The United Nations’ office in Myanmar on Thursday expressed concern about escalating human rights abuses after reports that a group opposed to the junta may have executed 25 civilians it captured and allegations that troops had burned down a village.
The struggle between the military regime that took power in February after ousting elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and those opposing it has escalated in recent months.
The nonviolent civil disobedience movement has evolved into a fledgling armed resistance force in response to harsh repression from police and soldiers who killed hundreds of peaceful protesters and bystanders.
The statement by the U.N. office cited abuses by both sides, calling on “all actors in the current crisis to ensure that international human rights norms and standards are respected.”
The statement noted the discovery of two mass graves in the eastern state of Kayin, also called Karen, containing the human remains of 25 people “who had reportedly been detained on 31 May by the Karen National Defense Organization,” or KNDO.
The KNDO is one of the fighting forces of the Karen National Union, the political organization of the Karen ethnic minority that has been fighting for decades for more autonomy from the central government.
The junta said Sunday that the 25 bodies were those of road construction workers who were detained and killed by the KNDO.
In response, KNDO spokesman Wah Nay Nu was quoted by The Irrawaddy, an independent online news service, as saying the men were not civilians but government military personnel who were spying. He added that some were shot dead by KNDO forces but others were killed by shelling from government forces.
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