IDPs from Chin State in need of relief supplies at Kyauktaw displacement camp

By DMG 06 May 2022

DMG Newsroom
6 May 2022, Paletwa, Chin State 

At least three dozen people displaced by fighting between the Myanmar military and Chin anti-regime resistance groups near Samee town in Chin State’s Paletwa Township are reportedly struggling to make ends meet.  

The displaced people fled to Nyaung Chaung camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, on April 13 due to the fighting in Chin State last month. 

The displaced people are currently in need of food supplies and clothing, said Ma San San Moe, an IDP from Paletwa Township. 

“We fled to Arakan State without kitchen utensils, so it is difficult to make ends meet right now,” she explained. “We need people who can help us a little bit. We have no food items. We are a little more comfortable living in the displacement camp because the camp officials placed us in empty spaces inside the camp.” 

U Maung Byar Chae, who fled Samee town, told DMG that he left out of fear that his life would be in danger if he remained in or near the town. 

“We cannot say how this fighting will continue in the long run. We fled, thinking that if the fighting intensified, there would be no way out. When we fled, we had to complain to the local government. There were obstacles as we were allowed to travel only with the local government’s permission,” he added. 

Among the IDPs people are pregnant women and infants, and many are struggling to make ends meet at the displacement camp, confirmed U Than Aye, manager of Nyaung Chaung IDP camp. 

“Two pregnant women and an infant are among 31 people displaced by fighting in Paletwa Township,” he told DMG. “We are facing livelihood hardships because the junta’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement suspended providing food items to the IDP camps in Arakan State. The IDPs are in need of food and clothing.” 

Following Myanmar’s military coup on February 1, 2021, anti-regime armed resistance groups have clashed with the junta across much of the country, displacing tens of thousands of civilians. Arakan State has been a notable exception, with no appreciable armed opposition movement arising as a direct consequence of the coup.