October 5, 2022
The military council has reportedly ordered more than 7,000 people from 11 IDP camps in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, to return to their homes by the end of the rainy season.
At noon on October 4, the township administrator of Kyauktaw General Administration Department summoned officials from the IDP camps and instructed them to do so, IDP camp officials told Myanmar Peace Monitor (MPM).
During the briefing, the junta-appointed administrator told the IDPs to return home by the end of the rainy season and that the military council would provide MMK 100,000 and rice rations for one month to families wishing to return.
Families who do not want to return to their homes would have to live according to their own plans, whether they continue to live in IDP camps or in other designated areas, and the state military council would not provide assistance, IPD camp officials said.
The directive was passed from the regime’s state’s administration council to the township administration and then to officials at the IDP camps, they said.
In addition, they said the military council-appointed administrator also asked them to conduct censuses of the IDP population who want to return home and also those who do not.
“They said that not only IDPs in Arakan State but also those throughout Myanmar would have to return home by the end of the rainy season. They said nothing about rebuilding or repairing their homes in the destroyed villages. In our opinion, it is very difficult for the IDPs to return home now. At this time, when the number of IDPs is increasing, returning those who have been here before would mean sending them to a death pit,” said an official at the IDP camp in Kyauktaw.
In Arakan State, skirmishes between the Arakan Army (AA) and military council troops are currently recurring in many townships. The junta is deliberately shelling villages with heavy weapons, making it risky for IDPs to return to their homes.
In addition, IDPs have expressed concerns because houses in villages such as Pyaing Tine, Mont Than Pyin, and Tinma Gyi in Kyauktaw Township were burned down last year and these houses have not been rebuilt.
They are also concerned about the dangers posed by war remnants and landmines.
An official at an IDP camp expressed the opinion that the military council is forcing IDPs to return to their homes to prepare for the upcoming elections.
“In my opinion, they are doing this as part of their preparation for the elections. These villages will only be occupied if they return to their homes. Then they [junta officials] will be able to set up polling stations there. This is my personal opinion. This instruction came from the border affairs and security minister and was forwarded to the township administrators,” he said.
Currently, there are a total of 11 IDP camps in Kyauktaw Township with a population of around 7,000.
The Ministry of Social Welfare and Resettlement has not provided rice rations to the IDP camps throughout Arakan State, including Kyauktaw Township, for more than four months, while the military council has strictly prohibited international non-governmental organizations and social organizations from providing assistance to IDPs.
The military council’s action to stop providing food to IDPs in the camps has been criticized as inhumane and is widely seen as part of forcing them to return home.
Khaing Lu Hla (Yoma Myay)