With winter fast approaching, the new villagers displaced by the fighting in Paletwa desperately need warm clothes and blankets to stay warm in the camp in the town in southern Chin State.
The villagers, who’ve been living there since the fighting between the Arakan Army (AA) and the Burma Army (BA) began in 2018, have enough to keep warm during the winter months, said a male volunteer.
However, there’s no one to help the new arrivals, who’ve been displaced by fighting after an unofficial ceasefire collapsed.
“They couldn’t take any of their belongings with them when they fled their villages. In the past, some non-governmental organisations and private donors have helped them, but now no one has come.”
The last time the camp, where about 5,000 people live, received winter supplies was in 2020, before last year’s coup. Complicating matters, the regime has cut internet services to Paletwa, making it difficult to communicate with donors and coordinate aid to the camp.
“Some people are sick because they need medicine, but doctors and nurses visit the camp once a month and only treat the mild cases. If someone is really sick, they are sent to the hospital and need some money,” said a man from Aboung Thar village who lives in the camp, on condition of anonymity.
He said the World Food Programme provides rice and other staples, but the residents need money to buy vegetables as well as medicine.
The man explained there was not enough food and the food available to them was not nutritious.