THAILAND delivered its first batch of humanitarian aid to war-torn Myanmar today, in what officials hope will be a continuing effort to ease the plight of millions of people displaced by fighting.

But critics charge that the aid will benefit only people in areas under the military’s control.

Myanmar is wracked by a nationwide armed conflict that began after the army ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021 and suppressed widespread non-violent protests that sought a return to democratic rule. 

The fighting has displaced more than 2.8 million people and battered the economy.

Thailand sent 10 lorries over the border from the northern province of Tak, carrying some 4,000 packages of aid to three towns in Kayin State, also known as Karen State, where it will be distributed to approximately 20,000 displaced people.

But Tom Andrews, the United Nations independent human rights expert on Myanmar, said last week that the aid was going into “the hands of the junta because it goes into the hands of the junta-controlled Myanmar Red Cross.

“So we know that the junta takes these resources, including humanitarian, and weaponises them, uses them for their own military strategic advantage.”

He added: “The reason that humanitarian aid is in such desperate need is precisely because of the junta.”