IDPs at camp in Arakan State industrial zone forced to flee again

By DMG 22 Nov 2022

DMG Newsroom
22 November 2022, Ponnagyun 

Internally displaced people (IDPs) at a camp in a Ponnagyun Township industrial zone have reportedly fled to safer locations, prompted to uproot their lives again by a recent shelling nearby. 

Two local men were injured after artillery shells landed and exploded in Yaybyukan Village, part of Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township, on Saturday afternoon. IDPs at the Ponnagyun industrial zone fled to safer locations as they were worried that more mortars would land near the displacement camp, said U Win Maung, an official at the camp. 

“Two mortar shells landed about 300 feet from the displacement camp. Almost all IDPs dared not stay in the displacement camp and have fled to safer locations in recent days,” he explained. 

Prior to Saturday’s shelling, there were more than 500 IDPs at the displacement camp, with former inhabitants now scattered to surrounding villages such as Thayetcho, Aungphyupyin, Kyankhin and Pannilar. 

“We are now at a monastery in Thayetcho Village,” said one IDP, Daw Nay Nay Win. “We’ve been provided with rice and cooking oil by residents of the village and are currently staying at the monastery’s Dhammayon [religious edifice].” 

The Ponnagyun Township industrial zone displacement camp had sheltered hundreds of IDPs from villages such as Thazi, Kyaukseik and Doe Tan in Ponnagyun Township, as well as Hnamadar Village in Chin State’s Paletwa Township. 

“We are displaced people and we had to flee again,” Daw Nay Nay Win told DMG. “We don’t know when we will be able to return home. People like us, with children, are in trouble and face many difficulties.” 

Since August, renewed fighting between the military and Arakan Army (AA) has increasingly disrupted everyday life in Arakan State, with clashes reported across multiple townships. The number of people uprooted by the conflict has climbed steadily, adding to the ranks of tens of thousands of civilians in Arakan State who remain displaced due to previous military-AA hostilities from 2018-2020. 

In addition to the abandonment of the industrial zone IDP camp, some 5,000 residents of several Ponnagyun Township villages recently fled their homes due to junta raids and artillery strikes.