UN seeking more than $850m for Rohingya refugees 

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The UN secured barely more than half the aid it requested last year for the million Rohingya people living in deteriorating conditions in Bangladeshi camps, of whom more than half are under 18

Geneva – The United Nations (UN) on Wednesday called for increased support for the many Rohingya refugees languishing in camps in Bangladesh, where funding shortfalls have left many without enough food or other aid.

In its annual response plan to the crisis, the United Nations appealed for $852.4 million to provide desperately needed assistance this year to the mostly Muslim Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and their host communities.

Bangladesh is home to around a million members of the mostly stateless minority, many of whom fled a 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar, where the conflict on the ground has continued to escalate.

Some 95 percent of Rohingya households in Bangladesh are considered vulnerable and remain dependent on humanitarian assistance, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) pointed out in a statement. 

“International solidarity with Bangladesh and refugee protection is needed more than ever as the conflict in Myanmar escalates,” it said.

Last year, the UN and its partners asked countries to provide $876 million to help those caught up in the Rohingya refugee crisis.

But in the end, only $440 million—barely half the requested amount—was provided.

With the humanitarian crisis largely out of the international spotlight, UNHCR warned that significant funding shortfalls in recent years had had “serious implications”.

Many of the refugees were struggling to meet their basic needs, it warned, insisting that “sustained assistance is critically and urgently needed”.

More than 75 percent of the refugee population receiving aid are women and children, it said, cautioning that they are facing “heightened risks of abuse, exploitation and gender-based violence”.

“More than half of the refugees in the camps are under 18, languishing amidst limited opportunities for education, skills-building and livelihoods,” it said.

The UN-led joint response plan to the crisis brings together 117 partners, nearly half of them Bangladeshi organisations.

It will aim to help around one million Rohingya refugees in the Cox’s Bazar camps and on the island of Bhasan Char, along with nearly 350,000 people from host communities.

The money will be used to fund food, shelter, health care, drinking water access, protection services, education and other assistance, the UN said.

Conditions in the overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, where lawlessness is rampant, have seen a growing number of Rohingya attempt dangerous and often deadly sea voyages headed for Malaysia and Indonesia.

There is, meanwhile, little progress towards repatriating the refugees to Myanmar, which is facing a UN genocide probe over the 2017 exodus.

And since then, the country’s military junta seized power in a 2021 coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government.

The military rule in Myanmar, which faces widespread armed resistance, has inflicted unbearable cruelty, UN rights chief Volker Turk warned earlier this month.

“The human rights situation in Myanmar has morphed into a never-ending nightmare, away from the spotlight of global politics,” he told the UN Human Rights Council.

Myanmar Now

Myanmar Junta Kills Three Mandalay Civilians

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At least three civilians have reportedly been killed in Myingyan Township, Mandalay Region, by Myanmar’s junta in retaliation for a resistance ambush which killed six soldiers.

On Monday morning, the Pakokku Urban Guerrilla Force from adjacent Magwe Region and other groups ambushed a junta vehicle at the entrance of Myingyan town, killing all six troops on board and seizing seven weapons and ammunition.

Regime forces later detained at least six truck drivers near the site.

On Monday junta forces raided at least five nearby villages and burned houses, displacing hundreds of residents, said Myingyan People’s Strike Committee, which has monitored the junta since the 2021 coup.

Two older women were burned to death in their homes in Thin Pyun and Pyoe Kan villages after being left in the villages, the committee said.

U Soe Tint, 70, was shot dead in Thin Pyun.

Anti-regime groups ambushed raiding troops on Thursday, killing some soldiers, a resident told The Irrawaddy on Thursday.

Residents flee their homes after junta raids on five villages in Myingyan Township this week. / CJ

“The regime forces had not retrieved the dead soldiers this afternoon,” the source said.

Myingyan District reports repeated resistance action with frequent ambushes and drone strikes on regime forces, including in Natogyi, Myingyan, Taungtha and Ngazun towns.

On Tuesday, Myingyan District Drone Strike Team said it and other groups conducted drone strikes on junta troops at Chaung Sone village in Taung Tha Township, killing seven troops and injuring others.

Troops reportedly used two hearses to retrieve the dead soldiers.

The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.

