Zedipyin camp committee and minister discuss home return for IDPs

By Win Nyunt 04 May 2020

Win Nyunt | DMG
4 May, Sittwe

The Arakan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs and members of the management committee for the Zedipyin IDP camp in Ponnagyun Township on May 2 discussed returning the war refugees to their homes.

The minister, Colonel Min Than, told the camp delegation, which included three local monks, village elders and village administrators, to meet the operations commander from a military base near Pauk Taw Pyin village to assist the IDPs in their return.

The operations commander told the monks and officials of the village General Administration Department to arrange for villagers to return home after compiling the household members list, said U Kan Tun Aung, the administrator of Pauk Taw Pyin village.

More than 1,300 people from the village are taking shelter at the Zedipyin camp and another 1,000 villagers fled to nearby villages during fighting near the village in early April.

U Arrakha, a monk providing help at the camp, said villagers were suffering hardships that ranged from finding adequate food and shelter to facing a water shortage.

Many of the IDPs hope to return home before the monsoon season begins in earnest.

“The shelter at the camp is not suitable for during the rainy season. And, they need to grow paddy during the monsoon season. So, they want to return home,” the monk said.

Fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army in Arakan State has displaced more than 160,000 people, the Rakhine Ethnics Congress said on April 30.