Over 1.6m people in Myanmar displaced since coup: think tank

By DMG 27 Oct 2022

DMG Newsroom
27 October 2022, Sittwe

More than 1.6 million people in Myanmar have been displaced over the past 18 months, since last year’s military coup, according to the Institute for Strategy and Policy-Myanmar.

The displacement is attributable to clashes between junta troops and ethnic armed organisations, along with near-daily battles between the former and local resistance groups collectively known as People’s Defence Forces (PDFs), according to ISP-Myanmar.

More than 1.5 million people were displaced in Sagaing, Magwe and Bago regions, and Kayin, Kayah and Chin states, said the ISP-Myanmar report.

Sagaing Region was hit hardest, according to the Institute, with more than 680,000 people displaced. Internally displaced people (IDPs) there badly need shelter, food, and medicines, volunteers helping IDPs in Sagaing Region have said.

“It is quite difficult for them to acquire food supplies and healthcare services, including medicines,” said one local aid worker. “They mostly live in makeshift tents. Sometimes, they even have to flee from those makeshift tents due to raids.”

Meanwhile, in Kayah (Karenni) State, where more than 170,000 locals have been displaced by fighting, clashes are taking place on a near-daily basis, and IDPs often have to flee their camps due to junta artillery strikes, according to the Karenni IDP Assistance Network.

“Some IDPs were killed or injured by junta artillery strikes. IDPs often have to flee their camps. And it is also difficult for charities to deliver food supplies to them because of clashes and junta checkpoints,” said a member of the network.

More than 130,000 people have been displaced by fighting in Kayin State, and many have fled to the Thai border, according to Karen civil society organisations (CSOs).

“Large numbers of junta troops launched operations in Kawkareik and Myawaddy this month. As such, more clashes are likely, and IDPs [at the Thai border] will not be able to return home. And it is hard for displaced children to learn,” said an official of Dawkalu Network, a Kayin State-based CSO.

Local organisations helping IDPs have called on international aid agencies to provide more food supplies and healthcare assistance due to the escalating armed conflict.

More than 1.4 million people were displaced by fighting between February 2021 and mid-October of this year across the country, according to an October 25 report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Myanmar.