Aid workers struggle to assist IDPs in Thandwe and Gwa due to cash shortages

By Admin 29 Aug 2024

DMG Newsroom
29 August 2024, Thandwe

Aid workers say that mobile money agent shops have been closed due to the fighting in Arakan State’s Thandwe and Gwa townships, and the service charges that people must pay to Wave Pay and KBZ Pay agents to withdraw cash from their mobile wallets has risen, making it difficult to help those displaced by the fighting.

With mobile phone and internet shutdowns and fewer mobile money agents making it difficult to convert donations into cash, there have been delays in helping internally displaced people (IDPs).

“As there are not as many mobile money agents as there used to be, it is difficult to convert donations into cash. Sometimes we have to look for people who will transfer money and exchange cash. As cash is not easily available, there are delays in providing donations to IDPs,” said an aid worker in Thandwe Township.

Since June, mobile phone and internet access has been cut off in Thandwe Township, and most of the online mobile banking operators have also stopped their operations there.

Even with cash shortages, the service fee was just K500 to withdraw K100,000 in the past. However, residents in Thandwe and Gwa townships now have to pay K15,000 to K20,000, or 15 to 20 percent of their withdrawal.

Food and medicine are in short supply and prices are skyrocketing due to the junta blockades on Thandwe and Gwa townships.

“There is a complete shortage of food and medicine here. Medicines in particular are in short supply. Food is still available here,” said a local resident in Thandwe.

Shortages of cash, delays in aid, shortages of goods, and skyrocketing commodity prices make it even more difficult for IDPs in particular.

Thousands of local people in Thandwe and Gwa townships were displaced by the fighting between the military regime and Arakkha Army (AA), and the IDPs are in need of food and medicine.

Fierce clashes are ongoing at the Maung Shwe Lay naval base in Thandwe Township and in Kyaukparsat and Kalarpyin villages near Kyeintali Town in Gwa Township, the AA said in a statement on August 26.