The United Nations says the number of displaced people has risen by 50 percent in the past six months as fighting has intensified.
The number of people in Myanmar forced to flee their homes due to the conflict now exceeds more than 3 million, in what the United Nations has described as a “dark milestone” for the country.
The UN said the number of displaced people has risen by 50 percent in the past six months as fighting escalates between the military and armed groups trying to oust the generals who seized power in a coup in February 2021.
“Myanmar this week marked a grim milestone, with more than 3 million civilians now displaced across the country amid intensifying conflict,” the office of the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Myanmar said in a statement on Monday.
“Myanmar is on the brink in 2024, with an ever-deepening humanitarian crisis that has worsened since the military takeover in February 2021 and the ensuing conflicts in many parts of the country, leading record numbers of people to abandon their homes in search of safety.”
Of the 3 million internally displaced people, more than 90 percent have fled as a result of the conflict triggered by the coup, the UN added.
About half of those displaced are in the northwest regions of Chin, Magway and Sagaing, with more than 900,000 in the southeast. About 356,000 people live in the western state of Rakhine, where a brutal military crackdown in 2017 led more than 750,000 Rohingya, mostly Muslims, to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.
Myanmar was plunged into crisis when General Min Aung Hlaing seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, leading to mass protests that devolved into an armed uprising when the military responded with brutal force.
Fighting has intensified since late October last year, when armed ethnic groups allied with anti-coup fighters launched a major offensive in northern Shan and western Rakhine states, overrunning dozens of military outposts and taking control. from several important cities near the border with China.
In recent weeks, the military has also been fighting with Karen ethnic groups for control of Myawaddy, a major commercial center on the border with Thailand.
The UN said the deepening conflict means around 18.6 million people in Myanmar now need humanitarian assistance, 1 million more than in 2023.
But he said efforts to reach those in need were being hampered by “gross underfunding”. He said he has so far received less than 5% of the funds needed for humanitarian operations.
“With cyclone season fast approaching, additional resources are needed to protect the most vulnerable and save lives,” the statement said.
Last year, UN human rights chief Volker Turk accused the military of preventing life-saving humanitarian aid from reaching people in need by creating a web of legal, bureaucratic and financial obstacles.
The generals, who have been accused of launching airstrikes against civilians and burning villages, ignored a five-point peace plan they agreed to with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in April 2021 under which it was supposed to end. with violence.
Almost 5,000 people have been killed by the military since the coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors the situation. More than 20,000 people are detained while Aung San Suu Kyi serves a combined 27-year sentence following a secret trial in a military court.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
