Gwa residents face risk of landmines, unexploded ordnance

By Admin 23 Dec 2024

DMG Newsroom
23 December 2024, Gwa

Social workers say residents of Gwa Township, Arakan State, are suffering greatly from the military regime’s landmine threat.

Locals often suffer injuries and deaths from landmines planted by the military regime in the forests and fields of Gwa Township.

Ma Soe Moe San, a 30-year-old woman from Kalarpyin Village in Gwa Township, lost her left leg after stepping on a landmine on December 17 while going to the farm to harvest paddy.

U Kyaw Soe Lwin, 47, from Jaikauk Village, also lost a leg while visiting the fields.

“Two people from Kalarpyin and Jaikauk villages stepped on landmines while going to their farmlands. The landmines may have been planted by junta soldiers,” said a local resident.

People who work in the forests and farms are facing difficulties as the military regime has laid landmines in areas where locals work.

Two people have been killed and five others were seriously injured in landmine blasts in Gwa Township since renewed fighting between the Myanmar military and AA began in Arakan State in November 2023.

The Gwa Township IDPs assistance team is currently conducting awareness raising activities regarding the dangers of landmines and unexploded remnants of war.

“We are working with responsible people to create awareness signs and pamphlets in communities about the dangers of landmines and other types of weapons of mass destruction. Some of these things are being done as much as we can,” said Ko Naing Aung Lin, information officer of the Gwa Township IDPs assistance team.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said in a report on December 13 that 123 civilians were killed or injured so far this year due to landmines and explosive remnants of war in Arakan State and neighbouring Paletwa Township, Chin State.

The Arakkha Army (AA) has been clearing landmines in some areas controlled by the ethnic armed group, but says that as it is still a war zone, it is difficult to do this on a large scale.