Vox Pop: IDPs share challenges triggered by junta blockades in Arakan State 

By Admin 17 Dec 2023

DMG Newsroom
17 December 2023, Sittwe

It has been one month since Myanmar’s military regime blocked off land and water routes to Arakan State and neighbouring Chin State’s Paletwa Township after renewed hostilities between the military and Arakan Army (AA) began on November 13, forcing more than 100,000 locals to flee.

People in Arakan State have run out of food, and shortages of cooking oil, fuel and other basic commodities are reported in rural villages, with skyrocketing prices of goods. DMG spoke to internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State, discussing their challenges and the hardships triggered by the junta’s far-reaching blockade.

Daw Thar Nu Phyu || Tin Nyo IDP camp || Mrauk-U Township

We no longer receive food assistance. We don’t have money to buy rice, so we have to collect paddy in harvested fields. The price of goods has become expensive, so we are barely able to eat.

I want the regime to allow local and international organisations to provide humanitarian aid to locals and IDPs in Arakan State. If the IDPs are to not starve to death, they will have to steal food from others in the long run.

U Hla Maung Kyaw || Nyaungchaung IDP camp || Kyauktaw Township

Local people in Arakan State face food shortages due to the junta’s road blockages. Some families eat less rice due to rice shortages. Some IDPs make a living as daily wage earners in the agricultural industry.

We cannot use cooking oil and dried chili as the commodity prices are going up. I don’t know how to earn a living. We would like to request international organisations to help us.

Ma Aye Aye Khaing || Taungminkalar IDP camp || Kyauktaw Township

We don’t have any support and the prices of goods are rising, so we are worried about our livelihoods. There are no job opportunities for us. We are not hired to harvest paddy. Cases of theft were reported in some displacement camps due to food shortages.

Pregnant mothers in displacement camps have a very difficult time giving birth. Up to four children have died because their mothers were unable to give birth during the first month of the latest fighting. I would like to ask the military regime to reopen the closed roads to the people.

U Phyu Thar Aung || Ahtet Myathlae IDP camp || Ponnagyun Township

We received food assistance from the World Food Programme (WFP) twice a month following renewed fighting between the military and Arakan Army in Arakan State. The WFP’s supply is not enough for us due to the current commodity prices.

Now, some families have no more rice, so they have to borrow food from others. If this fighting goes on for a long time and the roads are blocked, the IDPs will starve to death.

Daw Ma Than Soe || Zedipyin IDP camp || Rathedaung Township

All the IDPs are struggling to make ends meet, so IDP men are harvesting grain in the fields. Women also have to pick the grains left in the fields.

Those who don’t have husbands are having a hard time. We dare not go to the forests to search for vegetables. We are worried about our safety and have no place to flee if there is fighting.