Surging deaths, hundreds missing in Myanmar: UN
YANGON/GENEVA/ROME: The United Nations on Tuesday decried surging deaths in Myanmar since the February 1 coup, warning that detained protesters were facing torture and hundreds had disappeared.
“The death toll has soared over the past week in Myanmar, where security forces have been using lethal force increasingly aggressively against peaceful protesters,” UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters.
In total, she said, the office had corroborated that a total of 149 people had died in the crackdown on protests since the coup.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), more than 180 people have been killed, including 74 on Sunday alone.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was appalled by the escalating violence and called on the international community to help end the repression, his spokesman said, while the US also denounced the bloodshed.
“The military is attempting to overturn the results of a democratic election and is brutally repressing peaceful protesters,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken told a news conference in Tokyo.
Myanmar unrest driving up food, fuel prices: WFP The political unrest in Myanmar is driving up food and fuel prices, risking pushing the country’s most vulnerable people further into poverty, the UN’s World Food Programme warned on Tuesday, for instance the price of palm oil is up 20% in the areas around Yangon, compared to the start of February.