Three million people are displaced in Myanmar, according to the UN, with the great majority having been compelled to leave their homes due to violence sparked by the military’s coup in 2021.
Following the coup that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s administration following a brief democratic experiment, almost 2.7 million people have fled.
The coup led to a resurgence of hostilities between recognized ethnic armed organizations and the emergence of numerous new “People’s Defence Forces” that the military has been unable to dismantle.
“Myanmar stands at the precipice in 2024 with a deepening humanitarian crisis,” the UN’s resident coordinator in the country said in a statement released on Monday.
The statement states that youngsters make up an estimated one-third of individuals who have been relocated.
According to the statement, since a coalition of ethnic armed groups began an onslaught throughout northern Shan state late last year, about half of the three million people had been displaced.
The worst danger to the junta since it took control, the offensive captured large areas of land and profitable commercial crossings on the China border.
Many ethnic armed groups have fought the military for autonomy and control of valuable resources since Myanmar’s independence from Britain in 1948. These groups are concentrated in the country’s borderlands.
The UN said that a significant lack of funds was impeding its assistance efforts, especially in the run-up to the May–June cyclone season.
At least 148 people were killed when typhoon Mocha struck the western province of Rakhine in Myanmar last year.
More than 355,000 people are currently displaced in western Rakhine state, which has been rocked since November by clashes between the Arakan Army (AA) and the military, the UN said.
