Over 1.8m people in Myanmar displaced since coup: UN refugee agency

By Admin 19 Apr 2023

DMG Newsroom
19 April 2023, Sittwe

As of April 10, more than 1.8 million people remained displaced across Myanmar, according to an April 19 report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).

This includes close to 1.5 million people displaced since the military takeover in February 2021, the report said.

Heavy fighting involving artillery fire and frequent airstrikes has continued in multiple states and regions of Myanmar during the reporting period, particularly in the country’s northwest and the southeast, as well as in Kachin State, the report said.

“As a result, civilian casualties and displacement continue to rise, further accelerating the already dire humanitarian situation in the country,” UNOCHA said in the report.

Of particular concern recently, UNOCHA said, was a Myanmar military airstrike in Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region, on April 11 that resulted in the killing of more than 170 people, including many civilians.

Heavy fighting between junta troops and anti-regime forces continues in many parts of the country, generating new humanitarian needs and further restricting the movement of goods and people, UNOCHA said in an earlier statement on April 6.

A total of 3,408 people have died at the hands of the Myanmar military from the beginning of the February 2021 coup through April 18, 2023, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said in a statement on Tuesday. The junta has detained a total of 21,403 pro-democracy supporters since February 1, 2021, AAPP added.

Myanmar’s military regime has sentenced 151 civilians to death during the two-plus years since the coup, according to an April 11 press release from AAPP.