The Porcine Circovirus Type-2 (PCV-2) had killed nearly 200 pigs in Chin State’s Thantlang Township over the last two months, and more expected to follow. “There is no effective vaccine to cure this disease. Even though we give injections of medicine to the pigs, it’s not really effective,” Dr. Lian Bwi, who is the head of the livestock department in Thantlang, told Khonumthung News. “What we are paying attention to is prevention, rather than trying to cure the disease.” The pigs began dying in the first week of April. After sending blood tests to a lab in Mandalay, the lab…
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Citizens will run out of food if an emergency shipment doesn’t reach Paletwa town by the first week of June, where conflict has blocked all land and river routes to the township since early February. Ko Kyaw Aung, secretary of Chin IDP (internally displaced person) Support Committee (CISC) said it’s difficult for the rice to be transported by land from Sami and impossible for it to be sent over the river from Kyauktaw in Rakhine State because of the fighting between Burma Army and Arakan Army (AA). Soe Htet, a spokesperson for the Chin State government, said there are thousands…
Returnees coming from Mizoram State in India back to Burma won’t be allowed to cross the border unless they have travel permission documents from both governments, according to a statement released over the weekend by the Rih Lengtlang Youth Association (RLYA). The RLYA published the statement on May 31. The restriction affects Burmese nationals who are migrant workers or students in India and have been stuck there during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are hoping to return to Burma through the India-Burma No. 2 Bridge—known as the Rih-Zokhawdar border trading gate—but won’t be allowed to enter Rihkhawdar town if they don’t…
Families displaced by fighting in southern Chin State are worried their children won’t be able to continue their education when school resumes next month after the Burmese government relaxes a three-month lockdown. The government plans to open schools on July 21, but after the conflict drove many families to seek refuge in Paletwa township there are not enough school buildings for all the displaced children living in Sami. Fighting between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army (AA) in southern Chin State forced many families to seek shelter in one of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in the town. Of the…
Civilians who were forced to flee their village in southern Chin State in March reported seeing Tatmadaw soldiers in their abandoned village several hours before a fire on Tuesday. A person who works with a civil society organization (CSO), who didn’t want their name used, told Khonumthung News that residents of Oukmee Letwa can see everything that happens in their village from the displaced camp across the river where they now live. “We saw Burma Army soldiers in the village between 8 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. And then the village burned at 2:00 p.m.” The source said they did not…
Chin farmers in Rakhine State say that they were afraid to go and work on their rotating farmland because of travel restrictions regarding the prevention of COVID-19 and the ongoing civil war in Rakhine State, creating difficulties in maintaining their livelihoods and in securing food. There are an estimated 200,000 ethnic Chin people in Rakhine State, living in some 160 villages in Ann Township, 72 villages in Minbya, 19 in Myebon and still more in Mrauk U and Kyauktaw. The townships are under a curfew from 6:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. because of clashes between the Burma Army and the…
An artillery shell hit a house in Paletwa town, southern Chin State on Monday, damaging the property. Locals said that the weapon hit the Yeikkha ward home, belonging to Thawng Kein, at around 11:30 a.m. on May 25, destroying the kitchen. No one was injured. “The shell hit the kitchen, located in the back of the house. The kitchen and other property were damaged, but nobody was injured,” a Paletwa local told Khonumthung News. “At that time, the people were sitting in front of the house. That’s why no one was injured.” The Burma Army and Arakan Army have engaged…
Thousands are facing severe food shortages in war-stricken Paletwa township. There are over 20,000 experiencing food insecurity, according to the Relief and Rehabilitation Committee for Chin IDPs (RRCCI), and at least 5,000 of those are internally displaced persons (IDPs). RRCCI spokesperson Saw Mya told Khonumthung News the rice the government and the World Food Programme sent about a month ago has nearly run out. The 3,830 rice bags of rice sent in two trips in late April was only enough for about two weeks, he explained. “People are sharing what remaining food is left with each other.” The government created…
Farmers in northern Chin State are concerned food production levels will drop if a lockdown continues into late May. Doza Tawng, the headman for Kaptel, said if it’s lifted soon it will be fine, but it continues past this week it will “cause problems.” He said their rotating farms provide more than sixty-percent of the food consumed in Tedim township but they need to work in their paddy fields soon otherwise their yields could be reduced. “The raining season is coming and if we can’t weed our fields it will cause a huge problem for our farms.” Chin farmers typically…
The first COVID-19 patient in Hakha recovered and was sent home from the hospital yesterday. Pau Lum Ming Thang, the Chin State Health and Social Affairs minister, told Khonumthung News that the patient is known as Case 150 “is healthy” and tested negative for the virus. After being discharged from the hospital, she will have to stay in a government facility for a week and then home quarantine for another seven days, the minister said. Case 150 stayed in a facility quarantine after returning from China. According to the Ministry of Health and Sports, her test came back positive on…