Myanmar authorities in the Rakhine state capital Sittwe on Thursday relocated about 1,000 people displaced by violence in Maungdaw township to the municipality’s main soccer field, while 100 others returned to their homes in three villages.
About 3,000 people fled mayhem in the area following deadly raids on three border guard posts in Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships on Oct. 9 and subsequent clashes between armed men and Myanmar soldiers and police. One-third of the displaced people have sought refuge in monasteries and schools in Sittwe, while the rest have gone to other parts of Maungdaw or to neighboring Buthidaung township.
“The state government has relocated the Maungdaw IDPs [internally displaced persons] from monasteries to tents on the Danyawaddy soccer field,” Min Aung, Rakhine’s city development minister, said. “The state government will arrange and provide for whatever they need so they can return home when their areas are safe.”
More than 100 displaced people from Mawyawaddy, Kainggyi and U Daung villages who fled their homes but remained in Maungdaw township returned to their houses on Thursday, authorities said.
Nyi Pu, Rakhine state’s chief minister, met with displaced people who fled to Buthidaung and told them that they could return to their homes in Maungdaw, but most refused to do so, fearing for their safety.
The northern part of Rakhine state where Maungdaw is located has been under military control since the attacks and ensuing hostilities that authorities have blamed on insurgents linked to Aqa Mul Mujahidin, an Islamic organization active in Rohingya Muslim-majority Maungdaw.
Security forces, who have so far killed about 30 alleged insurgents and captured 29 others, have locked down the area to hunt for roughly 400 others involved in the attacks, whom they believe to be local Muslims who have received funding and training from Islamists abroad.
The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) has suspended food aid deliveries to more than 80,000 people in the affected area because the military has prevented supplies from getting through, Agence France-Presse reported Wednesday.
“There is military everywhere and a curfew in place, and so it’s impossible to access any of the areas affected,” said Arsen Sahakyan, WFP’s partnership officer in Myanmar, was quoted as saying. “The areas affected are also the areas where we normally operate.”
Ethnic tensions
The violence is not the first time that the restive state has experienced hostilities caused by ethnic tensions.
In 2012, communal violence between majority Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims left more than 200 people dead and displaced 140,000 Rohingya who were forced into IDP camps where about 120,000 remain today.
Many in Myanmar view the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and have persecuted them by denying them citizenship, restricting their movement, and preventing them from having access to education and health care.
Several international aid agencies either left or were expelled from Rakhine state in March 2014 after ethnic Rakhine Buddhists accused them of favoring the Rohingya and ransacked their offices in Sittwe.
The agencies were later required to receive approval for their activities from a newly created body composed of state and central government officials as well as U.N. representatives, and from the local ethnic Rakhine community,
The WFP recently restarted delivering food to about 6,000 displaced people in Rakhine, fearing the violence would spread to other parts of Rakhine state, the AFP report said.
Local civil society agencies have also experienced problems with food deliveries, though a couple have managed to get bags of rice to villagers via the military because they could not deliver them directly.
In the meantime, Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de factor leader whose civilian government came to power in April, told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday that Myanmar is still struggling to establish democracy.
“We as a nation are struggling to make the democratic culture take root,” she said after a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on an official visit to New Delhi.
“We, too, have many challenges to face, but we are confident that these challenges can be overcome because our people are determined to overcome them,” she said.
Aung San Suu Kyi has pledged to handle the turbulent situation in Rakhine state fairly and in accordance with the rule of law once those who planned and carried out the attacks have been caught.
Reported by Min Thein Aung for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.