Myanmar civil society groups warn of weaponisation of aid as earthquake response intensifies

Following Myanmar’s devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake last week, 265 civil society groups have issued a statement calling for aid to be effectively channelled to affected communities and frontline responders through civil society, the National Unity Government, and ethnic resistance organisations.“The junta’s callous contempt for human life, even in the face of widespread earthquake devastation, underscores its unsuitability to oversee aid—and more importantly, its willingness to manipulate any humanitarian response,” the civil society groups stated.The statement’s signatories, who include the Emergency Management Committee—Mandalay, Sagaing Strike Force, and Progressive Voice, wrote that many of the hardest-hit areas are under resistance control and warned of the military’s history of weaponising disaster relief.In 2008, the previous military regime obstructed humanitarian assistance after widespread devastation from Cyclone Nargis and then manipulated distribution to coerce survivors to vote in a constitutional referendum.The military also. . .