BURMA: POPULATION ON THE BRINK. THE CHURCH IS ALSO CALLING FOR THE INTERVENTION OF UNITED NATIONS

In the almost total silence of the Western mass media, in Myanmar (formerly Burma) the military who took power in a “coup d’etat” last February 1st continue to claim victims and starve the population.
The latest heartfelt appeal comes from Father Joseph Sethang, a Catholic priest in Mindat, a town on the border with India and Bangladesh. It was him who gave shelter to 80 displaced people, mostly women and children, forced to leave their homes in the face of the fury of the military who came in to power.
In the area, the resistance of the “popular defense forces” is strong, but they can do little against the military with civilians almost completely holed up in the jungle. The decision to take up weapons again to oppose the army that currently governs the country in a dictatorial form, has provoked strong reactions from the militaries who, according to some witnesses, in addition to indiscriminate arrests have committed crimes against humanity. To quell the protests (which began peacefully, albeit massively already last February), the military allegedly carried out air raids against civilian targets, destroyed infrastructures in order to isolate the population and carried out real roundups. This is why many civilians have chosen to take refuge in the jungle, which is certainly not the natural habitat especially for children and the elderly.
“We must stop the violence. We ask the Burmese armed forces and the People’s Defense Forces of Mindat to stop the clashes and stop harming innocent civilians, women, children and the elderly who are already suffering too much “the heartfelt appeal that the parish priest issued to the Fides agency.
Even the church is now asking for the intervention of the UN and NGOs to set up refugee camps close to the areas where the repression of the military has reached the most ruthless.