Villagers who’ve fled the regime’s forces on a moment’s notice urgently need aid in southern Kalay Township in Sagaing Region, where fighting between the Burma Army (BA) and resistance groups has been escalating since late April.
Twenty villages were uprooted by clashes between the BA and the allied Kalay and local People’s Defence Forces and the Chinland Defence Force (Kalay, Kabaw, Gangaw). Currently, 3,000 villagers are hiding east of the Myit Thar River.
An anonymous source who’s helping the civilians from Ashay Si affected by the violence said they need rice and medicine, as well as tarpaulins and plastic sheets to protect themselves from the rain.
“They didn’t have time to bring anything after the BA column immediately arrived in their area. The soldiers also burnt down their houses so they have nothing left,” the man said after resistance groups ambushed the regime near the village in late April.
“Their situation is really bad and we’re asking for donations to support these people who are in desperate need of humanitarian aid.”
After fighting broke out 1 May, junta soldiers burnt down nearly 700 of the 900 houses in Ashay Si.
Conflict between BA and the armed groups in Sagaing Region and Chin State started after civilians took up arms against the military regime in May last year following a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters resisting the dictatorship.