The junta has ordered internally displaced people (IDPs) sheltering in Kwin Kauk Town, Ingapu Township, Ayeyarwady Region, to return to their homes by September 7.
On September 1, the administrative officer of Kwin Kauk Town met with the IDPs and relayed the junta’s instructions for them to return home, a humanitarian worker assisting them said.
“The junta informed the IDPs that their villages are now firmly under its control, so they can go back,” he told DMG.
The IDPs being pressured by the junta to return are those who fled Shankwin, Sawpyar, Setsetyo, and Pantawgy villages in Lemyethna Township, Ayeyarwady Region, and they number in the thousands.
Tens of thousands of people fled their villages earlier this year after intense clashes between resistance forces and the junta along the Pathein–Monywa Highway in parts of Yegyi, Ingapu, and Lemyethna townships. Although the junta claims the villages are back under its control, IDPs dismiss this as false propaganda, saying the areas remain under the control of resistance forces.
“I haven’t been forced to return to my village because I’m not in Kwin Kauk, but I’ve heard that IDPs there are being pressured to go back. The junta’s claim that it has fully regained control of the Pathein–Monywa Road is just a false narrative. Forget trying to force IDPs to return, even the junta’s own soldiers won’t dare to go into those areas,” an IDP woman said.
In early 2025, various resistance groups carried out joint operations in the Ayeyarwady Region, seizing at least 10 junta encampments and outposts, along with several areas in Thabaung, Pathein, Yegyi, Ingapu, and Lemyethna townships.
