About 4,000 people displaced by fighting from six villages in Taungoo Township, Bago Region cannot return home because junta roadblocks are preventing them from doing so.

Fighting in the area between junta and resistance forces started on 8 November 2024. On the same day a junta artillery shell exploded near to Kuntheepin Village in Taungoo Township injuring four people, according to local sources. This caused about 4,000 residents from Kuntheepin and nearby villages to immediately flee to other safer locations in Taungoo Township.

But now, junta soldiers have blocked all the roads leading to the villages where the fighting is still ongoing. The situation is also still very volatile in those areas meaning it is impossible for the displaced people to return.

An aid worker assisting the displaced said to KIC: “Due to the blockades, no one can return home at this time. With junta troops still stationed in these villages, no one dares to risk going back. The displaced are temporarily sheltering with relatives and friends in nearby villages, and in monasteries.”

Because the displaced had to leave their homes in such a hurry they were unable to bring supplies and, as a result, they are currently facing food shortages.

Social aid groups helping to temporarily relocate the displaced villagers warned that as temperatures are dropping there is an urgent need for blankets and warm clothing, especially for those who fled with only the clothes on their backs.

Villagers from Kanni, Nyaungsakhan, Barhnaung, Goneminaing, Letpantagar, and Kuntheepin villages, who are temporarily sheltering in monasteries, are receiving assistance from social aid groups based in Taungoo Township and the local communities where they are temporarily staying.