Myanmar takes aid from China, India and ASEAN, but doors closed to Taiwan
A Taipei emergency team waited in vain for two days without being allowed to enter the country, devastated by an earthquake. The perverse interweaving of political issues and rescue operations for people under the rubble. No entry even for foreign journalists. A ceasefire is essential so that aid does not also become a weapon of war.
Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) - About a hundred rescue workers specialised in searching for people under the rubble were mobilised immediately on Friday from Taiwan to go and help Myanmar devastated by the earthquake.
But after waiting two days for permission to enter the country, they were demobilised this morning. The Burmese generals' government - despite the fact that many of its own offices in the capital Naypyidaw are unusable - “does not consider it necessary”.
Taipei itself, moreover, was concerned about sending them to a country where not even the earthquake is stopping the war, with news of new air raids continuing to arrive.
Not even the great tragedy and the thousands of deaths are opening that humanitarian window within the conflict that is essential to deal with the emergency. Political considerations are influencing border management: the doors were opened immediately to the rescue teams sent by Beijing.
The spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated today that the teams sent by the People's Republic have so far saved six human lives in earthquake-devastated Myanmar. He spoke of around 400 Chinese experts, rescuers and health workers involved in the rescue operations in the country.
Other teams have been able to enter from ASEAN countries: from neighbouring Thailand and from Singapore, which has however called (so far in vain) for a ceasefire in order to be able to operate even in the hottest war zones.
Today a Malaysian team was the first rescue force to reach the city of Sagaing. India has also launched Operation Brahma with aid and rescue personnel that have been in Yangon since Saturday; as has Russia, which has sent 120 doctors and rescue workers.
At the same time, however, the Myanmar junta has rejected all requests from foreign media to enter the country to document the tragedy. The ‘official’ reason given was the lack of water and electricity, but it is clear that the intent is to keep prying eyes out of a country that the military has been trying to take back for four years, but now only controls the big cities.
Moreover, in recent weeks the Trump administration has actually given a big hand to the Naypyidaw regime, by cutting the funding of Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, two of the voices that have most widely denounced the horrors of war and repression in Myanmar over the past four years.
This is another reason why it is essential that the international community works together to provide aid to the affected populations and to call for a ceasefire. This is also to prevent the aid collected by international organisations from being intercepted by the junta and turned into a weapon of war.
The Government of National Unity of Myanmar - the political umbrella organisation to which some of the anti-coup militias belong and which de facto control fragmented areas of the country - yesterday announced a two-week suspension of offensive military operations in the areas affected by the earthquake, to allow relief operations to take place.
They have also offered cooperation and a guarantee of security in the areas under their control to the United Nations, international relief agencies and humanitarian organisations committed to providing immediate assistance and medical support to the victims. Other ethnic militias are continuing the offensive, especially in the less affected areas.
The Naypyidaw government, on the other hand, has not made any sign of life: Karen militias reported that air raids on some villages took place again yesterday. Devastation upon devastation, in a seemingly endless madness.
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26/07/2021 09:45
01/10/2007
