The United Nations, Berlin and Washington on Tuesday condemned a new air attack attributed to the Burmese junta against a village in an area held by the rebels, which would have killed dozens.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres “strongly condemns the attack carried out today by the armed forces of Burma (and) calls for those responsible to be held accountable for their actions,” said his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.
Mr. Guterres “reiterates his call on the military to put an end to the campaign of violence against the Burmese population”, added the spokesperson.
Earlier, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said he was “horrified” after the attack, attributed to the junta.
“It appears that children who were dancing, along with other civilians, at the opening ceremony of a center in Pazi Gyi village, Kanbalu district, were among the casualties,” Turk said. in a press release.
He described how “a helicopter gunship then allegedly fired on those fleeing the room”, then he reported reports that around 100 villagers were killed in the strikes early Tuesday morning in the Sagaing area, a opposition stronghold in the center of the country
Washington also said it was “deeply concerned” by these attacks, which “underscore once again the regime’s disregard for human life and its responsibility for the terrible political and humanitarian crisis that has raged in Burma since the coup d’etat of February 2021,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in a statement.
“The United States calls on the Burmese regime to end this horrific violence, allow unimpeded humanitarian access, and respect the true democratic and inclusive aspirations of the Burmese people,” he added.
Witnesses contacted by AFP also reported around a hundred deaths. Videos circulating on social networks (the authenticity of which AFP could not confirm) show bodies scattered in houses in ruins.
Myanmar’s BBC service The Irrawaddy and Radio Free Asia earlier reported airstrikes on the village of Pazi Gyi in Kantbalu district, north of Mandalay.
According to them, at least fifty people were killed. But the toll could rise to 100 dead, according to a rescuer from an armed rebel group, who told AFP the presence of women and children among the victims.
Mr Turk accused the Burmese army of having once again ignored “clear legal obligations (…) to protect civilians in the conduct of hostilities” and of showing “flagrant disregard for the relevant rules of international law”.
In a tweet, the German Foreign Ministry also condemned on Tuesday evening “the Burmese army airstrike which killed dozens of civilians, including children”.
“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. We demand that the regime cease all violence against the population immediately,” added the text.
The National Unity Government (NUG), a body founded by former deputies of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, many of them in exile and which brings together an opposition party to the junta, denounced a “new example of indiscriminate use of extreme force against innocent civilians”.
A junta spokesman could not be reached by AFP.
The Sagaing region, near Mandalay, the country’s second largest city, is fiercely resisting the junta, and intense fighting has been going on there for months.
Mr Turk said there were “reasonable grounds to believe that the military and its affiliated militias are responsible for a wide range of human rights violations and abuses since February 1, 2021”.
Burma has been torn apart by a violent conflict between the junta and its opponents since the February 1, 2021 coup.
The Burmese army is banking on its air advantage, thanks to its Russian and Chinese-made jets, to compensate for its difficulties on the ground, facing rebel groups which control parts of the country.
The United Nations counted more than 300 airstrikes in 2022, as well as several incidents involving civilian casualties.
12/04/2023 02:11:43 – Geneva (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
