UN concerned over unrest in Myanmar's Kachin state
Thousands of people have fled renewed fighting between Myanmar's army and ethnic insurgents in the country's remote north.
This picture taken on April 26, 2018 shows displaced Kachin residents crossing Malikha river on a ferry to escape the fighting in Injanyan village near Myitkyina between the Kachin Independence Army, an ethnic armed group against the Myanmar government troops in Myanmar's northernmost state of Kachin near the border with China.
The United Nations human rights expert on Myanmar voiced deep concern on Tuesday at a sharp escalation in hostilities in Kachin state, citing reports of the army using aerial bombings, heavy weapons and artillery fire on civilian areas near China.
“Innocent civilians are being killed and injured, and hundreds of families are now fleeing for their lives," Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said in a statement.
Thousands of people rallied on Monday in Kachin to demand humanitarian access for villagers trapped by fighting between government forces and ethnic minority insurgents.
“Any willful impediment of relief supplies may amount to war crimes under international law," Lee said, appealing for access.
More than 4,000 people have been displaced in the state of Kachin near the border with China in the last three weeks, Mark Cutts, head of the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said.
The numbers do not include some 15,000 people who have fled since the beginning of the year, and upwards of 90,000 residing in IDP (internally displaced persons) camps in both Kachin and Shan states since a ceasefire between the government and the powerful Kachin Independence Army broke down in 2011.
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