Ongoing military presence prevents Buthidaung Twsp villagers from returning home

By Admin 02 Jun 2023

DMG Newsroom
2 June 2023, Buthidaung

Residents of Phayonechaung and Hnetpyawchaung villages in Buthidaung Township, Arakan State, have not been able to return home for more than one month due to an ongoing military presence in the villages.

Military personnel questioned some villagers and forced them to leave the villages temporarily on April 30, after four junta soldiers from No. 22 Light Infantry Division went missing.

The affected villagers are currently sheltering at their relatives’ homes in downtown Buthidaung and in Nyaungchaung, Thaykan Khwasone and Thaykan villages. Some of the displaced villagers have indicated a desire to rebuild their homes damaged by Cyclone Mocha, and are demanding permission to return to the village.

“We were not allowed to return to our village. We [tried to return] to the village to repair our homes damaged by the cyclonic storm. We were told not to cut down trees in the village,” said a resident of Phayonechaung Village.

Phayonechaung Village is located about 12 miles from the town of Buthidaung. The village has a population of just over 80 people across 18 households, with most villagers earning a living by fishing or making charcoal.

Residents of Hnetpyawchaung Village, meanwhile, dare not return home as junta soldiers are still stationed in the village. Six out of 25 households in Hnetpyawchaung Village have returned to the village recently, but the returnees are now planning to come back to their relatives’ homes.

“We struggle to make ends meet as we earn a living by catching crabs. We do hope to return to the village. The junta soldiers have driven us out of the village,” said a local man from Hnetpyawchaung Village who declined to be named for security reasons.

Some 200 people from the two villages who left the village are struggling to make ends meet and are in need of humanitarian assistance.

DMG phoned Arakan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura and spokesperson for the Arakan State military council U Hla Thein regarding the villagers’ return, but they could not be reached.

About 50 villagers believe that landmines planted by the Arakan Army (AA) may be in the village, and they have temporarily moved out of their own accord, according to pro-junta social media reports.

The villagers left their homes during renewed fighting between the military and AA, and junta soldiers were deployed in the villages after the two sides reached an informal ceasefire in late November 2022.