Plans to ready Tinma village for residents’ eventual return delayed by lack of official approval

By DMG 27 Oct 2021

DMG Newsroom
27 October 2021, Kyauktaw 

Former residents of Tinma village in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township had hoped to go back to the village this week to make preparations for their permanent return, but have had to put those plans on hold as township authorities withheld permission for them to do so. 

About 100 Tinma villagers had intended to return on October 26 to clear brush in the overgrown village, but the plan was postponed due to the lack of approval. 

“We are not asking for immediate rebuilding of homes. The villagers are asking for permission from the officials to clear bushes in the village and for the village to be protected from further damage. The township authorities should give a reason for not allowing the villagers to go,” said Venerable U Wayamida, abbot of the Tinma village monastery. 

According to the monk, Myanmar military troops stationed near the village said the villagers could come and clear brush in the village with the approval of the relevant department. 

The first priority is to clean up the monastery, other religious buildings, and health facilities in Tinma village, which has been uninhabited for more than a year, according to those involved in the planning, with second priority given to cleaning up roads, schools, and houses there. 

Maung Tun Nyunt from Tinma village said about 100 villagers had prepared to go to Tinma village on the cleanup mission. 

“We have hired boats to go to the village. We also bought food and drink to have while clearing the bushes. The authorities did not allow us to go, so we ended up sharing the food in the IDP [internally displaced people] camp,” he said. 

DMG attempted to contact Colonel Kyaw Thura, the Arakan State minister for security and border affairs, regarding the matter, but he could not be reached. 

Colonel Kyaw Thura has previously said arrangements would be made to help the residents of Tinma village return home this month. 

In March 2020, the Tinma villagers fled their homes amid clashes between the military and Arakan Army, with dozens of houses torched after the village was largely emptied of its inhabitants.

A group of Tinma locals who visited the village in March of this year said 132 houses and the village monastery were damaged or destroyed by the fires. 

Many of the Tinma villagers have been living in IDP camps for more than 18 months, at times facing food shortages and other hardships.