UN Security Council slams massacre of 35 in Myanmar

NEW YORK • The United Nations Security Council has condemned last week's massacre in Myanmar of more than 30 people, including two Save The Children staff, that was blamed on junta troops.

The killings took place on Christmas Eve in eastern Kayah state, where pro-democracy rebels have been fighting the military, which took over the government from the democratically elected administration in February.

In a statement released on Wednesday evening, Security Council members "stressed the need to ensure accountability for this act".

They also called "for the immediate cessation of all violence and emphasised the importance of respect for human rights and of ensuring safety of civilians".

The statement said at least 35 people, including four children and two staff of Save The Children charity, were killed in the attack.

The Security Council also "stressed the need for safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to all people in need, and for the full protection, safety and security of humanitarian and medical personnel".

Anti-junta fighters said they found more than 30 burnt bodies, including women and children, on a highway in Kayah state following the attack. The two Save The Children employees had been missing and the rights group confirmed on Tuesday that they were among the dead.

Opposition activists have blamed Myanmar's army for the attack near Moso village. A spokesman for the junta has not commented on the attack, but state media in military-run Myanmar has previously reported that soldiers had fired on and killed an unspecified number of"terrorists with weapons" in the village.

"We buried every body we found at the scene," said a commander of the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF), one of the largest civilian forces formed to oppose the Feb 1 military coup in Myanmar, yesterday.

Photographs that media posted online showed KNDF members burying the remains in graves lined with concrete blocks. Flowers were scattered over the bodies and candles lit beside the graves.

The commander, who declined to be identified for security reasons, said that while it was difficult to identify any of the bodies buried on Wednesday, he believed they included the Save The Children staff.

In the aftermath of the attack, Washington has renewed calls for an arms embargo on the junta.

The UN General Assembly voted in June to prevent arms shipments into Myanmar, but the measure was symbolic as it was not taken up by the more powerful Security Council.

The European Union said yesterday it supports an international arms embargo on Myanmar's military regime and toughening its own sanctions following the massacre.

"In view of the escalating violence in Myanmar, increased international preventive action is required, including an arms embargo," said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell in a statement.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS