Around 200 displaced people (IDPs) sheltering in temporary camps in a Tanintharyi Township forest are suffering from diarrhoea and skin infections, according to aid workers helping them.

The IDPs used to live in Theinkhun Village Tract, and the villages of Htonmakhar and Thabawtleik in Tanintharyi Township. Due to fighting in the area they were forced to flee their homes and seek shelter in the nearby forest, where they have set up several camps.

A lack of clean water and poor hygiene conditions in the forest have led to sickness amongst the IDPs.

An aid worker at one of the camps said: “There are around 200 people infected with disease. The main causes are inadequate shelter and a lack of clean water. As summer approaches, water sources near the IDP camps are drying up. On top of that, there aren’t enough fly-proof toilets, making the situation worse. People are forced to dispose of waste in improvised ways, leading to poor sanitation.”

Unfortunately, the IDPs are unlikely to be able to return home soon as it seems likely that fighting between the junta and resistance forces along the Tanintharyi to Mawdaung Road in Tanintharyi Region, where the villages are located, is likely to escalate and continue for a long time, according to the Black Cobra Column, a resistance group based in Tanintharyi Township.

From 3 to 7 February the junta launched five consecutive days of airstrikes on the villages of Htonmakhar and Theinkhun. Following the airstrikes junta soldiers began torching homes in the two villages.

A resident of Htonmakhar Village said to KIC: “The junta troops are setting our village on fire. As of 12 February, we have been told that around 10 houses have been burned down.

The Black Cobra Column issued a statement on 31 January 2025 telling residents of villages along the Tanintharyi to Mawdaung Road to stock up on medical and food supplies, as fighting in the region is likely to escalate.