YANGON: Myanmar will “scrutinise” the identity of displaced people in war-torn Kachin State to ensure ethnic insurgents do not receive humanitarian aid after weeks of fighting, a government spokesman said on Thursday.
One of Myanmar’s strongest rebel groups, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), has regularly clashed with government troops in the mountainous region bordering China and India since 2011, when a 17-year-old ceasefire broke down.
The latest fighting has escalated since early April, driving more than 5,000 people from their homes, the United Nations said.
Fighting between government forces and ethnic minority Kachin and other insurgents has been eclipsed in media coverage by the plight of nearly 700,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh since last August.
A UN human rights expert on Myanmar voiced deep concern on Tuesday, citing reports of the army using aerial bombings, heavy weapons and artillery fire on civilian areas.
The KIA and aid workers say the fighting is the most intense since the early 1960s, when Kachin guerrillas took up arms against the government in a bid for greater autonomy.
“We got information that shows KIA members might be among the refugees for humanitarian aid... we need to scrutinise whether members of the armed force are among them,” government spokesman Zaw Htay said, adding that children, women and the elderly would get priority in receiving aid.
He did not elaborate on how the displaced people will be screened.
Zaw Htay confirmed reports that about 2,000 people were trapped in a remote forest near the village of Aung Lawt.
Aid workers say they have had no access to humanitarian aid for more than three weeks.
Fears of a delay in delivering aid should not compel the government to give unconditional humanitarian support to those trapped in Aung Lawt, said Zaw Htay.
“The security forces have concerns. We are trying our best to work out the two situations,” he said.
KIA spokesman Colonel Naw Bu denied the government’s allegation and said the screening would “make things more difficult” for the displaced people.
— Reuters
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