Myanmar situation getting worse, says US official

Families displaced by recent fighting between government troops and ethnic rebels waiting for food distribution from a volunteer group while taking refuge at a monastery in Namlan town, in Myanmar's eastern Shan state, last month. The country has bee
Families displaced by recent fighting between government troops and ethnic rebels waiting for food distribution from a volunteer group while taking refuge at a monastery in Namlan town, in Myanmar's eastern Shan state, last month. The country has been in turmoil since the Feb 1 military coup, with daily protests in towns and cities, and fighting in borderlands. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

WASHINGTON • President Joe Biden's policy coordinator for the Indo-Pacific region has said the situation inside military-ruled Myanmar was deeply concerning and continuing to get worse, and the United States was looking at all possible scenarios there.

"It's undeniable that the violence is spiralling," Mr Kurt Campbell told an online event hosted by the Centre for a New American Security think-tank on Tuesday. "We're seeing not only challenges from the ethnic insurgencies, but increasingly, much more organised and purposeful and determined opposition on the democratic side that has refused to go down."

When asked if he saw the possibility of state collapse in Myanmar, he said: "It's hard not to be discouraged by what we've seen."

He added: "I would say the situation inside the country is concerning. And the situation is continuing to get worse. I think we are looking at all scenarios."

Myanmar has been in turmoil since a Feb 1 military coup, with daily protests in towns and cities, and fighting in borderlands between the military and ethnic minority militias, some of which have existed for only a few weeks.

Mr Campbell noted that Myanmar's coup leader Min Aung Hlaing had admitted in an interview aired on military-owned television that he had not anticipated the level of civil unrest.

Mr Campbell said Washington, which has imposed sanctions on the coup leaders and their economic interests, had supported efforts by Asean and others to try to begin a process of moving Myanmar back to democracy and was urging countries to isolate the generals diplomatically.

The United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Mr Tom Andrews, has warned of "mass deaths" from starvation and disease in the wake of fighting between rebel groups and junta forces in the east of the coup-stricken country.

Fighting has flared up in several communities and some locals have formed "defence forces".

Clashes have escalated in Kayah state near the Thai border in recent weeks. Locals have accused the military of firing artillery shells that have landed near villages, and the UN estimates around 100,000 people have been displaced.

"The junta's brutal, indiscriminate attacks are threatening the lives of many thousands of men, women and children in Kayah state," Mr Andrews said in a statement posted on Twitter on Tuesday. "Let me be blunt. Mass deaths from starvation, disease, and exposure, on a scale we have not yet seen... could occur in Kayah state absent immediate action."

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 10, 2021, with the headline Myanmar situation getting worse, says US official. Subscribe