IDPs in Arakan State call on regime to lift restrictions on aid delivery

By DMG 26 Aug 2022

DMG Newsroom
26 August 2022, Sittwe

War-displaced civilians in Arakan State have called on Myanmar’s military regime not to impose restrictions on local and international organisations providing humanitarian assistance for them.

The requests come at a time when internally displaced people (IDPs) are receiving much fewer relief supplies from donors, with food prices soaring and unemployment also rising.

As the regime can’t provide regular rice supplies for IDPs, it should allow international and local civil society organisations to help IDPs freely, said U Maung Aye Kyaw of Buddhaw Maw IDP camp in Sittwe.

“Our main requirement is rice. If we have rice, we can eat it with anything, whether salt or vegetables. If the government can’t supply rice, we ask that it allow international aid organisations to supply us,” he said.

It has been three months since the regime’s Arakan State Disaster Management Department last supplied rice to some IDP camps. IDPs in these settlements are facing serious hardship as they now rely almost solely on a monthly allowance of K17,000 per person provided by the World Food Programme (WFP).

Japan’s Nippon Foundation has supplied more than 55,000 sacks of rice for IDPs in Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Buthidaung, Ann, Minbya, Myebone, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung and Pauktaw townships, but some townships have yet to received the Japan-donated rice due to junta restrictions on the delivery of that aid.

“Life is increasingly difficult because of soaring food prices,” said U Saw Thein, who currently lives at an IDP camp opened at a railway station in Kyauktaw. “We have to spend more on the health and education of our children. The government should support us on humanitarian grounds instead of imposing restrictions on international aid.”

On August 20, police barred the Sittwe-based Metta Yaungchi philanthropic foundation from collecting donations to provide emergency supplies to people displaced by fighting between regime troops and the Arakan Army. Foundation officials were subsequently forced to sign a document saying they would not solicit donations without first obtaining permission from authorities.

Ko Ann Thargyi, chairman of Thingaha Kanlet Rakhita Association, said: “There could be delays in delivering food supplies to IDPs as the military has blocked off roads. So, there can be greater challenges for donors and charities. The regime will continue to block supply routes and we will have to bypass them by any means.”

Many people have been newly displaced in Rathedaung, Maungdaw and Chin State’s Paletwa townships due to escalating hostilities between the regime and the AA since early this month.

As many as 1,622 people including pregnant women, infants and children have been displaced by recent clashes, said the United League of Arakan (ULA), the AA’s political wing, in a report on Tuesday.