GENEVA, Jan 30: At least 170 civilians were killed in more than 400 military air strikes in Myanmar in the weeks surrounding its widely-criticised elections, the United Nations said Friday.
Myanmar's month-long, three-phase vote, which wrapped up on Sunday, was imposed by the military in what democracy watchdogs dismissed as an attempt to rebrand army rule.
The UN rights office, which has been harshly critical of the elections, warned Friday that they had failed to respect fundamental human rights and that military attacks on the population had continued unabated.
"These elections did not prevent violence from continuing throughout 2025," James Rodehaver, head of the rights office's Myanmar team, told reporters in Geneva.
Speaking from Bangkok, he highlighted that 2025 was "the year in which more civilians died from airstrikes than any other since 2021", and that "air strikes continued even through election days".
The UN said "credible sources" had verified that at least "170 civilians were killed in some 408 military aerial attacks reported by open sources during the voting period", the nearly two months from early December.
Rodehaver warned though that the numbers could rise, pointing out that their verification was complicated since communications are cut off and due to "the fear of individuals in some of these locations to speak to us". "AFP
