About 2,000 people who were displaced by fighting between the military and Arakan Army (AA) and are currently sheltering in Samee town, part of Chin State’s Paletwa Township, were reportedly told by the regime to return to their homes by the end of this month.
The internally displaced people (IDPs) were summoned to the township General Administration Department office by a tactical command officer from the military and pushed to return home by the end of March as displacement camps in Samee town will be closed soon, according to an IDP who did not wish to be named for security reasons.
“We were informed that displacement camps will be closed. We asked the military officials not to close the displacement camps until the end of March so our children can sit for the matriculation exam,” the unnamed IDP added.
The military council reportedly told the IDPs that if they do not want to return to their homes, they will be able to rent houses in Samee town, but the displacement camps will be abolished.
The military regime has also offered to provide each IDP with K100,000, along with household items and consumer goods, so that they can return home more easily.
An IDP sheltering at a displacement camp in the compound of the town’s municipal office in Samee said the military has not yet cleared landmines for the IDPs to return home, and so they are worried about their safety.
“We asked the military to clear landmines when the junta compiled the list of IDP returnees. We dare not return home as the military has yet to clear the landmines. We don’t know how to make a living when we return home and are worried about the risks of landmines,” he added.
“We will face livelihood difficulties when we return home,” said another IDP from a displacement camp, which is set up near Samee town’s GAD office. “I want an organisation to take responsibility for us. We are now homeless. I don’t have my own home. I would like to request that the junta officials take our difficulties into consideration.”
Local people from about 20 villages including Wetma, Leikkhaung, Koewa, Sarwa and Meiksarwa, along the upper reaches of the Kaladan River in Paletwa Township, fled to downtown Samee due to the fighting between the military and AA since March 2020.
Most of those IDPs are currently taking refuge at five displacement camps in Samee town.
