Displaced Khami people from Buthidaung need food

By Admin 25 May 2024

DMG Newsroom
25 May 2024, Buthidaung

Khami people who fled fighting in Buthidaung Township in early April are going hungry in Kyauktaw Township, where they are taking shelter.

Around 60 Khami people from Ingyinmyaing Village in Buthidaung Township fled from Buthidaung to Kyauktaw Township in April following clashes between Myanmar’s military regime and the Arakkha Army (AA).

“The 15th Military Operations Command was in front of our village. And there were AA troops at our back. They exchanged artillery strikes. Some shells landed in our village and some people got injured. We were rescued by the AA. They guided us here,” said a displaced Khami villager.

Ingyinmyaing Village has around 70 households whose residents are ethnic Arakanese, Mro and Khami.

One Khami woman said: “We could not bring anything; we had to flee suddenly. We had to walk across the mountains. We had to stay at other people’s homes and we had difficulties.”

The displaced Khami people are being fed with rice donated from nearby villages, said a volunteer helping those displaced.

“They haven’t yet received any [organised humanitarian] assistance. We have to ask nearby villages to donate rice for them. They still can’t return home though the AA has seized Buthidaung Town. I am afraid they will have to stay here until the end of the rainy season,” said a volunteer.

The AA seized total control of Buthidaung Township on May 18.

More than 180,000 people have been displaced in Arakan State and Chin State’s Paletwa Township since fighting between the junta and AA forces broke out in November. Many are in urgent need of food, shelter, and medicines.