Insurgent groups, junta soldiers accuse each other of breaking the nationwide ceasefire, hampering relief efforts.
By RFA Burmese
International aid groups who want to provide assistance to earthquake-hit areas of Myanmar must gain prior approval from junta authorities, said a top military official, as the death toll surpassed 3,500.
The 7.7 magnitude quake, which struck between Sagaing town and Mandalay city on March 28, left many people without food, clean water and shelter in Naypyidaw, Bago and Magway regions as well as Shan state.
Residents and international human rights groups have accused the junta, which seized power from the democratically-elected civilian administration in 2021, of hampering aid efforts and of exacerbating disaster by launching aerial attacks nationwide.
“Relief teams are not permitted to operate independently, regardless of other organizations,” the junta’s deputy prime minister Gen. Soe Win said in a speech published by the junta’s Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Armed Forces.
“They must be entities that have obtained prior authorization, and a policy will be implemented to ensure that permission is granted only in cooperation with relevant officials,” he said adding the policy was necessary, as some organizations may “enter the country for negative purposes by exploiting the earthquake.”
At least 3,514 people are dead and another 4,809 injured, with 210 people still missing, junta authorities reported on Sunday night.
Junta soldiers have also enforced strict checks for groups entering Sagaing town in central Myanmar, which may cause the deaths of those desperately in need of urgent assistance, aid workers told Radio Free Asia.
“If the junta allows it, people are going to die, of course,” he said, adding that if international organizations, including the United Nations, are going to help, they need to be allowed entry on humanitarian grounds as fast as possible.
“It’s like us just sitting around and watching as people are being killed while they are still alive.”
Airstrikes continue
Residents across Magway, Sagaing and Mandalay region, as well as Shan state, have also reported attacks with heavy weapons on communities, which have killed seven people and injured seven more despite ceasefire agreements from both junta authorities and insurgent groups.
Junta soldiers attacked parts of Rakhine state, Bago and Ayeyarwady region from April 2 to 7 by land, sea and sky, the Arakan Army, or AA, said in a statement published on Saturday.
The AA controls 14 of 17 townships in Rakhine state, and has launched attacks in Chin state and into Ayeyarwady region, but has not seized junta strongholds in Rakhine’s capital of Sittwe or Kyaukpyu township with heavy Chinese infrastructure and investment.
In Kyaukpyu on April 2, junta troops fired near villages on the border of Pauktaw township with drone-operated bombs nearly 90 times, and fired up to 60 times with heavy weapons, the AA said.
In the following days, junta forces fired on villages in the township with fighter jets and ships dozens more times and bombed Sittwe township on Saturday, it said, adding that there was damage in the capital township but did provide further details.
The junta accused insurgent groups such as the AA of violating the ceasefire first.
“The AA arrived with soldiers in areas near Ayeyarwady and began shooting,” junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun said in a speech broadcast on a state-owned television channel.
Junta authorities previously stated that they would respond in kind to any shots fired by insurgent groups, he added, but did not comment on casualties or damage across Sittwe, Kyaukpyu or Pauktaw townships.
The AA and allied groups said they would continue to honor the ceasefire to assist those affected by the earthquake, but also stated that the group had captured a strategic base in western Bago region’s Nyaung Kyoe village on April 2.
Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.
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