Aftermath of Armed Conflict Leaves 1,000 IDPs In Need of Assistance
Over 1,000 displaced civilians in central Shan State’s
Mong Hsu Township still in need of relief after the resolution agreement between
the Burma Army and the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) had
been reached.
According to Nang Jing, a local relief worker in Mong
Hsu Township, IDPs were told to return homes after the head of the Eastern
Central Command visited the camp on January 2. Many of them decided to stay at
the camp due to security concerns.
“There are over 1,000 villagers still staying at Hai Pa
camp,” said Nang Jing. “They still need food and housing supplies.”
“But now, there is very little aid for them,” she
added.
Burma Army launched heavy offensives in early October last year against the Shan State
Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), an ethnic armed
group that refused to sign the nationwide ceasefire agreement. Fighting caused more than 10,000 civilians from Mong Hsu, Mong Nong and
Kesi Townshipsin in Central Shan State to flee their homes.
“We were asked to go back home but we are afraid of
landmine so we don’t want to go,” said a displaced villager who is staying at
Hai Pa camp. “Burma soldiers are still stationed in our village.”
“We cannot provide them the houses but we can give them
some building materials so that they can build their houses,” said Sai Hseng Murng,
the secretary of local aid group Namkhong Organization.
He said that the IDPs, who stayed in the camp, did not
have space to grow their crop. He went on to say the group would try to provide
them rice until June this year.
Aid is being sent to northern Shan State’s Kyaukme
Township to help over 5,000 displaced people who just fled their homes due to
the renewed clashes between the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the
Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA).
BY SAI AW / Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN)
Tags: Human Rights, News
