UN chief urges junta to end Myanmar’s ‘unending nightmare’

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the international community has failed Myanmar, urging the ruling junta to cut the “unending nightmare.”

"The situation in Myanmar is an unending nightmare for the people and a threat to peace and security across the region," Guterres told reporters on Saturday.

"I urge the authorities of Myanmar to listen to their people, release political prisoners and get the democratic transition back on track immediately. That is the only way to stability and peace."

Myanmar has been in chaos since the military seized control in a coup on February 1, 2021. The UN estimates that some 14,000 people have been arrested and at least 2,000 killed in the time span.

"Indiscriminate attacks on civilians are horrendous and heartbreaking," the UN chief said.

Guterres made the remarks after the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) regional bloc.

ASEAN agreed a "five-point consensus" with the junta in April last year, but it has so far been ignored by the generals. On Friday, ASEAN leaders tasked their foreign ministers with coming up with a concrete plan to implement the consensus.

Junta troops have been accused of killing and arson sprees in central, northern and eastern Myanmar. Residents and media accuse the military of burning houses and killing at least five civilians in a raid on a village in Rakhine state on Friday. The junta blames "terrorist" anti-coup fighters for the arson attack.

The military forces were involved in a campaign of genocide against the Muslim Rohingya that started in 2017 during the rule of the ousted leader Aung Song Suu Kyi, who was supported by the West. The military has been accused of ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya and other minority groups in the country.

Nearly 900,000 Rohingya refugees remain stuck in squalid, crowded conditions in refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh after members of the Muslim minority were forced to flee their homes in 2017.

Thousands of Muslims were killed, raped, tortured, or arrested by the junta forces, according to the UN, which has described the community in the western state of Rakhine as the most persecuted minority in the world.

SS