YANGON, April 21, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – A Myanmar government health
worker was injured and his driver killed when their United
Nations-marked vehicle was ambushed as they were carrying COVID-19
test samples in conflict-ridden Rakhine state, the UN said Tuesday.
The country’s northwest has been embroiled in an increasingly
brutal civil war between Myanmar’s military and Arakan Army rebels
demanding more autonomy for the state’s ethnic Rakhine population.
The area has endured a strict lockdown for months, making
independent reporting difficult.
Both the military and insurgents blamed each other for the attack,
which happened early Monday evening at a bridge near the town of
Minbya.
The pair had been in a UN vehicle carrying COVID-19 surveillance
samples, the organisation said, adding it was “deeply saddened” to
confirm the death of driver Pyae Sone Win Maung, who worked for the
World Health Organization (WHO).
The driver had earlier promised to ring his parents, said father
Htay Win Maung.
“He asked me not to call him when he was driving,” he told AFP by
phone, saying he and his wife were heartbroken by the death of their
28-year-old son.
“That was the last time we spoke.”
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted his condolences,
adding it was “tragic to lose a life while keeping the world safe”.
Military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told AFP that
health worker Aung Myo Oo had been transferred to hospital in the
Rakhine state capital, Sittwe.
Scores have been killed, hundreds injured and tens of thousands
displaced since fighting erupted at the beginning of last year, with
both sides trading allegations of abuses committed.
Hostilities have surged in recent weeks since the government
labelled the group “terrorists”, which means journalists are unable to
reach out to the group without violating the country’s terrorism laws.
Increasing calls for a ceasefire have been ignored as coronavirus
fears gripped the country.
A government-imposed internet blackout has “greatly hampered” the
availability of hygiene information and other preventative measures,
the UN’s refugee agency warned last week.
Lobby group Fortify Rights on Tuesday demanded an independent
investigation into what it condemned as an “outrageous” attack and
called for the government to urgently allow humanitarian access to the
area.