On July 29, the UN had a Security Council Arria-Formula meeting on the deteriorating situation in Myanmar. US ambassador and senior advisor for political affairs, Jeffrey DeLaurentis, summarised the dire situation, stating:
“Humanitarian aid workers inside Burma are sounding the alarm. As a direct result of the military’s brutality and administrative failures since its coup six months ago, Burma is reeling from a surge in COVID-19 cases. This burgeoning health catastrophe comes at a time when hundreds of thousands of people remain internally displaced by the recent violence, with the World Food Program projecting between 1.5 and 2.8 million additional people in the country could now be at risk of food insecurity.”
Moreover, there are reports of scores of doctors being rounded up and imprisoned because of the medical profession’s reaction to the coup.
As the crisis deepens, China refused to put pressure on the regime via sanctions, while Russia boycotted the meeting completely, stating that it was against interfering in Myanmar’s internal affairs.
This is not surprising, considering an earlier meeting Russia’s State arms exporter had with Myanmar’s military on July 21 where Russia agreed to work closely with the military regime and supply it with military hardware, including aircraft. Talk about interfering!
This is another prime example of the UN’s pathetic and perverse mechanisms that allow its main players to not only condone violence and injustice, but actively support it.
