Over 10,000 IDPs in Myanmar’s Pauk Township urgently need food aid

Over 10,000 residents from 16 villages in northeastern Pauk Township, Magway Region, have fled their homes due to military junta offensives and now they are badly in need of emergency food aid, according to local aid groups. A junta column of nearly 500 troops from the Pakokku-based Light Infantry Division (LID) 101 advanced into Pauk Township on 20 June via villages in Myaing and Pakokku townships, according to a statement released on 2 July by the Pauk Township Department of Social Affairs, Labour, and Humanitarian Affairs. Since May, the junta has blocked the transport of goods across western Pakokku, including Pauk Township, severely hindering efforts to purchase food supplies for the internally displaced persons (IDPs), an official from the Pauk Township Humanitarian Department told Mizzima. “With the high number of IDPs here, we mainly rely on supply routes through Kamma, Myitchay, and Pakokku. However, because military columns are active in operating along those routes and people are fleeing, the flow of goods is blocked. While rice supplies are currently manageable, we are facing extreme difficulties in securing ingredients for preparing meals,” the official said. Consequently, the Pauk Township Humanitarian Department issued an appeal on 2 July urging donors to coordinate with local community leaders to supply food and essential food supplies to the displaced. In addition to food, IDPs in Pauk Township urgently need shelter and medicine, according to the Anyar Myay Civil Society Organization (Myaing). “They are taking refuge under trees and in any makeshift places they can find such as shade under the tree. The urgent primary needs are shelter and food. Because they had to flee in a hurry, they could not carry adequate supplies with them,” an official from the organization stated. The advancing junta column reached Nyaung Ye Dair village early on 2 July and stationed there overnight. This is the same military column that committed arson and killings in Myitchay Town, Pakokku Township, and they killed at least six civilians, including a mentally retarded man, in Myaing Township, according to the Anyar Myay Civil Society Organization (Myaing). Due to these military operations, National Unity Government (NUG) interim education schools across southern Myaing Township and Pauk Township have been forced to close temporarily. The post Over 10,000 IDPs in Myanmar’s Pauk Township urgently need food aid appeared first on ENG.MIZZIMA.COM.