Myanmar’s junta government is using warplanes and military equipment provided by Russia and China against civilians. Ordinary people are dying in this. In a report released on Tuesday, Thomas Andrew, a UN human rights expert on Myanmar, said:
Former United States Congressman Thomas Andrew has said that in addition to China and Russia, Serbia is also supplying arms to Myanmar’s junta. In the report, he called on the UN Security Council to suspend the supply of these weapons of mass destruction.
Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup last year, the report said. Since then, Russia, China and Serbia have been supplying their weapons. They were fully aware that these weapons would be used against civilians.
Thomas Andrew called on the international community to take steps to ensure that arms are not supplied to Myanmar’s junta. “We must ensure that the weapons used to kill civilians are no longer supplied to the junta,” he said in a statement.
Myanmar’s junta says it is fighting “terrorists”. They have objected to the UN intervention in this regard. Myanmar’s junta and the foreign ministers of Russia, China and Serbia have not commented on the UN expert’s report.
Various international human rights organizations and the United Nations have accused the junta of carrying out bombings and airstrikes in civilian areas of Myanmar. They have used unequal force in the fight against those who have taken up arms against the junta and against ethnic minority rebels.
Russia has provided drones, two types of warplanes and two types of armored vehicles, according to a UN expert report. In addition, they have also provided missile defense system. Military equipment supplied by China includes warplanes. And Serbia has supplied rockets and artillery shells.
The UN General Assembly passed a resolution last year calling on member states to stop supplying arms to Myanmar’s military. Although Serbia voted in favor of the proposal, Russia and China abstained.
At the time, China called on the international community to end hostilities with Myanmar. Russia, on the other hand, has become a close diplomatic ally of the Myanmar junta, blocking Western efforts to isolate Myanmar.
In a statement, Thomas Andrew called on the international community to take steps to reduce Myanmar’s military’s revenues from oil and gas and to reduce its use of foreign exchange reserves. He also called for an international embargo on the purchase of timber and gemstones from Myanmar.
Thomas Andrew noted in the report that Myanmar’s junta was once weak and could be stopped by international efforts. The UN expert said that if their revenue could be reduced, the junta’s ability to attack the people of Myanmar would be reduced.
There was a bloodless military coup in Myanmar on February 1 last year. The country’s army seized power through a coup. Top leaders of his party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), including Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, were arrested. The army then declared a state of emergency in Myanmar. Protests erupted after a military coup in Myanmar. Despite the loss of life in the violent repression, the country’s democrats continued their anti-military movement. As many as 1,500 civilians were killed across the country in clashes with members of the law enforcement agencies.