People displaced from Kawkareik Town in  Karen State who are currently unable to return home are having their homes looted by soldiers and junta-affiliated thieves in their absence.

Violent clashes outside Kawkareik Town that started on 1 December 2023 have forced nearly all of the town's inhabitants to flee. By October 2024 most of the town’s inhabitants had fled.

Many of them are still unable to return and whilst they are away their homes are being broken into by junta soldiers and civilians who support them.

 A Kawkareik resident said to KIC: “Only a few people have returned and are resettling in the town, while many houses remain empty. These homes are being broken into by junta troops and their accomplices, who are stealing everything they can find.”

Because junta soldiers are still stationed in some downtown and suburban wards of Kawkareik Town residents from those areas are still unable to return to their homes. This means they have been unable to come back to inspect their properties which are now vulnerable to thieves. They are helpless as everything they own continues to be stolen.

Another Kawkareik resident said: “The soldiers are barring residents from returning to their homes if they are near to where they are stationed. Meanwhile, junta-affiliated thieves freely raid these empty homes every day, taking whatever they can. Nearly every house has been stripped bare, with nothing left, and some have even had their plywood peeled off.”

Though many people are aware of who the thieves are, they are reluctant to report them because they fear retaliation that could endanger their lives as the thieves are aligned with the junta, according to residents of Kawkareik Town.

Some of the town’s residents have accused the junta soldiers stationed at the Kawkareik Myoma (main) Police Station of orchestrating the burglaries. KIC is still trying to verify these claims.

Since the fighting erupted outside Kawkareik Town on 1 December 2023, the junta has established a foothold in Kawkareik Town and is continuing its ongoing offensive to take back control of Asia Highway 1 (AH1) which goes from Myawaddy on the Thai border to Kawkareik Town and beyond into Myanmar.

This has meant that most of the residents displaced from Kawkareik Town still feel unable to return to their homes.

Kawkareik Town residents have also reported that some of the houses are also being set on fire by junta soldiers after they have been burgled.