SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
Singapore: Myanmar’s military has been accused of launching fresh attacks against resistance groups only hours after agreeing to a ceasefire deal aimed at facilitating rescue and recovery efforts from last week’s 7.7 magnitude earthquake.
The allegations came as junta leader Min Aung Hlaing met with regional leaders in Bangkok, the first time he had been invited to a multinational summit since the 2021 military coup that brought him to power. The decision by Thailand to welcome the general to the dialogue for the Bay of Bengal nations has been widely panned as legitimising the regime and its brutal repression of citizens.
Thai protesters lay posters condemning Myanmar General Min Aung Hlaing on top of a sheet covered in fake blood in Bangkok, Thailand.Credit: Getty Images
The United Nations said it had received 14 reports of military attacks – including from aircraft, drones and artillery – since the regime belatedly announced a temporary halt to fighting on April 2.
This was on top of 53 attacks on areas affected by the March 28 earthquake, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday.
The National Unity Government (NUG), a parallel administration made up of ethnic leaders and remnants of the ousted democratically elected government, alleged military ground incursions and bombing at several locations, including in the earthquake-stricken Mandalay region, from the early hours of Thursday.
The military’s ceasefire was a “hoax”, it said.
Myanmar media has also reported junta offensives in the country’s north, close to the Chinese border.
Myanmar’s junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, left, shakes hands with Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Friday.Credit: AP
Citing an interview with Colonel Naw Bu of the Kachin Independence Army, Myanmar Now reported airstrikes in the Bhamo area continued past the ceasefire declaration.
“We saw that they released a ceasefire statement. However, the fighting hasn’t stopped,” Naw Bu was quoted as saying.
It was unclear if there were casualties.
The official death toll from the magnitude earthquake exceeds 3100, a figure still expected to rise significantly as overwhelmed rescuers, many of them civilians, continue to sift through the rubble.
A Bhutanese medical volunteer attends to a patient at a makeshift tent after last week’s earthquake in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on Friday.Credit: AP
While humanitarian organisations reported aid efforts getting through to certain areas, the military junta was also hampering or outright blocking response efforts in others, particularly those controlled by resistance groups.
Large towns in the Sagaing region and areas of Bago and Shan State “remained inaccessible to humanitarian emergency assistance – except for what can be organised locally by residents,” according to the UN.
Ko Saulsman, a Melbourne-based campaign manager for the Myanmar Campaign Network, told this masthead the military had been shutting down civilian rescue efforts in areas near Sagaing at 10pm because it was worried resistance fighters could be among the crowds.
“The [regime] doesn’t care about people in the rubble, under the buildings and houses,” he said. “They care more about democratic forces threatening them.”
In addition, young people who would normally be the first to help were either scared of being forcibly conscripted into the military, a tactic employed by the regime since early last year, or were already members of the anti-junta People’s Defence Forces, he said.
For days since the earthquake, the junta continued attacks across Myanmar even as it asked the international community for humanitarian support. It eventually committed to a ceasefire the day after accidentally firing on a Chinese Red Cross convoy in the northern part of Shan state that had failed to declare itself in advance. China is the regime’s most important backer.
In a statement, the regime said the ceasefire would run from April 2-22, “with empathy and understanding towards the people across the country”, adding that it would take “necessary response measures” if provoked.
The NUG, which controls the People’s Defence Forces, and several powerful ethnic armies had already declared ceasefires before the military.
A junta spokesman has not responded to requests for comment. In Bangkok, On the sidelines of the BIMSTEC summit, Min Aung Hlaing also met with Indian Prime Minister Naredra Modi who reportedly pushed for an early restoration of the democratic process in Myanmar.
