Junta troops still stationed at monastery IDP camp in Rathedaung

By DMG 25 Jul 2022

DMG Newsroom
25 July 2022, Rathedaung 

It has been a week since Myanmar’s military regime deployed troops at a Buddhist monastery in Rathedaung Township, according to locals and internally displaced people (IDPs). 

About 60 junta troops have been stationed at Pyi Lone Chan Thar Monastery in Rathedaung since July 18. More than 40 IDPs, including elderly people and children, have since fled the monastery. 

Speaking to DMG on condition of anonymity, a Rathedaung resident who is assisting the displaced said: “All of the IDPs have fled out of fear. The abbot of the monastery is staying somewhere else. Some IDPs are staying in the town, and some have fled to their relatives.” 

Junta troops have made bunkers out of sandbags outside the monastery, said residents. 

The affected IDPs, meanwhile, are having troubles, said one such individual who did not want to be named.  

“Elderly people have no medicine to take when they are sick. We are being fed by others,” he said. “People will only provide free meals for a few days, and no one will want to feed us long term. Our troubles will only worsen if they [Myanmar military soldiers] continue to stay at the camp.” 

Another IDP who asked for anonymity said: “We are concerned because the soldiers are fully armed. We are concerned that we will be arrested and interrogated. We are also concerned that renewed fighting might occur. So, we have fled. We left food behind at the camp.” 

Human rights activists have criticised the junta’s troop deployments at religious sites, including monasteries. 

“It is unacceptable that Myanmar military troops are stationed at religious sites. Not only Arakanese people but Myanmar [Bamar] people would not accept it either,” said U Myat Tun, director of the Arakan Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Association. 

Junta troops have undertaken patrols across Rathedaung town as well as in some neighbouring villages, and also carried out checks on some residents, prompting IDPs from other parts of the town and local residents from at least three villages to flee. 

DMG has been unable to obtain comment from Arakan State Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Kyaw Thura about the troop deployment at the monastery turned displacement camp in Rathedaung.