Date:                March 16, 2007

By BosNewsLife News Center

RANGOON, BURMA (BosNewsLife)-- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Friday, March 16, that restrictions by Burma's military government forced it to close two offices, a move that underscored Western concerns over a lack of humanitarian aid in regions where predominantly Christian Karens and other groups are fleeing a military offensive.

The ICRC said it was forced to close in the regions of Mon state and Shan state. Thierry Ribaux, who is the deputy head of the Red Cross mission in Burma, which is also called Myanmar, said his group had "dramatically scaled down" operations.

"[But] we remain committed to a mandate, we remain determined to stay in Yangon (Rangoon) but now we need a very clear positive signal from the authorities - otherwise we will have to decide on further reductions," the Voice Of America (VOA) network quoted him as saying. 

It came shortly after British Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, returned last week from the Thailand-Burma border, where he accompanied Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) to hear the testimonies of Karen Internally Displaced People (IDPs) just inside the Burma border, BosNewsLife learned.

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