Indiscriminate shooting and heavy shelling have forced a quarter of the total population in Karenni State to flee to safer places, said an official of the humanitarian department of the Karenni State Consultative Council (KSCC).
According to the lists collected by the KSCC, the number of IDPs has reached 65,000. The total number of IDPs is around 100,000. That number maybe even more as the KSCC is unable to collect the lists in some townships, he added.
Fighting between the Karenni- People’s Defense Forces and the military council has intensified. Karenni State has a population of over 400,000. Now a quarter of the total population are hiding in the forests.
IDP spokesperson said “As we cannot survive in the long-term, we are asking for help from the international governments. We are unable to protect our people from killings and massacres.“
Demawso Township sees the highest number of the IDPs, followed by Loikaw the capital township. Karenni State faces a formidable logistical problem, as the military council has blocked all the transport routes. The wide dispersal of IDP has also increased the financial and transportation difficulties in delivering aid.
The KSCC’s humanitarian wing said: “The military council doesn’t allow us to carry and transport aid. The military council itself attacks those who transport food. The delay in the transportation of food is nothing to do with the collapse of the bridge."
An IDP from Demawso Township commented “The major requirements for the IDPs are food and water. Some IDPs are able to bring food and water along with them. But some don’t dare to bring it. Food and water are only enough for one or two weeks. We may face all the same problems to buy food if the crisis drags on.”
Currently, the ethnic medical team and other alliance groups are providing health care to the IDPs. There are medicines left for only a few days. The KSCC humanitarian wing has called on international governments, the UN, the ICRC to urgently put pressure on the military council, to build the IDP camps and ensure the free flow of medicine and rations.
