Displaced people (IDPs) who fled Putao Township to the north and are sheltering in the forest near to Sumprabum Town in Kachin State are suffering from illness and lack of food.
The IDPs fled from Sumpyi Yang Village and surrounding villages such as Ntsiyang and Wadat in Kachin State’s Putao Township.
After the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) captured Sumprabum Town on 4 May 2024, the junta sent troops from Putao Town, about 129 km (80 miles) to the north, to reinforce the junta troops already stationed in Sumpyi Yang Village, which is about 69 km (43 miles) north of Sumprabum Town.
When the junta reinforcements arrived in Sumpyi Yang Village they detained locals from the area and behaved in a violent way towards them. This caused villagers in the area to flee in fear.
After the villagers had fled, junta soldiers looted their abandoned houses and butchered and ate their domestic animals. There are still junta troops stationed in the village and it remains too unsafe for the villagers to return.
About 1,400 people from about 200 households fled from Sumpyi Yang and the surrounding villages to an area of forest in the KIA controlled Sumprabun Township, near to Sumprabun Town where they have been sheltering in makeshift camps since May 2024.
Describing what had happened to them, one of the IDPs sheltering in the forest said: “We had to leave all our belongings and livestock behind and have been living in temporary tents in the forests for months. As time passes, the feeling of uncertainty and insecurity only grows worse. We all want to return to our village; we don't want to stay in the forests any longer. There's also no work to earn an income while we live as displaced people.”
The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the political wing of the KIA, has been providing medicine and food to the Sumpyi Yang IDPs, but the supplies are insufficient given their large numbers. The Sumpyi Yang IDPs include many children and women, some of whom are pregnant.
The aforementioned IDP said: “Living in the jungle, various illnesses are spreading. The KIO has sent as many healthcare staff as possible and provided some medicines, but it's not enough. Among the pregnant women, the healthy ones are giving birth in the IDP camps in the forest. Those who need hospital care are temporarily staying with relatives in Myitkyina City. The food situation is being managed in improvised ways, but the available stockpile is limited.”
Previously in March 2022, fighting in the area between the towns of Putao and Sumprabun caused villagers to flee from Sumpyi Yang Village and the nearby villages of Longshayang and Hkinduyang. But, they returned home at the beginning of 2023.
