Myanmar to allow UN aid deliveries to Kachin state
Purchase this article for republication
Buy SPH photos
The United Nations (UN) secretary-general’s special adviser on Myanmar Vijay Nambiar (left), gives money to an ethnic Kachin family during his visit to an Internally Displaced People's (IDP) camp in a government controlled area at Myitkyinar village in Kachin state on Feb 5, 2013. The UN will be allowed into Myanmar's strife-torn Kachin state to deliver humanitarian aid for the first time since a recent escalation of fighting between ethnic rebels and government troops.-- PHOTO: AFP
YANGON (AP) - The United Nations will be allowed into Myanmar's strife-torn Kachin state to deliver humanitarian aid for the first time since a recent escalation of fighting between ethnic rebels and government troops.
An announcement of the deliveries came on Wednesday after the two sides agreed Monday to work toward ending a bloody conflict that has forced thousands of civilians to flee the area in northern Myanmar.
A UN spokesman, Aye Win, said it was "significant" that aid could be delivered for the first time since fighting escalated in December.
The timing of the first aid delivery was still being discussed. The UN's last aid mission to Kachin state was in July.
