The IDPs confirmed that the SAC troops forced the IDPs in the camps in Paletwa Township, Chin State to carry their food.
Yesterday, on January 9th, the 289th Force of the SAC came and forced them to say that 10 people from those IDP camps must carry food every day.
“The IDPs in Paletwa must be carried provisions. If they don’t, they will be arrested. They said they will stop providing food to the IDPs,” an IDP in Paletwa told MPA.
IDPs said that they were forced to carry sacks of food and rice from Ahbaung Thar village in Paletwa township to the SAC’s military base in Khawea village after walking for about five hours through the jungles.
Military officers from the 289th Force in Paletwa Township personally visited the IDP camps and said that the IDPs did not want to be transported, but because they were worried and afraid, no one dared to tell them that they could not transport them.
“They don’t want to carry it because they are afraid, but no one dares to say anything back. The route is far. And it is very dangerous. Who would dare to go carrying sacks of rice,” another IDP told the MPA.
During the last round of fighting near the Ahbaung Thar village, fierce fighting between the Arakan Army (AA) and the SAC Military took place, and the IDPs said that they are also worried about the danger of landmines and remnants of war on that road.
During the last round of fighting, the AA attacked and captured some SAC camps in Paletwa Township, and residents said that some camps were withdrawn.
In Rakhine and Paletwa, a temporary ceasefire between the AA and the SAC started on November 26, but the SAC is reinforcing its forces with weapons and food back, according to locals.
Photo – MPA (Caption – A crossroads on the way from Rakhine to Paletwa)