More than 100,000 internally displaced persons—victims of this past year’s communal violence in Rakhine State—are to be re-sheltered in temporary housing within the next week, according to Win Myaing, the secretary of the Documentation Information Department in the Rakhine State Government.
He said that, with cooperation between the Myanmar government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), more than 1,500 shelters have been built in eight townships.
“The construction part is all done,” he said, pointing out that housing is now available in Sittwe and Maungdaw where the majority of IDPs are sheltering, but also in Mrauk-U, Min Pyar, Rathedaung, Kyaukphyu, Pauktaw and Myebon.
In recent weeks, plans to relocate the displaced Muslim IDPs have been met with fierce resistance; in at least two incidents riot police have opened fire on protesters, killing at least five people in total.
“It’s the government’s responsibility to relocate them, even if they don’t want to move,” said Win Myaing.
