A UN aid convoy reached the Kachin Independence Organization’s (KIO) second largest town of Mai Ja Yang on Friday. The aid convoy - the first to reach the area since early July of last year - arrived 4 months after the government's chief peace negotiator Aung Min announced that UN convoys would again be allowed to deliver supplies to IDP camps along the China-Burma border in KIO territory.
The UN brought rations for an estimated 5,000 people. Enough food for a small fraction of the estimated 60,000 internally displaced people thought to be sheltering in KIO controlled territory. The UN said they will make regular trips if allowed, but this remains to be seen.
The last time a UN convoy reached camps located near the KIO capital of Laiza was December of 2011. A convoy from the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) visited Laiza in February. It’s unknown when the UN or the ICRC will be allowed to visit the Laiza camps again.
Aid workers on the ground are concerned that the rainy season that just started will spread water borne illnesses causing diarrhea disproportionately impacting the young and elderly. Many of the shelters that housing IDPs are made of bamboo covered thin tarps and are not suitable for heavy rains.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) admitted on their website recently only 18-percent of the $80M (US) has been raised to support all the people displaced by the conflicts in both Kachin and Arakan (Rakhine) states.
