Civil society groups working on Myanmar have criticised United Nations relief chief Martin Griffiths over his recent trip to the country, saying his visit failed to make substantial progress on humanitarian assistance and lent legitimacy to coup leaders who had “weaponized aid”.
Griffiths, the UN’s undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, travelled to Naypyidaw last week where he was pictured on the front page of the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar in a handshake with army chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing who led the military’s February 2021 power grab.
