Civilians increasingly trapped in fighting as conflict zones expand: report

By Admin 13 Jun 2024

DMG Newsroom
13 June 2024, Sittwe

With conflict zones expanding across the country, the space for civilians to flee the fighting has increasingly shrunk, said a weekly analysis report from Burma News International-Myanmar (BNI-Myanmar).

According to BNI, the majority of rural villagers were displaced not because of the fighting, but due to junta raids, artillery strikes and bombing runs targeting civilian areas.

In Arakan State, where fighting has been raging for some seven months, the regime has blockaded roads and waterways, making it difficult for locals to flee from conflict zones.

“We want to flee to safety, but the regime has blockaded all the roads. In days of fierce clashes, we can only take shelter in nearby villages, then we return to our villages,” said a resident of Kyeik Taw Village in Thandwe Township.

Escalating clashes are posing greater threats to the safety and survival of civilians, said the BNI report.

Fourteen civilians were killed and 24 others injured when the regime carried out air and artillery attacks on Sin Kaung Village in Thandwe Township on June 4-5.

The attacks on residential areas followed fighting between the regime and the Arakkha Army (AA) some two miles from Ngapali Town earlier this month.

The regime has been forcing residents from more than 10 villages in Sittwe Township to move to the town. Villagers are concerned that they will be used as human shields.

“The administrator told us that the regime had ordered us to move to Sittwe Town. We don’t know why. We don’t want to move to the town. We don’t feel safe,” said a woman from Palin Pyin Village.

More than 8,500 people were displaced by regime-AA fighting and junta attacks on civilian areas in the first week of June.

More than 562,000 people have been displaced by the fighting across Myanmar since January 1, said the BNI report.

“We fled our home some five months ago. We have subsisted by selling all of our belongings. We need shelter, food and medicines to get through the rainy season,” said a displaced woman from Ponnagyun Township, Arakan State.

It remains a challenge to provide food and humanitarian assistance to displaced people in need across Myanmar.