Junta blockading of routes leads to food shortages for Muslim IDPs in Arakan State

By Admin 01 Dec 2023

DMG Newsroom
1 December 2023, Sittwe

Muslim IDP camps in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu, Pauktaw and Myebon townships are reportedly facing food shortages due to the junta’s blockading of land and water routes to Arakan State.

Muslim IDPs rely on food items provided by international organisations and they have been without food supplies since early November, an official from Kyauktalone IDP camp in Kyaukphyu Township told DMG.

“We have not received rice supplies from the World Food Programme (WFP) for one month. The junta blocked land and water routes to Arakan State. We are dependent on Kyaukphyu for food and can’t go anywhere due to the road blockade. Muslim IDPs are facing various hardships due to lack of job opportunities at the displacement camp,” the IDP camp official added.

The Kyauktalone displacement camp is home to more than 1,000 Muslim IDPs.

Muslim IDP camps in Arakan State are often dependent on food supplied by international organisations such as WFP, ICRC, Save the Children and MSF.

Muslim IDPs say they are eating less food because the junta has blocked off land and water routes and they are not receiving food aid from international organisations.

“We have run out of rice. Some Muslim IDP families, who ate one pyi of rice in the past, now have to eat only two tins of rice,” said an official from a Muslim IDP camp in Myebon.

The Myebon Muslim displacement camp is home to over 3,000 IDPs. Some IDP families borrow rice from others as they have run out of food, the Muslim IDP camp official added.

Some IDPs at the Hnget Chaung IDP camp in Pauktaw Township have had to sell their jewellery to address their livelihood hardships.

“I have been living at this displacement camp for more than 10 years. Previously, WFP provided IDPs with healthcare services and food. We no longer receive food supplies and are facing livelihood difficulties due to the junta’s blockading of roads,” said Ko Aye Kyaw, an IDP from the Hnget Chaung IDP camp, home to more than 25,000 IDPs.

Many Muslim IDPs in Kyaukphyu, Myebon and Pauktaw townships were displaced by ethnic and religious conflicts in 2012.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) announced on November 23 that the military and the Arakan Army were fighting fiercely in Pauktaw and that the UN agency was trying to provide humanitarian assistance to the affected IDPs.