The crisis of thousands of Kachin refugees highlighted by Mon Laike

When the Mon Laike refugee camp near the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) headquarters was attacked, hundreds of refugees fled to the nearby Wai Kyai Refugee Camp, where more than 6,000 refugees were displaced.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) also said that because people fleeing the war in Mon Laik have to flee to Wai Kyai, it also affects the refugees.

So at the same time, what UNOCHA has said is about the limitations of helping refugees from war in Kachin State.

He points out that Mon Laihek is one of the places where humanitarian aid is limited in reaching Kachin.

Therefore, UNOCHA has said that it is necessary for partner humanitarian aid groups to have access to safe transportation so that aid can reach refugees in a timely manner.

The BBC contacted UNOCHA about the obstacles facing Kachin, but they did not give a specific answer, but they responded that they are trying to continue providing humanitarian aid as much as possible despite the limited access and lack of funds.

Thousands of people live near Laiza, where the KIO headquarters is located. In the 3 major refugee camps of Jeyang and Phong Luangyam, refugees are returning to the war again due to the ongoing joint fighting between the Military Council Army and the KIA/PDF.

Some of those who fled the war returned to their hometowns and farmed, but the battles, Due to the threat of heavy weaponry and fear of disaster, Wei Kyai, Jay Yang and Phong Luang Yam are returning to the large refugee camps.

These large refugee camps are located a few miles away from Laiza and have at least five thousand or more people.

Among them, Wai Krayin was killed in the night of October 9th. The explosion killed 29 people and was 2 miles from the Mon Laike refugee camp on the road to Laiza.


After the October 9 Monlaike tragedy, nearly 600 war refugees who survived the war are fleeing to the Wai Kyai refugee camp, about 2 miles away.

''The refugees are still living in the food warehouse of Wai Kyai Refugee Camp. Although the Kachin people in China have donated, they still need help. They (Mon Laike Sithiao) were not asked to do anything. Now, this is camp field point 1, 2, 3 are taking turns cooking. eat Share it,'' a resident of the Wai Kyai refugee camp told the BBC.

``Helps have become less. Really less. I am getting only half of the aid I was getting before. Before the outbreak of Covid-19, I still had a small amount of income working on the banana farm. There is nothing to do now, He continues to say that he is eating and living as if aid is decreasing.

Now, hundreds of Mon Laike deserters who fled with only one piece of clothing are stranded in the Wai Kain refugee camp.

``There are people who lost their families in the attack on the Monlaike camp. Those who returned to their own farms also died in the refugee camp, and all of them came back and came to Wei Krain. There is also the fear of the danger of weapons,'' a person providing emergency aid to war refugees told the BBC.

We are also still worried about the danger of heavy weapons.

``There were some people here and there in the surrounding areas, but they stayed like this because it was a place where people walked. I'm worried because Mon Lai is hard. The army also fired large weapons in the evening. I can hear the voices thundering. I don't know where it was shot from, but there is a Rakhine camp about 2 mountains away from Mon Laik. It looks like it was shot in that direction,'' said a resident of the Wai Kyai military evacuation camp.

The three northern twin groups, including the Rakhine Army (AA), pointed out that an AA officer was killed when the military council opened fire on an AA camp near Laiza, and condemned the air attack on Mon Lai Khe, which killed tens of people.

The Military Council side reported that the attack was not carried out by them, but by the explosion of the KIA's ammunition depot.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) announced that the attack on the Mon Laike refugee camp was an explosion caused by a bomb dropped by the military council and is a significant war crime.

After the attack, witnesses and photos. HRW said that according to television interrogations, the Burmese army first launched airstrikes on the village and then fired heavy weapons from the ground.

Looking at the photos of the damage from the attack site, it also shows that it was caused by the shock waves from the high-explosive bombs dropped by the air, HRW said.


On the other hand, about 50 people, including one-month-old infants, who were injured in the Monlaike explosion, are still being treated at the public hospital in Laiza.

``He did not die because his mother covered him in his arms, but the month-old boy, whose cheek and hand were scratched, was being nursed by his father who was left behind. Their eldest brother is now feeling better because the bullets in his face and legs were removed. The second middle boy had a broken right arm from the shoulder joint to the elbow, so he had to wear a stone bandage. In their family, when Mon Laike was attacked, my father died because he was elsewhere. Among those who died, their father's father, mother, Next is their uncle's family. Children are among the injured. Most of them are women and the elderly,'' said a patient at Laiza Hospital.


There are more than 200,000 war refugees in Kachin State, including the China-Myanmar border and KIO-controlled areas, and the number of these war refugees are those who have become war refugees again due to the fighting caused by the military coup. This number is increasing, said those helping Kachin war refugees.

After the coup d'état, aid to Kachin refugees has also decreased, aid workers told the BBC.

``For example, in Phon Luangyang and Wei Krain, in the past, rice, Chili onion From giving salt to rice and money. The amount of rice was not reduced, but the money was reduced. Help comes from our local support groups, The exiled Kachin ethnics are mainly sharing by not supporting each other,'' said the person helping to avoid war.

On the KIO side, when international aid is decreasing, in order to replenish food in some way, the people living in the war evacuation camp have to grow rice, The soldiers said that they are encouraging people to plant crops etc. with effort.