Ex-IDPs in Myebon Twsp yet to receive resettlement money promised by regime

By DMG 23 Jul 2022

DMG Newsroom
23 July 2022, Myebon

Former residents of a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kanhtaungyi town, Myebon Township, who have recently returned to their home villages say they have not yet received the financial and material assistance that the regime had promised them for resettlement.

At peak occupancy, more than 600 people were taking shelter at the camp, but 224 people from 72 households returned to their villages in June, after the regime promised that it would supply K500,000 and two baskets of rice per household for returnees. The regime has not yet followed through on that pledge, however, said Ma Hsan Tin.

“We plan to buy a boat with the K500,000 we were promised. But we have not yet received it and for now, we have to go into the forest to collect bamboo shoots [to feed ourselves] though we are very concerned about the risk of landmines,” she told DMG.

Fear of landmines has been a consistent theme of many IDPs’ circumstances, determining if they will attempt to return home, how they will interact with their surrounding environment, and what they can do for livelihood. Without the promised government assistance, many are finding their situations to be increasingly untenable.

“We dare not return to our village due to landmine risk,” said Daw Oo Than Yi, 70. “So, we have rented a house in Kanhtaungyi, but we have not yet paid rent to our landlord [because we have not yet received money from the regime]. We have nowhere to go if the landlord is not happy with us. We have to catch and sell clams for a living now.”

U Kyaw Lwin from Kyauk Kone village said his resettlement plans have been put on hold, pending the provision of the relocation aid.

“We registered to leave the camp because we thought we would be able to start a business with that money. I dare not go into the forests. So, I search for mushrooms around the creek and sell them,” he said.

Daw Ma Ngwe Tin has not been able to repair her damaged house after returning to her village. “My house is damaged, and I have no money to repair it. It is unbearable to live in a badly damaged house,” she said.

The secretary of the displacement camp, U Win Hla, said: “It was the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement that said it would supply K500,000 and a month’s supply of rice. The ministry asked IDPs in March to register [to return to their villages]. I have asked the ministry [about when the supply would be given], but they didn’t give an answer.”

When asked about the unfulfilled pledge to provide resettlement assistance, Kanhtaungyi town administrator U Kyaw Kyaw referred DMG to the spokesman of the Arakan State Administration Council. That spokesman, U Hla Thein, did not answer DMG’s phone calls.