UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener has said that Myanmar is at risk of civil war due to violent confrontation between the military, the opposition and ethnic groups
“Clashes are engulfing regions of the country, even its central part and those territories covered by the 2015 general truce. The risk of full-scale civil war is real”, – said Shraner Burgener.
She noted that the conflict on Myanmar territory is gradually taking on an international dimension, as clashes are taking place in regions that border China, Thailand and India. About ten thousand people crossed the border into neighbouring countries, and over 170 thousand more fled their homes.
On 1 February there was a military coup d’état in Myanmar. The commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces, Min Aung Hlaing, has concentrated legislative, executive and judicial powers in his hands. The military action resulted in a wave of protests which were suppressed with the use of weapons: more than 800 people died in the protests.