Displaced Mro people go hungry in Maungdaw Twsp

By Admin 26 Oct 2024

DMG Newsroom
26 October 2024, Maungdaw

Ethnic Mro people who fled fighting from Thiho Aye, 3rd Mile Thazi and Aung Tharyar villages in Arakan State's Maungdaw Township are reportedly in need of food.

One displaced Mro woman said: "We still can't return home. We have no jobs here and we are going hungry."

Displaced people in the frontier town of Maungdaw have barely received any assistance from outside sources as the conflict between Myanmar's military regime and the Arakkha Army (AA) has intensified in the region.

"Previously, Mro youth organisations solicited donations from well-wishers, and provided relief supplies to displaced people with their donations," said a man helping the displaced Mro people. "But there are no donors now, and displaced people can't search for vegetables and fish. So, they have gone hungry."

Initially, displaced people relied on the Mayu Mountains for food, but the possibility of being arrested by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) now discourages them from doing so.

Four relatives from Kainggyi Village went missing on September 30 after they left their village to go fishing. The AA and villagers have been searching for them, but so far to no avail. The hat of a missing person was later found at a temporary ARSA camp, leading to the conclusion that they were abducted by ARSA members.

One displaced man from Thiho Aye Village said: "We can eat on days when we are employed for casual jobs at the nearby villages. When we are not employed, we have nothing to eat."

The AA said ARSA, as well as the Rohingya Solidarity Organization and Arakan Rohingya Army, have built strongholds in forested areas of the Mayu Mountains, which are still beyond its reach.

Fighting has been raging in Maungdaw for months as the AA continues to attack the regime's Border Guard Police Battalion No. 5.

More than 600,000 people have been displaced by the latest fighting in Arakan State since November, and that number continues to rise as the conflict intensifies across multiple townships.