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Myanmar’s War-Displaced Face Health Crisis as Donor Funds Dry Up

March 26, 2024/in News

Internally displaced people (IDPs) in central Myanmar are facing malnutrition and other health problems as assistance from donors both in Myanmar and abroad dwindles, according to IDP support groups. Huge numbers of civilians in Magwe and Sagaing have been displaced. The situation became acute in 2022 when the junta and its allied militia ramped up […]

Thailand’s first aid convoy arrives in Myanmar

March 26, 2024/in News

The foreign ministry is sending aid to 20,000 residents of war-torn Kayin state. Updated March 25, 2024, 09:08 a.m. ET. Thailand’s government started aid deliveries to Myanmar on Monday along a newly developed humanitarian corridor to assist civilians affected by fighting. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Thai and Myanmar Red Cross Societies, […]

Myanmar’s War-Displaced Face Health Crisis as Donor Funds Dry Up

March 26, 2024/in News

Thailand’s first aid convoy arrives in Myanmar

March 26, 2024/in News

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Myanmar’s War-Displaced Face Health Crisis as Donor Funds Dry Up

March 26, 2024/in News

Internally displaced people (IDPs) in central Myanmar are facing malnutrition and other health problems as assistance from donors both in Myanmar and abroad dwindles, according to IDP support groups.

Huge numbers of civilians in Magwe and Sagaing have been displaced. The situation became acute in 2022 when the junta and its allied militia ramped up arson attacks and airstrikes on villages in these regions, which are anti-regime resistance strongholds. Myanmar junta troops and allied Pyu Saw Htee militia frequently conduct raids in the regions, torching villages and killing civilians. Furthermore, whenever the soldiers face shortages of food, they loot civilians’ property. Therefore, the villagers do not dare return home and have been sheltering in forests and along riverbanks, or fleeing to towns in safer areas, according to the volunteers.

Ko Nay Min Khant, a representative of the Shwebo Township support group, said IDPs in Wetlet Township needed food and medicine. The group is a charity organization supporting IDPs in some townships in Sagaing and Mandalay regions.

The group provided medical treatment to IDPs in four villages in Wetlet Township, Inn Daung, Thae Boat Gyi, Yoar Thit and Shane Makar villages on March 8 and 9. Around 400 civilians were treated by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) health workers but the mission had to be halted due a shortage of medicines, Ko Nay Min Khant said.

An elderly villager in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region receives treatment from the Shwebo Township Support Group in March 2024. / Shwebo Township Support Group

“We agreed to provide field treatment in other villages but we have run out of medicine,” Ko Nay Min Khant told The Irrawaddy.

As it’s now summer in Myanmar, villagers are suffering illnesses due to the severe hot weather, as the region is in the country’s dry zone and living conditions are poor. They live in small huts covered by tarpaulin and straw. The health condition of children and elderly IDPs in Wetlet Township has deteriorated since last year, he said.

Makeshift settlements for villagers displaced in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region / Shwebo Township Support Group

“The number of malnourished people is increasing,” Ko Nay Min Khant told The Irrawaddy.

In Wetlet Township, more than 2,000 people have been displaced in the last seven months. Last year, the group distributed food to the IDPs as well as such necessities as bamboo, tarpaulin and clothes, but they haven’t been able to deliver such items this year due to a lack of donations.

“Some elderly people asked us for food when we went there to provide field treatment. They are living in small huts in hot weather in a situation where there is not enough food,” Ko Nay Min Khant said of the IDPs in Wetlet Township.

A Buddhist monk in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region receives treatment from the Shwebo Township Support Group in March 2024. / Shwebo Township Support Group

In Sagaing, over 1.1 million people have been displaced by fighting and junta military activity including clearance operations, airstrikes, arson and ambush attacks, and many townships are under attack for months at a time, according to a report issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in March. In Sagaing, food and other essential relief items are needed for more than 55,000 IDPs in numerous townships including Indaw, Katha, Mawleik, Myaung, Tamu, Tigyaing, Ye-U and Yinmarbin, UNOCHA reported.

However, the volunteers said that thousands of IDPs in other townships also need assistance, adding that they are totally reliant on donations from people at home and abroad.

The People’s Administration bodies of the National Unity Government support IDPs but are not able to cover all their needs, said a representative of Pale Township People’s Administration.

Elderly villagers in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region receive treatment from the Shwebo Township Support Group in March 2024. / Shwebo Township Support Group

“The IDPs are facing a shortage of food, and their health is deteriorating after sheltering in the forest for a long time,” he told The Irrawaddy.

The volunteers are also struggling to cope with a situation in which the number of IDPs is increasing while donors are decreasing, said a representative of the volunteer group We Love Myaing of Magwe Region. The Myanmar military and Pyu Saw Htee militia members frequently raid villages in Myaing Township.

A representative of We Love Myaing told The Irrawaddy the group is often overwhelmed by the sheer number of civilians fleeing junta raids.

“We sometimes have to borrow money from friends to help them,” the volunteer said.

