Internally Displaced People (IDPs) from Kawnwe village in Dupalayar District in the Brigade-6-controlled territory of the Karen National Union (KNU) are facing livelihood difficulties due to the protracted displacement, according to the ground news sources.
Thousands of locals fled for safety following the battles between the military council and a combined force of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and local defense forces near Kawnwe village and nearby villagers in December, 2022.
Locals have to flee to other villages as the members of the Border Guard Force (BGF) are stationed in Kawnwe village.
The IDPs are not in a position to return home as the army is firing heavy shells near Kawnwe village every day. They face difficulty in the availability of foods due to the protracted displacement.
A female IDP from Kawnwe village said: “The army did not allow some people to stay in the village for a while when some people went to the village to cook rice for alms on the first day of water festival. I have been taking shelter at the monastery for long. I have to rely on the foods donated to the monastery and to grow crops in the compound of monastery. No one doesn’t want to return home due to a lack of life safety. There are BGF members in the village.”
The Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN) is providing emergency rations for the IDPs amid the military council’s shelling every day. The necessities of the IDPs will differ based on the regional military situations as the situation of fighting and shootings are unknown, said an in-charge of the KPSN which recently provided emergency rations for some IDPs in Kawnwe on 17 April.
An in-charge of the KPSN told the Karen Information Center (KIC): “The army fires heavy shells in Kawnwe almost every day. Some people are taking shelter in safer places near the village. We are providing aid by affiliating with the Phan Foundation, Progressive Voices, Advance Myanmar and Karen Social Organizations in foreign countries as locals ask for emergency rations.”
The military council unsystematically buried the bodies of some soldiers killed in the battles between the military council and revolutionary forces last year, in Kawnwe village. The villagers exhumed and reburied them systematically.
Since the military coup, fighting has been taking place between the military council and the armed revolutionary forces in Dupalayar District. Over 90,000 locals were displaced by the military council’s increased shelling and airstrikes in Dupalaryar District, according to the KPSN’s statement released on 27 February.
Sent by Nant Hsan Htee (KIC)
