UN calls for attention to displaced ethnic groups in Myanmar

UNITED NATIONS - The top UN humanitarian office has called for attention to the plight of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Myanmar's northeastern states of Kachin and Shan, a UN spokesperson told reporters here on Monday.

Citing the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesman of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said that 107,000 people remain displaced in Kachin and Shan as a result of the conflict between government forces and the Kachin Independence Army which restarted in 2011.

Haq added that the United Nations' access into Kachin is still limited and the situations of IDPs in Kachin and Shan were recently eclipsed by sufferings of Rohingya refugees from western state of Rakhine.

According to figures from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), more than 900,000 Rohingya have fled violence in northern Rakhine to neighboring Bangladesh and more than 100,000 additional Rohingya fled to elsewhere in Southeast Asia since August 2017 when the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army extremists launched attacks on police outposts in Rakhine.

Last week, the Chinese embassy in Myanmar provided humanitarian assistance, including commodities and medicines, to displaced persons in Kachin state. Chinese Ambassador Hong Liang pledged to continue supporting the development of social welfare, economy, education and health for the people in Kachin state.