The United Nations chief has expressed “alarm” at reports that the Myanmar military is bombing civilian areas. Antonio Guterres called for calm late on March 25 following reports that continuing air attacks on villages in the restive country’s Rakhine state have killed dozens.
Clashes have rocked the western state since the Arakan Army (AA) attacked security forces in November, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since the military’s 2021 coup. Residents told AFP more than 20 people have been killed.
Muslim Rohingya have faced persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for decades and nearly a million of them live in crammed camps in neighbouring Bangladesh’s border district of Cox’s Bazar. Most fled a military crackdown in 2017.
The AA is one of several armed ethnic minority groups in Myanmar’s border regions, many of whom have battled the military over autonomy and control of lucrative resources since independence from Britain in 1948.
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