2 Save the Children members disappeared. The UN: “We are dismayed”. And the judicial persecution of Aung San Suu Kyi continues
At least 38 civilians killed, most of them found charred, in an area where the Catholic Christian minority is rooted: the Christmas massacre that the Burmese army committed two days ago caused outrage on social media and among organizations involved, starting with Save the Children, which fears the killing of two of its employees still missing. In the wake of other mass killings that have emerged since June, the massacre is yet another proof of the gravity of the situation in the Asian country, where the army that carried out the coup last February is increasingly employing an iron fist against dissent. This time the massacre, in which at least 38 people including women and children died, according to Save the Children, took place in the Kayah state, in the east of the country: an area where for decades the Karenni minority – mostly Catholic – has claimed greater autonomy. Yesterday morning, the charred remains of seven vehicles were found in the town of Hpruso.
Among the vehicles was also that of two Burmese who worked for Save the Children and were returning home; the organization, which said it was “horrified”, suspended all its operations in the area but also in other Burmese regions where it is active. According to the Karenni rebel militia, the people killed were civilians trying to escape fighting in the area. For the Burmese army, the military opened fire on the convoy after the vehicles stopped at a roadblock, firing at the soldiers. State media have reported on an unspecified number of “armed terrorists” killed in villages in the area. The massacre recalls those that took place in July and early December in the Sagaing district and in the Chin state, in the north-west of the country.
According to the National Unity Government of Myanmar – a shadow executive formed by democratic opposition forces – the military was engaged in a clean-up operation in the area, the same strategy used for decades against several ethnic militias and responsible for the exodus in 2017. in Bangladesh of over 700,000 Rohingya. In response to the massacre, the government of national unity reiterated the exhortation to the international community to act against “the growing war crimes and against humanity” of the junta of General Min Aung Hlaing. In addition to the massacres documented for months, which have prompted the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to say it is “dismayed at the alarming escalation of serious human rights abuses”, in recent weeks military operations a few hundred kilometers further south they pushed over five thousand Burmese to flee across the border to Thailand.
With Aung San Suu Kyi already sentenced to four years and awaiting other trials, dissent crushed in blood in protests in the city and organized into armed resistance in the countryside, ethnic militias active for decades and now forming a common front with the rest of the opposition, the impression is that the spiral of violence is destined to continue.
Remaining on San Suu Kyi, a military-led court postponed the verdicts against the deposed leader, accused of importing and possessing illegal walkie-talkies, until January 10. The case is among many brought against the 76-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner since the army took power in February. Supporters and independent analysts say all allegations against her are politically motivated by an attempt to discredit her and legitimize the military’s takeover.
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