Residents of Paletwa Township want the government to restore 4G internet services immediately in southern Chin State, as 2G isn’t fast enough to access the internet. Aung Ma Phyu, from Chin Women’s Organization in Paletwa town, told Khonumthung News she can’t send an email or even open a website indicating how this could endanger her during the pandemic because she couldn’t read news about COVID-19. Residents used to transfer money electronically using Wave Money in Paletwa. Since the Co-operative Bank (CB) has ceased operation, the only option left in town is Myanmar Economic Bank. A government employee, who requested anonymity,…
Author: Editor
Chin villagers displaced by clashes between Arakan Army (AA) and Burma Army in Ann Township, Rakhine State, are facing severe food shortages after few donors have provided aid in recent months. Salai Zaw Min Tun, from Chin Humanitarian Assistance Team – Rakhine State, told Khonumthung News that many internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the town of Ann are “struggling” after not receiving support for over two months. After the election, only the seniors and infants in the camps got help from Chin civil society organizations (CSOs), he said. The government provided 150 million kyats ($114K) for IDP relief in Ann…
Farmers are angry with the government because of plans to build a dam to divert water to Chin State’s capital, Hakha because it will inundate their farms if it is completed. A November 24 statement by the farmers in the Nawi Valley said if the project goes ahead without their consent, the Chin State government will be seen as a “dictatorship”. Farmers say they refuse to be forced off the land they’ve been cultivating since 1920, and have already demonstrated their opposition to the dam. The Chin State government estimates the Nawi Dam Project, planned at the confluence of three…
After four cases were confirmed, there’s concern among residents in Paletwa Township that coronavirus infections will continue to spread in southern Chin State, where there’s very little personal protective equipment (PPE) available to stop transmissions among the large numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in close proximity of each other. Zar Ni, who helps the IDPs in Paletwa Township, told Khonumthung News news of the cases came as shock to thousands still reeling after being forced from their homes from the conflict between Arakan Army and Burma Army. “We told IDPs not to leave the camp unless there was…
Seniors and children over the age of four-years-old are suffering from malnutrition because they’re not given the same nutritional support as others, an organization working in the internally displaced persons (IDPS) camps in Sami town, located in southern Chin State, told Khonumthung News. “I think pregnant women and children under the age of five are getting enough nutrition because they rarely get sick,” said Zaw Li Aung, director of People’s Hope. Women are giving birth without complications. During breastfeeding, they also receive nutritional powder from the government. But the other IDPs only get rice, yellow beans, cooking oil and salt,…
Khonumthung News interviewed Soe Htet, Chin State government spokesperson and municipal minister about the continued clashes between the Burma Army and the Arakan Army (AA) in southern Chin State, the humanitarian crisis concerning more than 10,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Paletwa Township, and his expectations for the region given these circumstances. You are a native of Paletwa. What can you tell us about ongoing clashes there? I am not a revolutionary man. Many civilians have been killed and have disappeared in armed struggle. Many civilians have been arrested. Many people have been injured. Burma’s civil war has already been…
A driver who tested positive for COVID-19 at a medical checkpoint in Sagaing Region is the 25th patient receiving medical treatment in the town of Kalay. Nyi Nyi Zaw, the head of Kalay District Public Relations and Information Department, told Khonumthung News that the 23-year-old driver from Nyaung Pintha ward was detected using a rapid test kit at the Hkai Kam checkpoint. Most of the patients were infected domestically, he said, and they’re all doing fine. Nine are receiving medical treatment at the Herbal Medical Hospital, while the rest are at Eiksup ICU Ward, which is located in public housing.…
Twelve civil society organizations have called on the Paletwa Township legal system to take action against the perpetrator in the rape of a 23-year-old visually impaired woman who is also an internally displaced person. The woman was sexually assaulted in the Sami IDP camp on November 17, allegedly by a 40-year-old man who has since been placed under arrest and transferred to Paletwa town. “We want justice for her. This woman is a disabled person,” Pwee Pwee of the Sami Chin Women’s Organization told Khonumthung News. Women’s organizations were among the 12 organizations to sign an open letter to the…
Locals in Paletwa, southern Chin State, say that the town has run out of COVID-19 preventative materials, even as new cases of the virus appear in the area and populations of internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain particularly vulnerable. “We cannot buy masks in Paletwa at the moment. We provided masks to IDPs in the past. Now they are gone,” Zarni, who is helping IDPs in the town, said. “They were one-use masks, so they could not wash them and reuse them. We provided a bottle of hand sanitizer to each IDP family. That’s gone, too.” All roads to Paletwa have…
Health officials detected four cases of COVID-19 among individuals staying at a quarantine center in Paletwa town, located in southern Chin State, on Wednesday, November 19. Awng Law Har, General Administration Development Officer for Paletwa Township, told Khonumthung News that all of the cases are students returning from Yangon. “We sent them to stay in a quarantine center at Myoma Primary School where they tested negative for COVID-19. Three days later, during the second test, they tested positive.” A total of 31 were sent to the facility, with others returning from northern Shan State and Rakhine State. Officials are facing…