As reported by UN News, UN aid workers are deeply concerned about the indiscriminate use of heavy weapons in residential areas of Rakhine State, Myanmar, during conflict between the country's armed forces and the rebel Arakan Army. UN Spokesperson Stéphan Dujarric stated that the methods used between the parties involved in the conflict are harming civilians and compromising the ability of aid workers to provide assistance to people in need.
UNOCHA reports several grenade-related accidents, including one on 29 February, when the weapon landed near the market in the State capital, Sittwe, killing at least 21 civilians and wounding more than 30.
On 9 March, for the second time in a fortnight, a stray bullet fell in a residential area of the city, killing eight civilians and wounding 12 others, including five children.
These incidents are occurring as the fighting intensifies, mainly air strikes and shelling, and, as UNOCHA states, this situation has caused a wave of displacements throughout the country with more than 300,000 refugees.
More than three years have passed since the military coup that overthrew the democratically elected government, and amid a violent crackdown on all opposition and protest, more than four thousand people have been killed, including hundreds of women and girls, with the toll likely to be much higher.
Rakhine is home to the major part of the Muslim Rohingya minority, hundreds of thousands of whom fled across the border to Bangladesh following the brutal military crackdown in 2017.
As reported by UN News, Stéphan Dujarric, spokesman for the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, reminds all parties involved in the hostilities of their obligations to protect civilians, including aid workers, under international humanitarian law.
To read more, visit:
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147472
