More than 10,000 Judean refugees need food and medicine

Magway Division, also known as Judea; There are more than 10,000 war refugees in 22 villages in Gangaw district.

Residents say the number of refugees has been steadily rising for more than a year since the military coup, when troops from the military council attacked the villages in the area.

"It's summer and the water is scarce, so the elderly are very hot. "

The military council and Pyu Saw Htee were attacked in that area. The village was set on fire. Bring food; Ko Nwe Oo of the All Judea Refugee Assistance Committee (YRCIDP) said that the refugees were in need of food because of the devastation.

“In a camp of more than 300 people, we get three and a half baskets of rice a day. It costs about four weeks. There is not enough situation now. Send it one day and spend the rest of the day like that. Donate to someone who has it and send it once. Eat it. Donate the next day and do the same. Refugees also have a physical disability. There are pregnant women. There are newborns. Six years There are also seven-year-olds. "There are old men who are receiving medical treatment."

Most of the refugees in the area are scattered. However, the All Judea Refugee Committee (YRCIDP) has mobilized some refugees and set up camp.

In such camps, there is a need for food and medicine, and there is no doctor to treat them.

Some locals in the burnt villages are also living in the forest. A local woman in Namkha village said they had to live in the mountains and did not have access to medicine or food.

"There is a problem," he said. It is summer, and the water is scarce, so the elderly are very hot. Water causes a lot of trouble. Medicine Dry goods are rare. The traffic on the child side is closed. "There is only Gangaw Road, so Gangaw has to buy and eat."

It has been a year since May last year, when locals were reluctant to return to the village due to repeated incursions and arson by the junta.

A villager in San Myo, a village of about 200 houses in the area, was reduced to four houses after the fire, and villagers have been on the run since January this year, according to locals.

Residents of San Township say they need shelter for villagers fleeing in the jungle.

“The main inconvenience is the rain. There are those who can afford it and those who cannot. The house was on fire and we could not afford it. The main feeling is that we want to win the uprising. You have to be safe to succeed in the uprising. For one thing, Pyu Saw Htee is close by, so I have to be careful at all times. ”

A total of more than 500 homes were set on fire in Judea, according to the YRCIDP.

Refugees in the Ayeyarwady region, which is expected to experience the rainy season in the coming months, will receive rain and shelter. Mosquito nets and medicines are in dire need, and the YRCIDP has asked for donations to help.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) said on April 19 that more than 560,000 people have been displaced in the year since the military coup.

Civilian house Building More than 8,000 markets and schools were destroyed in Sagaing Division. According to UN OCHA, Magway Division and Chin State have the highest number.

Food routes for Kayah war refugees have been cut off

After more than a year of fighting between the military council and the Karenni Armed Forces after a military coup in Kayah (Karenni) State, the population is over 200,000, with nearly 200,000 refugees.

For them, food transport routes such as the Pinlaung-Phekone-Moebye route; On the Taunggyi-Hsi Hseng-Loi Lin-Loikaw route and the road from Toungoo to Kayah, the military council troops inspected and inspected the road. It has been blocked for more than two months.

"If you bring a lot of food, you will be arrested if you do not give a good reason. "

As a result, access to food and medicine has been limited, said a spokesman for the Karenni Refugee Assistance Network.

"At the main points, the military council troops are from Pinlaung," he said. တောင်ငူ တို့၊ I was sitting next to the gas station. Then, food trucks were allowed to enter Kayah State. There is no permission. If you bring a lot of food, you will be arrested if you do not give a good reason. Medicines are limited to Loikaw, ”he said.

In Karenni State, he said, prices of medicines and food have quadrupled.

There are about 4,000 IDPs in Demawso Township, which is close to the fighting, and about 40 refugee camps, according to an official from the Demawso Township People's Defense Force (DMO-PDF).

A spokesman for Demoso PDF said food shortages were taking place in about half of the camps due to disrupted transport routes.

"Some refugee camps are between 400 and 500," he said. There are more than 100 camps in some camps. Some refugee camps are quite large. According to statistics, there are more than 4,000. It can be said that many refugee camps are facing shortages. No refugee camp is enough. "It's almost completely cut off, almost half of it."

Although it is a war refugee camp, it is not a permanent camp, but there are areas where it is raining in the jungle.

There are about 6,000 refugees in the western part of Phuso Township, about 10 miles west of Dimoso, with two camps for about 500 people, according to the Refugee Assistance Committee for the western part of Phruso Township.

At present, there is a route to transport food and medicine, but there is a risk of food shortages during the rainy season, said an official from the Refugee Relief Committee in the western part of Phruso Township.

"The route we are using now is not good at all during the rainy season," he said. Getting around will be difficult. For that, rice, You will need to stock up on food. If we do not save, we will run out of food during the rainy season. Depending on the traffic situation. "When the rain falls, it will need to be replaced."

The IDPs who do not live in the camps are close to each other. Relatives They live in the forest with friends' houses.

Fighting is currently calm in Phruso Township, but in the past week, I'm not sure what to do. The Karenni National Defense Force (KNDF) said on April 24 that fighting intensified in Moebye townships on the Loikaw-Shan-Kayah border.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) on April 19, there have been more than 550,000 refugees in Burma since the military coup. UNOCHA says the security situation makes it difficult for aid to reach the refugees. RFA has not yet been able to contact General Zaw Min Tun, a spokesman for the military council, about the blockade on food routes.

Refugees say they are waiting for help, which is currently blocked by food routes.