Hundreds of monks flee fighting in Burma

(Rangoon) Hundreds of monks have fled their monastery in eastern Burma to escape intense fighting between the army and anti-junta rebel groups, witnesses told AFP on Sunday.

In Loikaw, Kayah state, around 30 monasteries were abandoned, their occupants leaving the town in dozens of trucks, one of them told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Many monks have also fled the agglomeration of Demoso, a few kilometers away, he added.

These two towns, located 200 kilometers east of the capital Naypyidaw, have for several days been the scene of intense fighting between rebels and armed forces. The latter launched air strikes and carried out artillery fire.

The United Nations estimates that half the population of Loikaw has been forced to leave and that nearly 90,000 people from Kayah state have fled. Local media put the number of displaced at more than 170,000.

In Loikaw, rebel fighters have taken over churches and abandoned houses. They also forced open the doors of a prison in an attempt to induce the detainees to join them, said a local policeman.

Burma has descended into chaos since the military coup of 1^er February 2021 which overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi and ended a decade of democratic transition.

Rebel groups, often made up of citizens, have taken up arms against the junta and fighting has intensified in the east of the country since the end of the monsoon and the arrival of the dry season.

On Christmas Eve, in Kayah State, at least 35 people were killed, their bodies burned, a massacre blamed on the military.

The UN special rapporteur on Burma, Tom Andrews, urged junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to “stop air and ground attacks” on Loikaw and “let humanitarian aid through”.

Since the coup, the international community has not had much leeway to try to resolve the crisis. The junta turns a deaf ear to appeals from the UN and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

And, while the health and humanitarian situation is critical, the military is blocking the delivery of aid and medical supplies to regions where resistance is strong, according to the NGO Human Rights Watch.

More than 1,400 civilians have been killed by security forces since the putsch and more than 11,000 have been arrested, according to a local NGO.