Though Border Guard Forces (BGF) claim to now control the road between Myaing Gyi Ngu and Mae Tha Wor refugees from Mae Tha Wor are still facing difficulties returning home due to landmines.
Skirmishes broke out between the Burma Army backed by the BGF militia under its command and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (Splinter DKBA), a splinter group of the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), in Hlaingbwe Township in the area of the Myaing Gyi Ngu to Mae Tha Wor road on 11 September.
The BGF claim that they seized control of the road on 19 September.
A person displaced from Htee Kha Lo Thaw Village by the fighting (an IDP), who did not want to be named, said to KIC News: “I’m worried about my cattle. I am worried about them getting harmed by the mines. The Sayadaw (senior monk) told us not to go back yet so I think we still have to stay here.”
On 21 September BGF spokesperson major Naing Maung Zaw told reporters that the Burma Army mine removals teams and the BGF would cooperate to clear the landmines as IDPs still faced difficulties returning home.
He said: “We will carry out the clearance of the mines in the farmlands [after dividing them into] sectors so that the local residents can return [home]. There are many mines so we will give priority to the clearance of areas where they can make their living. We have started doing the clearance.”
According to the BGF there are still mines and unexploded heavy artillery shells in the area around Yate Kha Gon where the BGF seized a Splinter DKBA camp, along the Mae Tha Wor Road and in other areas.
About 4,000 people have fled their homes since the skirmishes broke out on 11 September. Some residents of Kyon Htaw and Mae Tha Wor and some IDPs who were sheltering at Myaing Gyi Ngu IDP camp have temporarily returned to their villages to check on the condition of their homes and livestock.
Reporting by Ka Saw War for KIC News
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
