People of Burma are still in question whether President Thein Sein is a reformist. The argument is that the regime just changes its army-uniforms into civilian clothes, but it has been exercising authoritarian practices so far. It has disclosed its true nature throughout the ongoing war in Kachin state. If President Thein Sein is reform-minded, the first thing he ought to do is to end the war in Kachin state urgently in order to reinstate peace.
The United Nation’s Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, has spoken out urgent access to some 40,000 people in northern Burma who have been displaced by warfare between government troops and Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). Ms Amos said that the Burmese military has permitted only limited aid motor vehicles into the conflict area.
“For almost six months now, the UN has not been able to provide assistance to almost 40,000 people as we are not permitted to go to KIA-controlled areas,” the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, told a news conference, according to the UN News Centre.
During her 4-day visit to Burma, Valerie Amos publicly urged Burmese government to allow the UN to resume aid consignments to refugee camps in non-government controlled parts of Kachin state held by the KIO.
During her four-day visit to Burma, Ms. Amos raised the issue of internally displaced people in Kachin State with the President and her concern about the lack of humanitarian access in the conflict zone.
“We hope the Government will give us permission to travel to these areas and provide the aid that is so desperately needed,” Ms. Amos added.
Even though the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Ms. Amos has made a candid call, President Thein Sein alone may not have enough power to allow the UN to resume aid delivery. It will certainly be in the hands of the 11-member National Defense and Security Council.
To end the war against the Kachin rebels is a puzzle for most people in Burma thus far.