Irrawaddy News

Human Rights Situation weekly update (March 1 to 7, 2024)

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Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Mar 1 to 7, 2024

Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in Sagaing Region, Mandalay Region, Tanintharyi Region, Rakhine State, Shan State, and Kachin State from March 1st to 7th. Internet Data and communication were cut off in Kachin State and Sagaing Region. A political prisoner from Daik-U Prison in Bago Region died from the lack of medical treatment and care. 2 women from Magway Region, died by the rape of Military Junta. The military Junta called out and took the civilians from Naypyidaw to give Military Service and collected the lists in Yangon Region, Mandalay Region, Bago Region, and Kachin State and forced the civilians to comply with the Conscription Law.

Over 10 civilians died and almost 30 were injured by the Military’s heavy and light artillery attacks within a week. 3 underaged children were injured and 1 died when the Military Junta committed abuses. After the announcement of the Conscription Law, the Military Junta blackmailed and took money from the civilians by using various ways and authority.

NUG Critiques Thai Aid Corridor, Proposes Two-Track Process to Expand Myanmar Aid 

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Thailand is gearing up to launch a humanitarian corridor on its border to deliver aid to Myanmar people affected by armed conflict since the coup. The UN estimates that 18.6 million people need humanitarian assistance in Myanmar and more than 2.7 million people are now displaced nationwide.

Dr Win Myat Aye, minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management in Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government (NUG), told The Irrawaddy that the NUG welcomes the Thai government’s aid initiative but was unhappy with its implementation. 

We don’t think it will be effective,” he said.

Aiming to ensure effective aid delivery, the NUG and anti-regime ethnic armed organizations have drafted a parallel humanitarian assistance proposal to be implemented alongside the initiative and submitted it to the Thai government. 

In this interview with the Irrawaddy, Dr Win Myat Aye discusses why Thailand’s initiative will not be effective in its current form; what the parallel humanitarian assistance proposal consists of, and how it could make a difference.

On Thai’s cross-border assistance initiative

“There are millions of people suffering from armed conflicts across the country, not only in border areas but also in central Myanmar. Humanitarian law calls for aid provision to anyone in need without discrimination. We welcome the cross-border assistance initiated by Thailand. But we are not very satisfied with the way it will be implemented. We don’t think it will be effective.

“Previously, humanitarian aid has been delivered through the AHA Center [ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management] as part of the Five-Point Consensus. The AHA Center is a humanitarian body covering the entire ASEAN bloc. International donors and ASEAN countries make contributions. Those donations [made for Myanmar] must reach suffering civilians in Myanmar. But the AHA Center has to deliver aid through the regime. Aid deliveries are controlled by the regime, so they are not effective in reaching the people in need. It has failed to implement [delivery of humanitarian assistance as required by] the Five-Point Consensus.

“Now, Thailand says it will use the AHA Center to implement its new initiative. This is like repeating a past mistake. There will not be significant improvements if aid is still delivered through the AHA Center. Firstly, when Thailand developed this initiative, it only consulted with the regime but not with the NUG and EROs [ethnic revolutionary organizations], which are sheltering many displaced people.

“Secondly, like previous humanitarian aid missions, the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) will be used to implement distribution in Myanmar. The Thai Red Cross Society is suitable for the process. When humanitarian supplies arrive in Myanmar, the MRCS will implement distribution. The MRCS has been under government control for successive administrations. It is now under the control of the regime, and the delivery therefore will not be effective. Aid can’t reach affected people in areas controlled by the NUG, People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) and EROs.

“The third point concerns the AHA Center. Previous efforts to deliver aid through the center failed. This time will be no different. Again, the AHA Center is primarily engaged in disaster management, and it has little experience in helping civilians affected by armed conflicts.

“Another issue concerns funding. The [Thai] initiative is small in scale and will only reach around 20,000 internally displaced people in three locations initially. It is funded only by the Thai Red Cross Society. But the term ‘cross-border assistance’ makes it sound like a huge project. The initiative was endorsed by the regime after consultation. So, this will allow the regime to claim credit at ASEAN, by saying that it enabled cross-border humanitarian assistance with help from Thailand. So, this will enable the regime to reap huge credit from a tiny project. We do not oppose this initiative. We are just suggesting that a supplementary or alternative or parallel mechanism is implemented alongside the initiative.”

On the parallel humanitarian assistance proposal

NUG Humanitarian Affairs Minister Dr Win Myat Aye

“Before the two-day seminar [on Myanmar at the Thai parliament last week], the NUG’s Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management and EROs met for three days and drafted a parallel humanitarian assistance proposal by unanimous decision.

“Our proposal aims to provide a parallel or supplementary mechanism to make humanitarian assistance delivery more effective. Our proposed mechanism will involve the Royal Thai Government, EROs and the NUG, as well as certain organizations that will implement distribution of aid instead of AHA Center and MRCS.

