Number of IDPs surpasses 100,000 in Kayah State

By DMG 14 Jun 2021

DMG Newsroom
14 June, 2021, Sittwe

More than 100,000 people have been displaced by fighting between Tatmadaw troops and the Karenni National Defense Force (KNDF) in Kayah State since May, leaving as many as 50 dead, according to aid groups that are assisting the internally displaced (IDPs).

Kayah State has a population of just over 300,000, making the number of IDPs equivalent to about one-third of the state’s people.

According to the Karenni Women’s Association (Kayah), humanitarian groups are currently facing difficulties as regime forces have destroyed trucks carrying relief items and have blockaded supply routes to the IDPs.

“Even if there are people who want to donate to the IDPs, all the roads are blocked by the junta forces,” said an aid worker who declined to be named.

“The IDPs could carry nothing as they fled to safer locations suddenly. Pregnant mothers and their babies face many difficulties. A 6-day-old baby boy born on the way while fleeing the war has died. The IDPs are not comfortable without relief supplies, including medicine.”

Kayah State residents have been forced to flee their homes as Myanmar security forces have arrested them on suspicion of firing on them near villages.

U Khin Zaw, a local resident, said fighting between the military council’s troops and the KNDF had left at least 50 people dead, including civilian adults and children.

“Many people, including children, were killed in the fighting. In all, about 50 villagers, including PDF [People’s Defense Force] members, were killed,” he said.

“Three members of the People’s Defence Force sacrificed their lives,” he added. “But we don’t know the exact number of civilians killed in the fighting because we have no contact with the aid workers.”

In addition, up to 139 people have been arrested in Kayah State, according to an aid worker from the Peking Kokku camp, which is assisting the IDPs.

“Most of them have returned from military training. In all, 139 people have been arrested so far. It is difficult for me to say when or where they were arrested,” he said.

In Chin State, which borders Arakan State in Myanmar’s west, more than 50,000 people have been displaced by fighting between the Chin People’s Defense Force and Tatmadaw troops since the end of April, according to locals and aid workers.