Myanmar’s dictatorship must end airstrikes and commit to unrestricted humanitarian access

Even as a massive earthquake struck Myanmar on Friday, killing thousands of people and triggering powerful aftershocks that continued for days across huge swathes of the country, the ruling junta’s air force was in action over Sagaing, the epicentre of the disaster, conducting airstrikes against quake victims in resistance-held areas. Defenceless civilians, dying, traumatised, some trapped under rubble, were bombed from the skies with indiscriminate and disproportionate weapons, in violation of international law.

And even as his fighter jets and drones circled their targets in northern and central Myanmar, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing was on television, appealing for international aid. Meanwhile, offers of a ceasefire were refused, and even a Chinese aid convoy came under attack from his forces.