Myanmar's ethnic conflicts obstruct COVID-19 aid to minorities

Government and armed group siloed responses put 100,000 Kachins at risk

20200501 temperature check

Temperature checks are being conducted in Laiza, northern Myanmar. (Photo by Yawng Htang)

JAW TU HKAWNG, EMILY FISHBEIN, contributing writers; YUICHI NITTA, Nikkei staff writer

YANGON -- Myanmar's numerous unresolved ethnic insurgencies have made a cohesive national response to the global COVID-19 pandemic virtually impossible.

Until this week, the government had little or no contact with over a dozen armed groups, many of which are ranged along the borders with China and Thailand. Dissident minorities have so far been largely left to develop their own responses to the pandemic.

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