“As the aid will be delivered across the border, we have selected The Border Consortium (TBC), an international NGO that we believe can provide effective delivery. Our proposal says that we are willing to cooperate with TBC and other INGOs that can work effectively at the border. And we will work together with CBOs [community-based organizations] and CSOs [Civil Society Organizations] that have been operating on the ground over the past three years. In this way, aid will reach the affected people in areas controlled by EROs, NUG and PDFs. This is what we have suggested in our proposal.

“And regarding the funding, the Thai initiative is small in scale and will only benefit 20,000 people. But more than two million people badly need humanitarian assistance. Across the country, 18 to 19 million people have been affected [by conflict]. But those two million people have been hit hardest – displaced and made homeless. There is a huge gap between 20,000 and two million. So, there is a need to implement a supplementary mechanism. International donors are aware of the humanitarian situation in Myanmar and are waiting for the time to provide effective help. With Thailand launching this cross-border humanitarian initiative, which involves establishing a safe zone at the border, if a supplementary mechanism can be implemented, aid will reach the people who need it. If international donors participate, we won’t then need to worry about funding.

“Another issue concerns security. As the plan is being implemented by the Royal Thai Government, I hope it will facilitate the safe delivery of aid into the country from the border.”

Effectiveness of the parallel humanitarian assistance mechanism  

“We have presented the parallel humanitarian assistance proposal to the Thai government [via] the Prime Minister’s Office. It was explained to donors at the two-day seminar on Myanmar [in Bangkok last week] by the Karen National Union, on behalf of all the stakeholders, including the NUG and K3C [an alliance of the four ethnic armed organizations aligned with the NUG] and EROs. So, donor countries are now aware of the situation.

“We have already conducted an assessment of [Myanmar] people’s needs. Ethnic revolutionary organizations (EROs) and the NUG have conducted assessments in our respective areas. We can calculate the funding needed based on those assessments. We will explain the situation and solicit donors to supply aid through the Royal Thai Government. If they agree, we will select INGOs at the border. Then, through the selected INGOs, we will collaborate with experienced CBOs and CSOs in Myanmar that have been operating on the ground for the past three years. Aid would then be delivered safely across the border. If we can ensure that local humanitarian actors forward aid safely and people can receive it safely, this would be effective delivery.

“At the same time, aid delivered through the regime will reach people in areas it controls, so the needs of the people nationwide would be fulfilled. We are not opposing the initiative announced by the Thai government. We have only presented a plan for how humanitarian assistance can be delivered to reach a wider population. We will continue to negotiate with the Thai government for that.”

Irrawaddy News

Kawlin Firestorm Expands as Myanmar Junta Bombs Civilians in Sagaing

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Myanmar junta forces have launched airstrikes on civilian targets around Kawlin in Sagaing Region after torching some 80 percent of the town, according to resistance forces.

The airstrikes damaged 30 buildings including a village school and homes, amid clashes in the area between March 2 and 4, they said.

Kawlin was seized by People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) on Nov. 6 last year. The regime recaptured the town on Feb. 12 after almost 10 days of intense fighting.

Junta troops have since destroyed most of Kawlin town and are now raiding villages on its outskirts, resulting in clashes with local resistance forces.

Around 120 junta soldiers and allied Pyu Saw Htee militia conducted raids in eastern Kawlin Township on March 2, clashing with combined forces of the Kawlin District PDF and People’s Defense Team (PDT).

A clinic, two school buildings, and five houses were damaged by airstrikes on March 3. Two resistance fighters were also wounded.

A building lies wrecked after being hit by a bomb during a junta air raid. KLPDF

Another two dozen houses were damaged in bombing raids on March 4. The following day, junta troops torched three houses in Kyauktan village where they had stayed overnight.

“Fighting can break out any time. Junta troops are looting and torching houses in raids on villages. So, we have had to fight back to stop them,” said a member of Kawlin Township PDT.

The bodies of three junta soldiers were found in Kanthar village as resistance forces cleared the area following the raiders’ retreat, he said. Some weapons were also reportedly seized at the village.

On Monday evening, resistance groups attacked a temporary junta outpost nearby, resulting in three hours of intense fighting.

Junta troops were reportedly raiding Chapgon village on Wednesday as they headed in the direction of Kyauk Phato, a gold mining area in Kawlin Township.

