Internally displaced people (IDPs) at some displacement camps in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw and Ponnagyun townships are facing food shortages as there is a lack of rice at the camps, according to camp officials.

More than 3,000 IDPs at Nyaungchaung displacement camp in Kyauktaw Township and around 550 IDPs at a camp in a Ponnagyun Township industrial zone have reportedly been facing food shortages, camp managers say.

“The situation is getting worse and IDPs are facing food shortages. The commodity prices are skyrocketing, so it is not convenient for us to solve this problem,” said U Than Aye, manager of the Nyaungchaung IDP camp.

The junta-controlled Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement has suspended food provisioning to IDP camps, and IDPs are also rarely able to work outside of the camp, he added.

“We have not received rice from the government for some three months. The camp receives a monthly allowance of K18,000 per person, provided by the World Food Programme,” U Than Aye explained.

The World Food Programme (WFP) and junta-controlled Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement had both been providing rice to the displacement camps in Arakan State. But IDPs have not received any food aid from the ministry for months, and have had to borrow rice from others, said U Than Htay, manager of the Ponnagyun Township industrial zone IDP camp.

“How can we solve our livelihood hardships with a monthly allowance of K18,000 per head, provided by the World Food Programme? The IDPs are facing food shortages and will go hungry,” U Than Htay said.

IDPs in these camps say that while food shortages are nothing new, the current situation is more dire than in the past due to the combination of rainy season difficulties and soaring commodity prices.

“We are facing severe food shortages and the government has halted providing food to the displacement camps. We have no home or village to return to for the time being. I think we will rely on food supplied by donors,” said Daw Thein May, an IDP from the Ponnagyun Township industrial zone camp.

U Thurein Tun, director of the Arakan State Disaster Management Department, declined to answer DMG’s questions.

More than 230,000 people were displaced in Arakan State during two years of fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army from late 2018 to November 2020. While many have since returned home, tens of thousands of IDPs remain at displacement camps.