YANGON: A Myanmar ceasefire declared after last month’s devastating earthquake was due to expire on Tuesday ( Apr 22 ), after aid groups and international mediators called for an extension to ease relief efforts.
The junta – which seized power in a 2021 revolution sparking a many-sided legal war – said it would stop attacking its various military competitors following the magnitude-7. 7 collapse which has killed more than 3,700.
Conflict screens and residents in conflict zones say fighting continued on both sides during the 20-day peace, declared to lead aid distribution in Myanmar’s main belt and due to expire at 5. 30pm GMT ( Wednesday, 1. 30am, Singapore day ).
State media reported no peace improvement on Tuesday night and a coup official was not soon be reached by AFP for opinion.
The Mar 28 disaster has left more than 60,000 people living in camp camps and pushed two million people into” important need of assistance and protection” according to the UN.
Despite ongoing fighting, humanitarian organizations and local forces have called for the delay on warfare to be prolonged as support work continue into their third year.
On Thursday junta key Min Aung Hlaing flew to Bangkok to join Indonesian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for unique lobby talks with the head of the 10-country ASEAN union.
Anwar, whose country currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN), said he had also spoken to Myanmar’s opposition” National Unity Government” which promised a similar truce after the tremor.
Both sides agreed” they would do whatever is necessary to avoid any extension of the fighting”, Anwar told reporters after the meeting.