Over 1,500 vehicles, along with more than 15,000 drivers and travelers, had been stranded near Kyauktan village on the Shwebo-Myitkyina road since Feb. 27 due to the fighting. The road reopened to vehicles on Wednesday after junta troops left the area, according to a member of Kawlin District PDF.

One cargo truck driver said: “I was able to leave today after being trapped there for more than a week. I heard that the road was blocked by both junta military and PDF forces because of intense fighting. We didn’t have access to phone or internet services so couldn’t contact anyone. PDF members came and distributed rice. We had to sleep on the road.”

A field cratered after a bomb tore through a smallholding in Kawlin Township. / KLPDF

Junta troops have also reportedly killed civilians during attacks. The bodies of three civilians were found dumped near a creek in Nga Gyi Eain village after regime troops raided the village on March 1.

“After recapturing Kawlin, they torched wards here,” said a Kawlin resident.

“Troops have been deployed on multistory buildings and are destroying any structures that obscure their view. They have also been raiding villages surrounding the town and torching houses.”

The regime has denied killing civilians and torching houses in Kawlin, saying that social media reports of junta atrocities in the town are misinformation.

Residents say the regime has carried out arson attacks in more than 25 Kawlin villages.

Junta ground, air and artillery strikes have forced over 30,000 residents of urban wards and 30 villages to abandon their homes.

Irrawaddy News

Junta bombardment strands 1,000 civilians in Shan state township

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The military is on the offensive to retake Hsihseng from ethnic Pa-O rebels.

More than 1,000 civilians are trapped amid heavy clashes between Myanmar’s military and ethnic Pa-O rebels in southern Shan state’s Hsiheng township, which the junta has been trying to retake since Monday, according to residents.

The fighting to recapture Hsihseng comes amid a wider push by Myanmar’s various armed resistance factions that increasingly has the junta on the ropes across the country, including in neighboring Sagaing region, where the People’s Defense Force said it is close to taking over a township near the region’s largest city, Monywa.

The Pa-O National Liberation Army, or PNLA, seized Hsihseng township from a pro-junta militia known as the Pa-O National Organization, or PNO, on Jan. 22.

Beginning on March 3, a joint force of junta troops and soldiers from the Pa-O National Army – the armed wing of the PNO – responded with nearly 100 attacks on Mae Nal Taung district between Hsihseng, Ho Pong and Mong Pun townships using heavy weapons and drones in fighting that has killed 47 civilians and injured around 60 others, according to the PNLA.

Hsihseng’s main market was also set ablaze, and a total of 153 buildings – including some 15 religious structures and a hospital – were destroyed, the rights group Pa-O Youth Organization told RFA Burmese.

A resident of Hsihseng who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, said that fighting was underway Wednesday in the northern part of the township, which lies some 85 kilometers (53 miles) south of Shan state’s capital and largest city, Taunggyi.

“When [junta troops] advanced, the battle resumed,” he said, adding that some houses had been burnt down. “The military is continuously firing artillery shells. Flames can be seen at [nearby] Mya Kan Thar ward from our village.”

The resident said the military had carried out airstrikes on the area and that junta troops in a nearby village had fired around 20 artillery barrages on Hsihseng.

Nang, the spokesperson for the Pa-O Youth Organization, told RFA that “more than 1,000 civilians” from Aung Chan Thar and Thiri wards, and nearby villages in Hsihseng, have been unable to escape the fighting.

“Some residents haven’t fled [the seat of] Hsihseng. The exact number can’t be confirmed, but more than 1,000 people are trapped there,” Nang said. “In the past few days, many residents have fled into the jungle to take shelter from the military’s aerial bombardment.”

Nang said that most of those trapped by the fighting are “common laborers” who were attempting to guard their homes or had returned to the area to check on their belongings before the fighting broke out on Monday.

‘Too dangerous’ for rescue

A volunteer rescue worker told RFA that it was impossible for his group to evacuate those still inside.

“The resistance forces have blocked the roads, so we cannot enter the town to rescue the remaining trapped civilians,” he said. “They won’t let us enter because they said it is too dangerous for us.”

An airstrike damaged this building in southern Shan state on March 2, 2024. (PNLA News & Information Department)
An airstrike damaged this building in southern Shan state on March 2, 2024. (PNLA News & Information Department)

Other rescue workers said Wednesday that some of the trapped civilians were trying to avoid the fighting by gathering in paddy fields in southern Hsihseng township. 

A PNLA information officer confirmed to RFA that the focus of the military’s attacks in Mae Nal Taung district – between Hsihseng, Ho Pong and Mong Pun – is home to “many residents.”