Irrawaddy News

Thailand’s first aid convoy arrives in Myanmar

March 26, 2024/in News

The foreign ministry is sending aid to 20,000 residents of war-torn Kayin state.

Updated March 25, 2024, 09:08 a.m. ET.

Thailand’s government started aid deliveries to Myanmar on Monday along a newly developed humanitarian corridor to assist civilians affected by fighting.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Thai and Myanmar Red Cross Societies, sent aid in an eight-truck convoy across Mae Sot-Myawaddy Friendship Bridge No. 2.

Four thousand packages were delivered to three villages in Kayin state, namely Na Bu in Kawkareik district, and Thar Ma Nya and Paingkyon in Hpa-An district.

The aid will benefit around 20,000 people in towns selected in the pilot project for their acute need, according to Thai Vice Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow.

“We hope very much to see peace in Myanmar, internal issues certainly will be resolved by Myanmar themselves,” Sihasak said at the aid ceremony in Mae Sot. “We want every side, all sides, to overcome their differences so that we can be led to reconciliation and peace in the near future.”

Members of the Thai Red Cross pose with Vice Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow on March 25, 2024..JPG — Members of the Thai Red Cross pose with Thailand’s Vice Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow (L) outside the Mae Sot Customs House by Friendship Bridge No. 2 on March 25, 2024. (Kiana Duncan/RFA)

Sihasak previously expressed hope that the aid initiative could help open the way for dialogue between the civilian National Unity Government, ethnic armed organizations and the junta, which seized power from the democratically elected government in a February 2021 coup d’état.

However, he declined to comment Monday on which groups controlled the territory to which aid would be delivered.

“I don’t want to look at the issue as to which area is controlled by which side, let’s talk about the people who are affected. If there is an area where there is a need, then we have to take a look.” he said. “We are ready to work with everyone, as long as the focus is the people receiving the humanitarian aid.”

Renewed fighting fuels need

Some non-junta stakeholders have criticized the limited scope of the assistance. However, a resurgence in fighting has increased the number of people in need of aid, whatever the amount.

After the anti-junta Karen National Liberation Army launched an assault on military camps in Myanmar’s Myawaddy township on March 7, civilians were left displaced and in need of both food and medicine, according to a spokesperson for the Karen Department of Health and Welfare, declining to be named for security reasons.

As many as 30 people were critically injured during battles, and at least three have died from serious injuries in southern Myawaddy and Kawkareik townships. Nearly 3,000 new internally displaced people have been identified since March 7, but the number is likely higher, the spokesperson said.

She added that many of them are suffering from diarrhea and fever because they are drinking river water due to the heat.

Skirmishes and humanitarian issues are also increasingly affecting Thailand’s border. Large numbers of migrants fleeing conscription laws enacted by the junta fled through Thai borders, the largest number being arrested in Tak province in February.

On Tuesday, 40 junta soldiers fled into Thailand’s Umphang district, about 180 kilometers (112 miles) south of Mae Sot, according to the Karen Information Center.The week-long battle with the Karen National Liberation Army caused Thailand to close its border crossing near Paing Ka Hlaing village in Kayin state.

Engaging all parties?

Despite the foreign affairs ministry’s claims to engage all parties, some stakeholders don’t feel an adequate effort has been made.

Aid would be handed off to community leaders and the district authority in recipient villages, Sihasak said.

Drivers in a truck marked for Paingkyon village begin their journey outside Thailand's Customs House on March 25, 2024..JPG — Drivers in a truck marked for Paingkyon village begin their journey outside Thailand’s Customs House on March 25, 2024. (Kiana Duncan/RFA)

But the National Unity Government’s Ministry of Humanitarian Assistance, along with ethnic armed groups, has drafted an alternative proposal that it said would make Thailand’s aid delivery plan more effective. It proposed instead to work with local organizations to reach areas controlled by ethnic armed groups.

However, the National Unity Government – a shadow government formed by members of the civil administration ousted in the coup – says there has been no direct communication from Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the plan, proposed ahead of a seminar in Bangkok earlier this month on the situation in Myanmar.

“For effective delivery of such aid to the most needy people, close cooperation with EROs [ethnic resistance organizations] and NUG [National Unity Government] will be of paramount importance,” said Win Myat Aye, the minister of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Management.

“Given Thailand’s status as a pivotal neighboring country to Myanmar, coordinated and collaborative efforts with NUG and EROs are imperative to resolve the ongoing crisis through diplomatic channels.”

Thai authorities have reached out to one or two ethnic armed groups, according to a source who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the situation. He declined to name them.

The Karen National Union, running parts of Kayin state, declined to comment on whether Thailand had discussed the delivery with them.

Lalita Hanwong, a historian at Kasetsart University and advisor to the Thai government on national security issues, said the humanitarian corridor was a positive development.

“I believe that the security sector and the Thai government have thoroughly considered this matter,” she told BenarNews. “What Thailand should do next is to initiate negotiations with minorities, especially those in areas bordering Thailand, to ensure sustainable assistance.

“Thailand’s long-term plan should prepare for various scenarios that could arise with Myanmar, such as fragmentation into multiple groups like the Shan, Karen, and Mon.”

RFA News

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ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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