Hindu IDPs in Maungdaw Twsp struggle to survive

By Admin 24 Nov 2024

DMG Newsroom
24 November 2024, Maungdaw

Hundreds of Hindu internally displaced people (IDPs) taking shelter at the Laungdon Hmyarsin displacement camp in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, are reportedly facing livelihood hardships and are in need of assistance.

Displacement camp officials say the food situation for the Hindu IDPs is deteriorating and some are starving due to the lack of assistance from international and local aid organisations.

“We make a living by working as odd-job labourers. Some Hindu IDPs are going hungry. There is no doctor at the displacement camp. We want a clinic, drinking water and clothes,” said U Maung Hla Htein, a displacement camp official.

The Hindu IDPs are residents from Maungdaw’s Ward-1, Ward-3 and Ward-4, and Shwezar and Aungbala villages. They were evacuated by the Arakkha Army (AA) during the battle for control of Maungdaw in August.

The IDPs are facing many difficulties due to skyrocketing prices, and lack of jobs and financial support.

Barchuena, a Hindu IDP woman, said that she and the others are in urgent need of warm clothing and blankets as colder weather sets in.

“We have difficulties with regard to drinking water and accommodation. We have to sleep under sarongs as we don’t have blankets,” she explained.

As many as 680,000 people in Arakan State have been displaced by fighting from the February 2021 coup through the end of October. There are about 200,000 IDPs in Maungdaw District, according to data from the AA’s Humanitarian and Development Coordination Office (HDCO).

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in a report earlier this month warned of potential famine in Arakan State next year, putting approximately 2 million people at risk as trade, businesses and agriculture are hit by the impacts of ongoing armed conflict between the AA and Myanmar’s military regime.