U.N. calls for justice after fatal shooting of Myanmar WHO worker

The United Nations headquarters constructing is pictured although a window with the UN emblem within the foreground within the Manhattan borough of New York August 15, 2014. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri

June 9 (Reuters) – The United Nations condemned on Thursday the deadly taking pictures of a World Well being Group (WHO) worker in japanese Myanmar, the newest in a string of assassinations underlining the chaos within the nation since final yr’s coup.

The U.N. and the WHO stated Myo Min Htut, a WHO driver for 5 years, was shot useless on Wednesday whereas using his motorbike in Mawlamyine in Mon State, near Thailand, in unclear circumstances.

The WHO stated it was shocked by information of his dying.

The taking pictures follows what rights teams say is a sample of violence, retribution and vigilantism in military-ruled Myanmar, the place native directors and suspected junta informants have been killed on a near-daily foundation.

The army overthrew an elected authorities final yr and has used lethal power and mass arrests to suppress demonstrations.

Civilians have since taken up arms to battle police and troopers, answering a shadow Nationwide Unity Authorities’s (NUG) name for a individuals’s revolt.

Ramanathan Balakrishnan, the U.N. resident coordinator, stated the U.N. expects those that killed Myo Min Htut to be held accountable and “appeals to all events and stakeholders to respect the neutrality of the United Nations and humanitarians”.

A spokesperson for the army didn’t reply calls searching for touch upon Thursday.

The anti-military individuals’s defence power in Mawlamyine, which has pledged its assist for the NUG, claimed accountability for Myo Min Htut’s killing, accusing him of being a junta informant and of harassing individuals who joined strikes and protests in opposition to final yr’s coup.

Reuters couldn’t independently confirm the allegations.

“We let him retire from this human world,” the Mawlamyine militia group stated in an announcement, describing Myo Min Htut as an “informer” and a “canine”, including it had performed its personal investigation.

The WHO’s Myanmar workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the allegations made by the Mawlamyine militias.

The NUG, which the junta has outlawed as a “terrorist” organisation, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

(This story refiles to right typo within the phrase “taking pictures” in headline)

Reporting by Reuters Employees; Writing by Martin Petty; Modifying by Kanupriya Kapoor

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.