Myanmar faces risk of civil war

Jehangir Hossain

Jehangir Hussain

Myanmar is facing an alarming possibility of escalating civil war as an uprising against the military junta has widened, the UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet has warned.

She informed the UN Human Rights Council that time was running out for other countries to step up efforts to restore democracy in Myanmar and prevent broader conflicts.

Myanmar has been inturmoil since February when Aung Sung Su Kiy’s government was ousted by the military, sparking a nationwide uprising that the junta is trying to crush.

Attacks on troops have increased since lawmakers ousted by the generals called for a ‘people's defensive war’.

Michelle said the human rights situation had deteriorated as the coup devastated  lives and hopes across Myanmar.

‘Conflict, poverty and the effects of the pandemic are sharply increasing, and the country faces a vortex of repression, violence and economic collapse,’ she said.

Faced with the ‘overwhelming repression of fundamental rights’, the armed resistance movement was growing.

‘These disturbing trends suggest the alarming possibility of an escalating civil war,’ she informed the UN Human Rights Council.

 She requested countries to support a political process that would engage all parties, saying the ASEAN regional bloc and influential powers should use incentives and disincentives "to reverse the military coup and desperate spiral of violence’.

‘Myanmar's stability and path to democracy and prosperity have been sacrificed over these last months to advance the ambitions of a privileged and entrenched military elite,’ she said.

‘The national consequences are terrible and tragic -- the regional consequences could also be profound. The international community must redouble its efforts to restore democracy and prevent wider conflict before it is too late.’

She said more than 1,100 people had now reportedly died in the hands of the security forces since the coup, while over 8,000 others, including children, had been arrested and more than 4,700 had been in detention.

Michelle, a former Chilean president urged all parties -- but especially the military -- to allow unrestricted access to humanitarian aid, and called for the immediate release of all political prisoners.

She called for all armed forces to protect civilians and said the use of air strikes and artillery in residential areas must cease immediately.

Myanmar's ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun who has refused to leave his post despite being fired after the February coup, has alerted the world body about ‘reported massacre’ by the military junta.

In a letter, Kyaw informed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that 40 bodies had been found in Kani township in July in the Sagaing area of northwestern Myanmar.

The junta has denied the massacre while AFP has not been able to independently verify the reports due to mobile networks being cut in the remote region.

The ambassador wrote that soldiers tortured and killed 16 men in a village in the township around July 9 and 10, after which 10,000 residents fled the area.

He said a further 13 bodies were discovered in the days following clashes between local fighters and security forces on July 26.

He informed that another 11 men, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed and set on fire in a separate village on July 28.

In the letter, the ambassador repeated his call for a global arms embargo on the ruling junta and ‘urgent humanitarian intervention’ from the international community.

‘We cannot let the military keep on doing this kind of atrocity in Myanmar,’ Kyaw Moe Tun told AFP.

‘It is time for the UN, especially the U N Security Council to take action.’

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army ousted the civilian leadership on February 1, launching a crackdown on dissent that has killed more than 900 people, according to a local monitoring group.

Kyaw Moe Tun has passionately rejected the coup and brushed aside the junta's claims that he no longer represents Myanmar. The United Nations still considers him as the rightful envoy.

The representative was sacked by the junta in February a day after he gave a three-finger salute at the UN General Assembly following an impassioned speech calling for the return to civilian rule.

The ‘Hunger Games’ gesture was widely used by pro-democracy demonstrators. 

Kyaw Moe Tun, who has repeatedly called for international intervention to help end unrest in Myanmar, said Wednesday US authorities had boosted his security after an apparent threat was made against him.

‘There was a reported threat against me,’ he told AFP.

‘The police and the security authorities here in New York are working on it,’ he said.

Myanmar's junta chief said on Sunday elections would be held and a state of emergency lifted by August 2023, extending the military's initial one-year timeline announced days after the coup.