About 4,000 war refugees in White River need emergency assistance : Myanmar

Every Sunday About 4,000 war refugees fleeing from nine villages in Ye Phyu Township have not been able to return to their villages for about two weeks, aid workers said, and are in urgent need of food and medical aid.

On June 19th, after the battle between the Military Council Army and the Revolutionary Forces, the Military Council Army carried out air strikes as well as raiding Yephyu Township. Kali Aung City Residents in Raphu Village had to flee their homes.

"In the village and in the houses, there is nothing left of food ."

Ko Kyaw, an official from FE5 Taninthary, a research group based in Taninthary, told RFA that the entire village has been fleeing since the fighting and needs help.

"Due to the formation of the army, nine villages in the Raphu village group in Rephyu township had to flee. Most of them did not dare to return home. They are avoiding war. Among them, there is a village called Muekchuo and Nagai Lake. More than a thousand people fled to those two villages. More than a thousand of them currently have no food. I'm having problems with food and medicine."

The war refugees are living in the nearby forest and orchards, and the people who are helping them say that it is difficult to live because it is the rainy season.

He said that there are some people who have returned to their villages due to the current peace of the fighting, but most of them have not dared to return to their villages because of frequent formations.

A resident, who did not want to be named for security reasons, told RFA that the military council soldiers stationed near the village of Muekchoo for two weeks burned cars from the villages and took away food and utensils.

"We chose big houses that opened grocery stores and then opened them. In the village, there is nothing left of food in the houses. I'm going to carry the equipment. When the villagers returned to the village, there was nothing to eat. Eating is very difficult because we have to share the rice that is left over and eat.

RFA reached out to Minister of Land Development U Thet Naing, who is authorized to speak in Tanintharyin of the Military Council, to get a response about this situation, but he did not receive an answer.

FE5 Taninthary announced on June 12 that as of May of this year, there have been nearly 60,000 war refugees in Taninthary.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), there are more than three million refugees fleeing their homes nationwide.