“We are still investigating the extent of losses and damage,” he said. “At least eight houses were destroyed by military artillery shelling, from what we can tell, but a lot of the damage occurred in areas beyond our reach.”

The junta has yet to release any information on the fighting in Hsihseng and attempts by RFA to contact Khun Thein Maung, the junta’s minister of economy and spokesperson for Shan state, went unanswered.

While the PNLA is a signatory to Myanmar’s Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, or NCA, a schism within the ethnic army and its political wing, the Pa-O National Liberation Organization, has led to clashes with the junta.

The NCA was introduced in 2015 to end years of fighting over minority rights and self-determination. Since then, some 10 ethnic groups have signed the agreement.

Prior to the PNLA takeover, Hsihseng was under junta control as a township self-administered by the PNO. On Jan 21, a day before its capture, the PNO’s armed wing carried out an inspection of a PNLA convoy, seizing weapons and arresting some of the group’s officers.

Fight for Kani township

Meanwhile, in neighboring Sagaing region, the fight for control of Kani township has reached a crescendo since the anti-junta People’s Defense Forces, or PDF – ordinary civilians who have taken up arms against the junta – attacked the township police station, general administrative office, school and several military positions on March 2.

Kani is located a mere 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Monywa, Sagaing’s largest city and the headquarters of the military’s northwestern command. It is along the key Chindwin River waterway, and on Wednesday the junta responded to the attacks with at least eight airstrikes from combat helicopters and fighter jets on the township’s wards and villages, according to the PDF.

Despite the heavy retaliation, PDF member Myat Ko told RFA that “only one military outpost is left to be captured” until his group will assume total control of the township.

Myat Ko said the number of pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia members on the ground in Kani number far greater than junta troops, and that the military had carried out “more than 20 aerial attacks” on the township since the fighting began.

He said the military is now deploying troops to Kani via helicopter, although the exact number is unknown, adding that the PDF had arrested some police officers and nearly 40 junta civil service staff during the six-day battle.

RFA was unable to independently verify the claims.

Displaced people from Kani township, Sagaing region, rest under trees, March 20, 2023. (Pyae Aung Naing – Kani)
Displaced people from Kani township, Sagaing region, rest under trees, March 20, 2023. (Pyae Aung Naing – Kani)

The Kani PDF said that two of its fighters were killed in the fighting since March 2, while the military “suffered high casualties.” It said nearly 200 junta fighters, including troops, police and Pyu Saw Htee members, were stationed in the township.

At least one civilian – a 70-year-old resident of Min Kone village – was killed in a military aerial attack on March 4, according to residents.

Around 50 civilians who had been trapped inside the town during the fighting were evacuated by the PDF on March 6, they said.

Nearly everyone in town has fled to safer areas, although some elderly people remain, they added.

Attempts to contact Sai Naing Naing Kyaw, the junta’s minister of ethnic affairs and spokesperson for Sagaing region went unanswered Thursday.

Anti-junta forces in Sagaing region have captured Kawlin, Mawlu, Kham Pet and Shwe Pyi Aye townships, although the military retook Kawlin after conducting a major offensive in February.

Tens of thousands displaced

More than 150,000 civilians have fled 15 townships in Sagaing amid military offensives between Jan. 1 and Feb. 15 alone, RFA has learned.

They include 21,000 in Monywa, 7,000 in Myaung, 15,000 in Taze, 3,000 in Maw Laik, 8,000 in Kantbalu, 13,000 in Yinmarbin, more than 3,000 in Butalin, more than 50,000 in Ye-U, 1,000 in Pinlebu, nearly 3,000 in Salingyi, nearly 2,500 in Myinmu, more than 8,000 in Khin-U, more than 3,000 in Homelin, and over 15,000 in Kawlin townships.

Displaced people from Kani township, Sagaing region, make their way across a stream, March 14, 2023. (Pyae Aung Naing – Kani)
Displaced people from Kani township, Sagaing region, make their way across a stream, March 14, 2023. (Pyae Aung Naing – Kani)

Many of the displaced are suffering from shortages of food and clean water, and medical supplies, and are sheltering in poor conditions.

While Sai Naing Naing, the junta’s social affairs minister and spokesperson for Sagaing region, told RFA that junta authorities have provided aid to more than 1,500 displaced in Homelin township.

But aid workers disputed his claims, saying that the junta provides no support to those displaced by conflict.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs recently reported that there are nearly 2.7 million displaced people across Myanmar.

RFA News