Myanmar junta 'trying to destroy country': UN

BANGKOK, July 11 (AFP): Myanmar's junta appears to be "trying to destroy a country it cannot control", the UN special rapporteur to the country warned on Thursday.

Clashes between an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups and the military have shredded a Beijing-brokered truce in January.

The ceasefire had briefly halted widespread fighting in the northern part of the Southeast Asian nation since a military coup ended democratic rule in 2021.

"The junta is on its heels, it's losing troops, it's losing military facilities, it is literally losing ground," UN special rapporteur Tom Andrews said during a briefing to the national security body of neighbouring Thailand.

"It almost appears as if the Junta is trying to destroy a country that it cannot control."