NGO Decries Deadly Airstrike On Displacement Camp In Myanmar

The Norwegian Refugee Council on Tuesday denounced an airstrike on a displacement camp in southeastern Myanmar which claimed at least three lives, and called on the acting authorities to protect civilians from the unfolding violence

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th January, 2022) The Norwegian Refugee Council on Tuesday denounced an airstrike on a displacement camp in southeastern Myanmar which claimed at least three lives, and called on the acting authorities to protect civilians from the unfolding violence.

The airstrike was yet another episode of intense fighting between the country's military junta and local resistance forces in the southeastern states of Kayah and Kayin. It targeted a displacement camp in the Kayah state hosting hundreds of people and reportedly killed three, including two minors.

"We are deeply worried about the new wave of violence and fighting targeting civilians in southeast Myanmar. We condemn yesterday's airstrike which affected hundreds of people. These were communities that had already been forced to flee their homes because of violence, and sheltered at the displacement site in search of protection and safety.

This indiscriminate targeting and killing of civilians must end," Jan Egeland, the head of the NGO, was quoted as saying in a statement.

He called on the "de facto authorities" to protect civilians from the violence, which he said has intensified since December, disrupting access to humanitarian assistance and causing chaos.

According to the group, about 162 people have been displaced in Kayah and Kayin since May 2021.

The military came to power in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, on the pretext that the National League for Democracy party, then in power, had rigged the November 2020 general elections. The military coup triggered a wave of civil protests that rocked the country from February-May 2021.