Border News Agency
Sittwe, September 7

According to a statement released today, September 7, by the junta, there are only just over seven thousand internally displaced persons (IDPs) currently sheltering in Sittwe, a city under junta control.

In Sittwe Township, there are 54 displacement camps sheltering 2,102 households with a total of 7,039 people, and the junta claims that it has provided them with rice supplies.

The junta-appointed Rakhine State Chief Minister U Htein Lin, along with members of the state government, departmental officials, ward and village administrators, and internally displaced persons, reportedly visited Shwe Zedi Monastery in Sittwe.

Although there are tens of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sittwe, displaced residents say that the junta’s village and ward administrators are only compiling and submitting the lists of people they choose, rather than registering all IDPs.

Displaced residents also reported that some village and ward administrators have been excluding certain IDPs from receiving cash and food aid during distributions, and they are calling on the responsible authorities to investigate and take action.

“Some people who genuinely fled their homes have been left out of the lists and denied aid. Everyone from the other side of Sat Roe Kya Creek abandoned their homes and fled, yet some of them are not being included on the lists or given assistance by the administrators. We want the responsible authorities to investigate this and take action,” an internally displaced person (IDP) from Sittwe Township told Border News Agency.

Although the junta claims to be providing 20,000 kyats per person each month to the displaced people, many IDPs say they have not received this support.

The Rakhine State junta provided 2,778 bags of rice (each weighing 19 pyi) as a month’s supply for the displaced people, but IDPs say that not everyone received it and that the amount is far from sufficient to last for a month.

“Some displaced people are already starving. The military only occasionally shows up to make a show of providing aid, and even then, the administrators siphon off a portion of it. In reality, we need about 50,000 to 100,000 kyats per month and enough rice to meet our needs,” a displaced woman from Sittwe told Border News Agency.

Displaced people said that all civilians from villages on the outskirts of Sittwe Township were forcibly taken into the town by the junta and used as human shields.

They added that their villages were completely destroyed and sold off, with military camps built on the land, leaving them without homes or any of their belongings.