November 24, 2022
Military council troops have begun to control people along the road to Injangyang township in Myitkyina District, Kachin state, making it difficult to transport food to the Bumra Yang IDP camp.
“Last year, it was very difficult to get to the refugee camp. Now we can go there by car, but in times like these, the military council keeps stopping and checking vehicles carrying rice, cooking oil, salt and medicine because of various political problems. And because they close the road to vehicles, it’s very difficult to provide food and medicine to the IDPs on a regular basis. For this reason, in some months we can’t deliver food to the camp on time,” said a person helping the IDPs.
Karuna Social Services Association and Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) have been supporting the IDPs in Bumra Yang for more than a year, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult for them to transport food to the camp because they’re checked and arrested on the road and aren’t allowed to cross the road.
In addition, in the IDP camp, which is far from clinics and hospitals, it’s difficult to get medical treatment and there’s a lack of medicine, he said.
“The IDP camp where we live has no access to mobile internet. It’s difficult to get to the township hospital when an emergency patient comes. It’s winter now and it’s very cold. Since the makeshift tents aren’t windproof, people get sick from time to time. There’s no medicine. We even have to eat rice sparingly to survive,” said an IDP.
For the people in Bumra Yang IDP Camp, relief supplies and donations are dwindling the longer the displacement continues. They’re trying to grow rice and other crops and vegetables in the highlands to feed themselves, but the rat infestation this year has caused them to lose almost all of them.
Although some social groups are planning to build houses for the displaced people, it’s difficult for them to transport the building materials because transportation is difficult at the moment.
The residents of Bumra Yang IDP Camp were displaced in early 2021 due to the fighting between the military council forces and Kachin Independence Army in Injangyang Township.
Currently, families from more than 80 households from villages in Injangyang Township are living in Bumra Yang IDP Camp.
Sent by NMG.