City
Epaper

UN expresses alarm at internet blackout in Myanmar

By IANS | Updated: June 25, 2019 10:55 IST

A UN expert on Tuesday warned of a possible cover-up of human rights violations in Myanmar following the government's decision to cut off mobile internet services in an area where an ethnic-minority guerrilla group is active.

Open in App

On June 20, Myanmar's Ministry of Transport and Communications ordered all mobile providers to temporarily suspend services to nine towns in the states of Rakhine and Chin, reports Efe news.

The authorities defended the decision citing "disturbances of the peace" and said that the internet services were being used to coordinate illegal activities in that area, where clashes between the country's military and the Arakan Army, a Rakhine-based insurgent group, have been frequent since 2018.

"I fear for all civil there, cut off and without the necessary means to communicate with people inside and outside the area," the UN's special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, said in a statement.

Around 35,000 civil have been displaced due to violence and dozens have been killed in indiscriminate attacks by both sides, according to the UN.

In the same area, over 700,000 members of the ethnic Muslim Rohingya minority fled to Bangladesh following a massive operation by the Myanmar army in 2017, which the UN has described as a "textbook example" of ethnic cleansing and "intentional genocide".

The UN expert said that blackout coincides with reports of a "clearance operation" by the army, "which, we all know by now, can be a cover for committing gross human rights violations against the civilian population".

The Arakan Army, one of several armed rebel groups in the southeast Asian country, was formed in 2009 by a handful of students of the Rakhine ethnic group - which is predominantly Buddhist, like 90 per cent of Myanmar's population - and currently has some 7,000 fighters among its ranks.

( With inputs from IANS )

Tags: myanmarunRakhineArakan ArmyYanghee Lee
Open in App

Related Stories

InternationalMyanmar Earthquake: 3.9 Magnitude Tremor Recorded at 10 Km Depth

InternationalEarthquake News: 4.2 Magnitude Tremors Hit Tajikistan and 4.5 in Myanmar at 10 Km Depth

MumbaiMaharashtra: Cyber Cell Rescues 60 Indians Trapped in Cyber Slavery in Myanmar, Thailand

InternationalEarthquake of Magnitude 4.7 on Richter Scale Hits Afghanistan

InternationalMyanmar Earthquake: 15 Killed, Several Injured as Mosque and Wailuwun Monastery Collapse Due to Strong Tremors (Watch Videos and Photos)

International Realted Stories

InternationalOne killed, 3 injured as vehicle overturns in Golan

InternationalIsrael warns of harsh responses if attacks on Druze community continue in Syria

International21 firefighters injured during operation 'wall of fire'

InternationalUAE, Lebanon pledge closer ties

InternationalTrump threatens Iran oil sanctions after next round of indirect talks postponed