World

Myanmar lifts aid block for Kachin rebel territory: UN

AFP

The United Nations said on Friday that it had been allowed by the Myanmar Government to deliver emergency aid to displaced people in rebel-held territory in the Northern State of Kachin for the first time in nearly a year. A 10-truck UN-led convoy left on Wednesday with food and other essential items for about 5,000 of the tens of thousands of people displaced by two years of violence in the far north of the former military-ruled country.The development came after the Government and the rebels last month reached a preliminary ceasefire agreement in a bid to end a conflict that has forced about 1,00,000 people to flee their homes.