The number of internally displaced people (IDPs) who had been sheltering at various displacement camps in Arakan State and neighbouring Chin State, and have returned home since the military and Arakan Army (AA) observed an informal ceasefire in late November, has reached about 5,000.
Among the IDP returnees are over 200 from the township of Ann; more than 2,300 from Minbya; around 900 from Myebon; over 500 from Ponnagyun; and more than 800 from Chin State’s Paletwa Township, according to figures released by the military council.
The military, General Administration Department and Department of Disaster Management gave the IDPs cash stipends ranging from K500,000 to K600,000 per household and food supplies for one month, telling them to return to their homes as peace and stability had ostensibly been restored.
IDP returnees have told DMG that they are facing various difficulties.
“The food provided by the military council has run out. There is also a risk of landmines in farms and plantations,” said an IDP returnee from Ywamapyin Village in Ann Township.
Recently, junta-appointed ministers including social welfare minister Dr. Thet Thet Khaing, international cooperation minister U Ko Ko Hlaing, and Arakan State chief minister U Htein Lin visited displacement camps in Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U and Minbya townships and reportedly pressured them to return home.
“Junta officials provided K600,000 per household plus one month of food supplies, but it is not enough for us,” Ma Zin Ngwe, an IDP returnee from Pharpyo Village, told DMG. “We are being forced to return home. We cannot go to our farmland due to the risk of landmines, so we are facing livelihood hardships.”
The Arakan Army has criticised the military regime for “forcing IDPs to return to their homes.”
“There are also cases where the military has given food and some money to the displaced people in Arakan State and forced them to return to their homes against their will. Without guaranteeing public security and social peace, forcing IDPs to return to their homes is causing more hardship to the public,” U Khaing Thukha, spokesman for the ethnic armed group, said at a press conference on February 27.
The total number of IDPs in Arakan State, including those who remained at displacement camps due to 2018-2020 fighting between the military and Arakan Army, stood at about 90,000 early this year, according to a January 11 report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).
