Nearly 60,000 IDPs remain displaced in Arakan State and Chin State’s Paletwa: UN refugee agency

By Admin 24 Aug 2023

DMG Newsroom
24 August 2023, Sittwe

There are more than 58,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State and Chin State’s Paletwa Township who are unable to return home due to military conflict, according to figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Among the IDPs who remain at displacement camps are 5,088 from Buthidaung; 10,278 from Kyauktaw; 16,565 from Mrauk-U; 12,979 from Rathedaung; 3,199 from Ponnagyun; 211 from Minbya; 3,835 from Sittwe; 1,442 from Myebon, nine from Ann, and 4,472 from Chin State’s Paletwa, according to UNHCR’s Arakan State office.

The primary reasons why IDPs are still unable to return to their homes are the presence of junta troops in and around their villages, and fears of renewed fighting and landmines, as well as the lack of security guarantees.

“We depend on both armed forces [the Myanmar military and Arakan Army] to return home. We want to ask the authorities to stop the fighting, clear the landmines and rebuild the destroyed homes,” said Daw Ma Shwe Win, an IDP woman from Yaysoechaung Village in Rathedaung Township.

Residents of Yaysoechaung Village fled to Cedipyin IDP camp following clashes between the military and Arakan Army (AA) near the village in 2018. The villagers say they dare not return home as junta soldiers have been stationed on a hill east of the village since 2018.

The IDPs are living with various difficulties and they are suffering more due to Cyclone Mocha, which made landfall over Arakan State on May 14. The storm destroyed thousands of IDP shelters.

“I cannot repair my home damaged by the storm. We are provided with K30,000 [monthly] by the WFP [World Food Programme]. We are struggling to make ends meet due to skyrocketing commodity prices,” said Ma Nwe New Than, an IDP woman from the Kaviyadanar displacement camp in Kyauktaw Township.

Some IDPs from Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya, Ann and Paletwa townships were forced to return home after the junta reached an informal ceasefire with the AA in November 2022.

“Some IDPs were pushed to return home by the junta after peace talks during the summer, but the junta didn’t take any responsibility for IDP returnees,” said former lawmaker U Aung Thaung Shwe. “It is necessary to include the issue of avoiding war in the process of peace talks. IDP returnees are being ignored because these issues are not included in the discussions.”