By Lun Min Mang / Myanmar Times | January 16, 2017

Thousands of internally displaced persons in Kachin State are in urgent need of emergency assistance, protection and, especially, safe accommodation, local humanitarian organisations said at a press briefing.

The Joint Strategy Team – an alliance of Kachin civil society and faith-based groups – last week expressed concern for the safety of IDPs who have wound up stranded in no man’s land on the Myanmar-China border, trapped by fighting between the ethnic armed groups and the Tatmadaw on one side, and barred from seeking refuge on the other.

Thousands of IDPs, mostly women, children and the elderly, fled their camps before dawn on January 11. According to the JST, they have still not secured safe housing. At a January 13 briefing, JST members said over 4000 civilians fled the Zai Awng/Mungga Zup and Hkau Shau IDP camps after heavy fighting near the Nagyang area.

“The IDPs who tried to cross the border were told by Chinese security personnel to go back into Myanmar. They are not yet in a safe place. We are worried about their safety,” Gum Sha Awng, a spokesperson for the Joint Strategy Team told The Myanmar Times.

“They do not feel psychologically safe anymore,” he added.

According to a January 13 statement from international rights group Fortify Rights, some IDP families seeking asylum were allowed to cross the border initially, but as the waves of displaced people continued, Chinese border security forces began turning them back.

“Given the escalating conflict in Myanmar and the lack of protection in China, there is a growing sense of insecurity among Kachin communities living in the conflict zone,” the Fortify Rights statement said.

Fortify added that the fighting between the KIA and the Tatmadaw in Kachin State has displaced some 23,000 civilians in the past several weeks.

On January 13, according to the JST, seven mortar shells struck the Zai Wang IDP camp. No one was injured as the camp was evacuated following a shelling two weeks ago. But uneasy about the proximate bombings, nearby IDP camps have started to see an exodus as well.

“Currently, about 100 households are on their way to Laiza

[the KIA’s headquarters] and the rest of the IDPs have relocated to Na Ham Pa, which is three miles to the west of the current Maga Yang IDP camp,” said a statement released by the JST following the press conference last week.

Currently, about 400 households have relocated to Na Ham Pa, while 39 families have arrived in Laiza.

According to the JST’s figures from January 14, many of the IDPs who fled last week attempting to get to China are now en route to Laiza after they were rebuffed. Another 22 households have found shelter in Hpunlum Yang, 13 in Je Yang and 4 in Woi Chyai.

“Transportation is a major challenge for mass evacuation, and IDPs are using their motorcycles as a means of transportation,” said the JST statement.

Airstrikes meanwhile continued around Mangau village in Mansi township on January 13, freshly displacing dozens more civilians, according to the JST. The villagers arrived in Maing Hkawng, a camp in Bhamaw/Bhamo township, the same day.

Gum Sha Awng added that the JST is calling for a de-escalation of military tensions in Kachin State, the respect of international laws concerning IDPs and the deployment of emergency assistance to IDPs as soon as possible.

The KIA has been fighting the Tatmdaw since 2011 when a 17-year-old ceasefire broke. According to civil society groups, the fighting escalated last August, and has continued with outbreaks of heavy artillery and airstrikes since.

This article originally appeared on Myanmar Times on January 16, 2017.

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