Yangon: a Myanmar ceasefire declared after last month Devastating earthquake was to expire on Tuesday (April 22), after aid groups and international mediators called for an extension to alleviate rescue efforts.
The junta – who seized the power in a coup in 2021 triggering a civil war at least – said that she would stop attacking her myriads of armed adversaries after the magnitude 7.7 earthquake which killed more than 3,700.
Conflict monitors and residents in combat areas say that the fighting continued on both sides during the 20 -day truce, declared to stimulate the delivery of aid to the central belt of Myanmar and to expire at 5.30 p.m. GMT (Wednesday, 1h30, Singapore time).
The state media did not report any extension of ceasefire on Tuesday morning and a spokesperson for the junta could not be reached immediately by AFP to comment.
The earthquake of March 28 left more than 60,000 people living in tent camps and pushed two million people in “a critical need for help and protection” according to the UN.
Despite continuous fighting, humanitarian groups and regional powers have called for the break of hostilities to be prolonged while help efforts continue in their fourth week.
Thursday, the chief of the junta, Min Aung Hlaing, flew to Bangkok for Meet Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim For rare discussions in the background with the Asean block chair at 10 countries.
Anwar, whose country currently has the rotating presidency of the Association of Nations of Southeast Asia (Anase), said that it had also spoken to the Myanmar opposition “national government of unity” which promised a similar truce after the tremor.
The two parties agreed “they would do everything necessary to avoid any extension of the fighting,” Anwar told journalists after the meeting.
