The Associated Press that the victims had fled the fighting between armed resistance groups and Myanmar's army near Koi Ngan village, which is just beside Mo So, on Friday. He said they were killed after they were arrested by troops while heading to refugee camps in the western part of the township. His account could not be immediately verified.
A report in the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper on Saturday said the fighting near Mo So broke out on Friday when members of ethnic guerrilla forces, known as the Karenni National Progressive Party, and those opposed to the military drove in “suspicious” vehicles and attacked security forces after refusing to stop.
The newspaper said the seven vehicles they were traveling in were destroyed in a fire. It gave no further details about the killings.
Earlier this month, government troops were also accused of rounding up villagers, some believed to be children, tying them up and slaughtering them. An opposition leader, Dr. Sasa, who uses only one name, said the civilians were burned alive.
Save the Children said it has been working in Myanmar since 1995, providing healthcare, food, education and child protection services. It said it has suspended operations in the region of the attack.
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