Relief supplies needed for hundreds of locals displaced by fighting in Rathedaung Twsp

By DMG 15 Aug 2022

DMG Newsroom
15 August 2022, Rathedaung 

Hundreds of residents who fled their homes for safer locations after the Myanmar military clashed with the Arakan Army in Rathedaung Township over the weekend are reportedly unable to return home. 

As a result of the fighting that took place on August 13 in the Mayu Hills, approximately 700 people from Cheinkhali village, over 600 locals from Donpaik village and some residents of Kyantaingaung village in Rathedaung Township fled to nearby villages. 

“When the fighting broke out on August 13, almost all villagers fled to safer locations and no one remained in the village,” said an elderly man from Cheinkhali village. “The villagers displaced by fighting are currently taking shelter in nearby villages.” 

Many of the internally displaced people (IDPs) are sheltering at their relatives’ homes and monasteries in nearby villages, said a resident of Donpaik village. 

“The village elders are making arrangements to accommodate two IDPs in one home. We are having many difficulties,” he added. 

The Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement and concerned departments have yet to provide assistance to them, IDPs said. 

The displaced people are in need of food and clothing, according to Ko Aung Min Soe, chairman of the Zedipyin youth philanthropic association. 

“The IDPs are in need of food and clothes and we are gathering the list of displaced people for donations. Donors are needed for the IDPs,” he told DMG. 

The number of donors helping IDPs is decreasing, and as the number of displaced people increases due to renewed fighting, health problems may arise, said Ko Zaw Zaw Tun, secretary of the Rakhine Ethnics Congress (REC). 

“The number of IDPs is increasing, but the donors are decreasing. As for the organisations that are helping the IDPs, there are many difficulties because they are limited. Previously, the IDPs have been facing many difficulties, and now they may face severe livelihood hardships,” he added. 

More than 230,000 people were displaced in Arakan State during some two years of conflict between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army from late 2018 to November 2020. While many have since returned home, tens of thousands of IDPs remain at displacement camps.   

The total increase in the IDP population due to the latest fighting in Arakan State is not yet known, Ko Zaw Zaw Tun said. 

About 1,500 local people from Rathedaung Township’s Pyarchaungyi, Aleywachay and Pyinkhaung villages fled their homes after a military contingent was deployed near the villages on July 18. 

Military tensions have been running high between the two sides for months, with intermittent clashes over recent weeks threatening a precarious informal ceasefire that has been in place since November 2020.