Villagers in Mindat Township are forced to subsist on maize and other vegetables after the Tatmadaw blocked all rice supplies into the countryside to starve the civil resistance forces it’s been fighting since May.
According to a local source familiar with the situation, the Burma Army (BA) has set up roadblocks on all access roads to the township to prevent rice from reaching remote areas where there are many internally displaced people (IDP) and, in some cases, the Chinland Defence Force (CDF).
The Tatmadaw are arresting volunteers trying to supply IDP camps with much-needed rations on the main road linking Mindat Township in Chin State to Magwe Region. The BA blockades have driven up the cost of rice, other food, medicine and fuel.
“The IDPs have been struggling to get rice since mid-September. There’s still rice in a few villages, but most have run out…Instead of rice, the IDPs mainly consume corn and pumpkins,” a member of the IDP Management Committee for Mindat Township told Khonumthung News.
According to the committee, there are 6,000 IDPs in the township and about 30 people, including minors, have died from malnutrition or lack of medicine during the five-month conflict.
Fighting has intensified after the collapse of a short-lived ceasefire. Tatmadaw troops have pushed further into remote areas in search of CDF fighters, causing further displacement and prompting villagers who fled the violence to seek new places of refuge.
After rumours emerged at the end of last month that CDF was planning an attack on the town of Mindat, many residents sought shelter in Kyauk Htu, about 17 km away in the Magwe Region.
BA has seized control of rice and fuel sales in Mindat and forced residents to show their ID before they can purchase it in the town.