\n Myanmar's military must be investigated for possible \"war crimes and crimes against humanity\" as a conflict with rebels in the country's northwest ramps up, a UN rights expert said Wednesday.\n<\/p>\n
\n The military is locked in an increasingly bloody civil war against the Arakan Army (AA), an insurgent group fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.\n<\/p>\n
\n Scores have been killed, hundreds wounded and some 150,000 people have fled their homes since the fighting erupted in January last year.\n<\/p>\n
\n Both the military and the insurgents accuse each other of abuses, including the killing last week of a World Health Organization driver transporting coronavirus test samples.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"While the world is occupied with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Myanmar military continues to escalate its assault in Rakhine State, targeting the civilian population,\" the outgoing UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, said in a statement Wednesday.\n<\/p>\n
\n Lee has been banned from entering Myanmar for most of her tenure after her outspoken criticism of the country's treatment of its Rohingya Muslims.\n<\/p>\n
\n Some 750,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh after military operations in 2017 -- for which Myanmar now faces charges of genocide at the UN's top court.\n<\/p>\n
\n The ongoing, systematic violation of international humanitarian law and human rights \"may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity\", Lee said.\n<\/p>\n
\n She accused the military of disappearing, torturing, and killing dozens of AA suspects, as well as blocking aid and stopping injured civilians from reaching hospitals.\n<\/p>\n
\n The military, also known as the Tatmadaw, swiftly denied her allegations.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The Tatmadaw is simply doing its job to protect the lives and safety of civilians,\" military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told AFP, without commenting on Lee's specific accusations.\n<\/p>\n
\n The UN rights expert also criticised the AA's operations for bringing \"negative impacts\" on civilians, particularly after a series of kidnappings.\n<\/p>\n
\n The government officially branded the group a \"terrorist organisation\", meaning any news outlet that reaches out to them for comment could be charged under Myanmar's terrorism laws.\n<\/p>\n
\n Northern Rakhine has been under a strict lockdown and internet blackout for months, making any independent reporting difficult.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Myanmar's military must be investigated for possible \"war crimes and crimes against humanity\" as a conflict with rebels in the country's northwest ramps up, a UN rights expert said Wednesday. The military is locked in an increasingly bloody civil war against the Arakan Army (AA), an insurgent group fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-44199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n