Internally displaced persons (IDPs) forced to flee their homes because of fighting between the Burma Army and the insurgent Arakan Army (AA) in southern Chin State’s Paletwa Township may soon have new places to live under a state government scheme to provide them with land.

“We have already given plots of land to 12 Chin people who escaped from an AA military camp in Paletwa Township. And we are constructing a new project in Paletwa, if other Chin IDPs want to live there,” Soe Htet, the state’s minister of municipal affairs, told Khonumthung News.  

He added that with most of the estimated 2,400 IDPs in the state currently living in one place, the village of Meezar, there is also the option of upgrading the village to a town and allowing them to stay there.

At present, most of the IDPs receive no regular support. However, on Saturday, a total of 237 million kyat (US$157,000) was distributed to IDPs at Kimo Hall in the town of Paletwa. The money came from the state government, the Union government’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, the Ministry of Borders Affairs, and private donors.

According to Soe Htet, the state government has informed the Union government about the needs of the IDPs and received a pledge of regular support from now on.

“The Chin State government reported to the Union government about the current situation, and they have said they would provide humanitarian assistance on a monthly basis. The Ministry of Border Affairs and the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement will also provide assistance to the Chin IDPs,” Soe Htet told Khonumthung News.