Burma News International (BNI) | November 22, 2016

Internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in Ngwe Pyaw Sanpya Village in Myitkyina Township, Kachin State say that the new Burmese NLD government has ignored and neglected them.

The IDPs living in the village, which is at the base of Inkhaibum Mountain in the Palana Village Group, said that the new Kachin State Government has shown no interest in them and has never sent anyone to visit the village.

Ko Zaw One, an IDP from Ngwe Pyaw Sanpya Village said: “At least, the former government visited us every two or three months and gave us food supplies. The current government doesn’t even come at all. Not receiving food supplies is not important to us, what we, the villagers, want are job opportunities. We are not waiting for their aid; we could work if we had jobs. Now, we have nowhere to work, there isn’t any land. We can’t do anything with just houses. We want them to give us something to do.”

Ngwe Pyaw Sanpya Village is far from Myitkyina Town, so the IDPs are having difficulties in making a living due to a lack of job opportunities.

The village was built by the previous Kachin State Government in 2014 and it houses IDPs who were formerly living at IDP camps in Myitkyina, Waingmaw, Sumprabum, and Chipwe townships.

During the previous Thein Sein administration, the Kachin State Government often visited the IDPs and asked them questions. They also provided them with aid and created jobs for them. But, since the new Kachin State Government took office no one from the government has come to visit them.

Daw Haung Hnaw, an IDP who relocated to Ngwe Pyaw Sanpya Village from Sumprabum IDP camp, said she made a mistake in moving to the village because since her arrival nothing had gone right for her.

She said: “We were able to raise cattle and work when we were living in Sumprabum. We have nothing to do here. Things will get better slowly after we have settled down and we know how to make our living but we don’t know what work we should do at the moment. So, we want

[the Kachin State Government] to give us food supplies. Even if we want to work as daily-wage workers nobody wants to hire us. We have to sell our earrings and necklaces to survive.”

The IDPs want to return to their homes but they are afraid to go back because Burma Army and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) troops are still camped near to their homes and due to tensions between the two armies there are frequent skirmishes.

An IDP who has been living in Ngwe Pyaw Sanpya Village since it was built said: “I don’t want the NLD government to be distant from the public. The previous governments met with the public every two or three months. The NLD government hasn’t met with the public since they took office.”

The previous government originally built Ngwe Pyaw Sanpya Village to house IDPs who did not want to live in IDP camps. But, ever since IDPs first moved there aid to the village has decreased and since the NLD government took office the village has received no aid at all.

The IDPs living in Ngwe Pyaw Sanpya Village want the fighting to stop so that they can return home because it is hard for them to making a living in the village.

Translated by Thida Linn
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI

This article originally appeared on Burma News International (BNI) on November 22, 2016.

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