The Burmese government and military are “weaponising” aid access in Kachin State, which could amount to war crimes, according to a new report released by Fortify Rights.
Lead Story News Politics Rohingya
With 1.2 million refugees originating from Burma and tens of thousands more uprooted inside the country, the Southeast Asian nation was the source of the fourth-largest population of displaced people worldwide at the end of 2017, a new report by the UN refugee agency.
“Unless both sides stop fighting and allow these people to go home, [the Kachin IDPs] are facing a dire situation.”
Arakan Lead Story News Rohingya
Zaw Htay said that security forces carried out a clearance operation in the Buthidaung-Maungdaw region of the Mayu mountain range. “That’s where the terrorists were hiding,” he said.
Most of the families are Rohingyas returning from Bangladesh, having fled their homes several months ago during an intense military crackdown in and around Maungdaw.
Arakan Conflict Lead Story News
Some 420 men, women and children are camped in the town of Sechaung, while another 62 ethnic Khami people shelter in a monastery.
Relief workers say that these internally displaced persons are urgently in need of blankets and warm clothing as the cold season sets in.
Foreign aid groups had previously been denied access to shelters amid ongoing clashes between government security forces and armed mobs.
More than 100 persons, who fled their villages last week amid violent scenes in Maungdaw, were transported back home on Thursday morning.
“The Myanmar Tatmadaw [armed forces] consistently hinders food transportation to the most needed area in Kachin State,” says JST.
The group also reportedly called for the Tatmadaw to release two villagers who were detained during a raid on a SSA-S facility in the village of Panpwe.
Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement says it has delivered humanitarian relief for over 3,800 villagers displaced by recent hostilities.
Representatives of the United Nations Population Fund speak to DVB about efforts to address gender-based violence in Burma.
“They claimed that three or four villagers from Wanmai were abducted by the Palaung armed group [TNLA] and yet to return.”
Lead Story News Peace Process Shan
“The IDPs are being repatriated as calm gradually returns to the area,” a Shan MP tells DVB.
Conflict Ethnic issues Lead Story News
Fighting in Burma’s north intensified this week, even as a visiting EU delegation urged all parties to lay down their arms.
Arakan National Party MP Khin Saw Wai says the government and international aid agencies should come to the assistance of local people displaced by recent clashes in Arakan State.
Relief agencies warn that the increasing number of IDPs in Arakan State may soon stretch humanitarian resources to the breaking point.
Conflict Ethnic issues Lead Story News
The largest ethnic party in parliament and a signatory to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement want the Burmese army to end its offensive in Arakan State.
The displaced villagers also claimed that the Burmese army has been forcing local people to act as porters.
Arakan Lead Story News Politics
Already displaced by conflict between rebels and the Burmese army, Arakanese villagers are now facing a water shortage as the hot season bears down.
The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) in Burma is facing a funding shortfall of $51 million to meet all the needs till the end of 2016.
Ethnic issues Lead Story News Politics
For more than six months in 2011, Ywe Ja refused to leave her home in Burma’s Kachin State despite heavy fighting around her village.
A novel portraying the plight of civilians tormented by civil war in northern Burma wins ‘Best Novel’ category in this years’ national literature awards.
Ngwe Pyaw, which means ‘wealthy village’ in Burmese, was founded by the government in May 2014 as a pilot resettlement site. But it is wealthy in name only.
Aid Kachin Lead Story News Refugees
Hundreds of refugees in northern Kachin State are not receiving humanitarian aid, according to the Kachin Baptist Council (KBC).
Burmese govt press cite sources claiming that relief supplies are ‘abundant’ in the camps.
Refugees living on the Thai border will be offered courses in dressmaking, mechanics, construction and hotel management to improve job prospects in Burma.
Conflict Kachin Lead Story News
Residents from a number of villages in central Kachin State have been ordered by the Burmese army to evacuate the region, following clashes with Kachin rebels.
Conflict Ethnic issues Kachin Lead Story News
Locals in the Kachin town of Laiza fear renewed clashes between government and ethnic forces, after an artillery shell landed close to a boarding school.
