Myanmar earthquake: Claims of attack on Chinese Red Cross convoy

An opposition militia belonging to the Three Brotherhood Alliance, a powerful group that has wrested control of a large swath of Myanmar from the military, reported that the military fired on a relief convoy of nine Chinese Red Cross vehicles late on 1 April, Tuesday.

The relief convoy was bringing supplies to Mandalay city, which was hit by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake around midday on Friday, 28 March, toppling thousands of buildings, collapsing bridges and buckling roads. So far, 2,886 people have been reported dead in Myanmar and another 4,639 injured, according to state television MRTV, but local reports suggest much higher figures.

The Three Brotherhood Alliance announced a unilateral one-month ceasefire on Tuesday to facilitate the humanitarian response.

The shadow opposition National Unity Government had already called a ceasefire for its forces.

But attacks have continued since the quake. Most recently, an opposition militia belonging to the Three Brotherhood Alliance reported that the military fired on a relief convoy of nine Chinese Red Cross vehicles late on Tuesday, on a road in the northern part of Shan state near Ohn Ma Tee village.

The Ta'ang National Liberation Army said the Chinese Red Cross was bringing supplies to Mandalay and had reported its route to the military.

But Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the military regime, told state-run MRTV that the convoy had not notified authorities of its route ahead of time. While not mentioning the Red Cross, he said security forces had fired into the air to deter a convoy that refused to stop near Ohn Ma Tee village, the site of recent fighting with the TNLA.

Asked about the incident, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun did not comment on the attack, but said “relief supplies provided by the Red Cross Society of China to Myanmar have arrived in Myanmar and are on the way to Mandalay”, adding that both the “rescue personnel and supplies are safe”.

China is incredibly important to Myanmar economically, and also one of the military's largest suppliers with weapons, along with Russia.

On Tuesday, Tom Andrews, a monitor of human rights in Myanmar commissioned by the UN-backed Human Rights Council, said on X that military attacks must stop to facilitate aid.

“The focus in Myanmar must be on saving lives, not taking them,” he said.