IDP camps in Myebon Twsp need food and warm clothes

By Mrat Swe 28 Dec 2020

Myat Swe | DMG
28 December 2020, Sittwe 

Some camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Myebon Township, Arakan State, are in dire need of food and warm clothing amid the region’s cool season, camp managers have said.  

Sanyin IDP camp, where more than 400 people are sheltering, has faced food shortages for more than 20 days, IDPs said. 

“We need rice, edible oil and salt. A monk donated them for a week. The camp will run out of basic foodstuffs in the coming week,” said U Maung Kyan Thein, who has taken refuge at Sanyin IDP camp.  

IDPs will take any job to earn money for additional food, but they are facing a scarcity of employment opportunities, he added.  

Because Sanyin is not recognised as an official IDP camp, international organisations and most donors do not provide relief aid, according to inhabitants. IDPs there are demanding that the government allow the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide relief assistance.  

“If someone from Minbya came to provide food, they were blocked near Yoe Chaung bridge. If donors from Ann town come to provide food for the IDP camp, they are blocked near Kazukaing bridge. So, the camp provided a little donation. The donation we received is not enough for them and we are facing a food shortage,” said Sayardaw Thabawa Nadi, manager of Sanyin IDP camp. 

Kaing Gyi IDP camp in Myebon Township, where more than 100 people have taken shelter, has also been facing food shortages for more than two weeks, said Ko Shwe Soe, manager of the camp.  

“The camp ran out of food. I bought rice on credit from rice millers in nearby villages to provide for the camp,” he said. 

The IDP camp in Kanhtaunggyi town, where more than 1,600 people are living, needs more warm clothes, said camp manager U Maung Aye Thar. 

“The government provided more than 300 bags of rice a few days ago. The camp is crowded and we want the government to provide more rice. And we need blankets, mats and mosquito nets,” he said.  

More than 30,000 IDPs are estimated to have returned home over recent weeks in the absence of fighting between the military and Arakan Army in the state, while more than 190,000 continue to shelter at IDP camps or are otherwise displaced, according to the Rakhine Ethnics Congress.