UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener said on Monday protesters in the Southeast Asian country have started to form armed groups to protect themselves from the large-scale violence used by security forces
UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th May, 2021) UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener said on Monday protesters in the Southeast Asian country have started to form armed groups to protect themselves from the large-scale violence used by security forces.
"We observe now that people are armed and formed a so-called People Defense Force, the PDF. This is formed by local people and the National Unity Government whilst trying to bring them under a single command structure," Schraner Burgener said in a press briefing.
The special envoy said people in the force sometimes use homemade weapons and receive military training from armed organizations.
"We hear every day about explosions,... and this is really scary," Schraner Burgener said. "But, clearly, we also must understand that people wanted to start with self-defense, because still the Tatmadaw, the Army, uses a huge scale of violence."
Schraner Burgener said since the February 1 coup, more than 800 civilians have been killed in state violence and some 5,300 others have been arrested.
Besides, the ongoing violence has displaced some 61,000 people within Myanmar who are in urgent need of assistance.
In a conversation with the country's Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing back in April, Schraner Burgener said she reiterated the concerns previously stated at the UN Security Council regarding the bloodshed in Myanmar following the military coup.
She added the scenario that the army chief will give up his power seemed "very unlikely."
An all-inclusive dialogue bringing together ethnic armed organizations, political parties, civil society, competing authorities and the Tatmadaw could help to resolve the current political crisis in Myanmar, Schraner Burgener said.
To that end, the special envoy said she will travel to Japan on Tuesday to discuss with the Foreign Minister the prospects of ending the ongoing political crisis in Myanmar.
