Little aid, no contact: Shan State’s IDP crisis
Shan State’s
10,000-plus internally displaced people (IDPs) are now dispersed between more
than ten locations in six townships, according to data collected by the Tai
Youth Network (TYN), a group of local volunteers worried that the basic needs
of the displaced are not being met.
Children displaced by fighting in
Shan State eat rice and cabbage in an IDP camp in Mong Hsu Township. (Oum Mwe:
S.H.A.N)
“No organization
is helping them,” said Sai Hseng Murng, of TYN, after visiting Wan Wa, a Kesi
Township village now hosting nearly 1,000 IDPs. The aid that has reached the
IDPs has been collected and distributed through community-based relief networks
rather than international organizations, local sources explained.
“Cold season
is coming and they need more help,” he added. TYN delivered 300 bags of rice
and 500,000 kyat (almost $400 USD) to the informal camp yesterday.
Concerned
about conditions at Hai Pa, an IDP host site in Mong Hsu Township, Sai Thurein
Oo, an MP representing Namzang in the Shan State Parliament, intended to travel
to check on those displaced there—an estimated 1,500 people.
“The local people
told us, ‘don’t go,’ because the Burma Army won’t let anyone through,” he said.
“No one has been able to contact the Hai Pa IDPs since November 8.”
Burma Army
checkpoints on area roads are also allegedly blocking the transport of any
large amounts of rice to Mong Hsu, according to local merchants, in order to
restrict the amount of aid that reaches IDP camps.
Also the
site of repeated clashes, Kesi and Mong Hsu townships were previously host to a
total of 6,000 displaced civilians, a number which increased by 40 percent
after the current wave of offensives began more than one week ago, on November
10, two days after Burma held its first general election in 25 years.
In the past
week, the crisis has extended to new locations, as IDPs have also sought refuge
in Laikha, Mong Yai, Namzang Townships and northern Shan State’s Lashio.
Today marks
the third day of escalated Burma Army offensives near the Shan State Progress
Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N) headquarters, according to a statement
released today in Burmese by the SSPP/SSA-N.
“They attacked with artillery and fighter jets
and reinforced their troops,” the statement read. “The refugees are increasing
day by day. They have lost their property and they have had to leave their
homes and flee. The farmers cannot harvest their rice. The children cannot
attend school.”
On November
16, the Burma Army once again attacked the village of Wan Saw, formerly an IDP
safe haven, with helicopters and fighter jets, displacing the civilians who
remained or had returned after an artillery attack there six days earlier.
Major Sai
Su, spokesperson for the SSPP/SSA-N told SHAN that civilians from five villages
surrounding Wan Saw fled when they saw the jets on Monday, adding to the number
of area IDPs.
Fighter jets
reportedly dropped bombs near the SSPP/SSA-N Wan Hai base on November 17. Ground
forces continued this attack in the early morning hours today from Kyu Mawk
Khao, a Burma Army base; this was reportedly carried out through the repeated
use of heavy artillery, a tactic documented regularly since the Burma Army
initiated military offensives in central Shan State on October 6.
By SIMMA FRANCIS / Shan Herald
Agency for News (S.H.A.N)
Reporting by NANG HOM and SAI
YIPHONG / Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)
Tags: Human Rights, News
