Nine residents of Awng Lawt Village of Tanai Township arrived at an internally displaced resident (IDP) camp in the Kachin State’s capital Myitkyina at the end of June after hiding in the forest for two months.
Nine IDPs from two families including a seventy-year-old woman and two eight-year-old children only managed to arrive at the IDP camp after two months due to unfamiliarity with the roads, road blocks, and landmines, according to Daw Labya Htu San, one of the newly arrived IDPs.
“We ran in the direction of Maji Bum (Mountain) but we met a group of IDPs who were coming down the mountain at Sani Chaungzone. We spent a week at the In Sant Creek with them after the government army (Tatmadaw) arrived in that direction. We had to cross between the landmines as if we were planting paddies on the road even though we were scared. There was also flooding and leeches stuck [to our bodies] so we faced many difficulties. When we heard that the Tatmadaw troops left the Maji Bum, we went back there. While we were there, Myanmar soldiers arrested U Tinghpang Naw Ja, who was coming back from the Ka Phan Creek, so we had to go inside the village to search for him. We didn’t hear any news about him so we held a prayer ceremony for him,” she said.
After hiding in the forest for around two months, the IDPs went to in Dum Bang first before they came to Jaw Masat Kachin Baptist Convention IDP camp in Myitkyina.
She added that they have not heard anything about U Tinghpang Naw Ja (around age 35), who was arrested by the Tatmadaw on the road on May 20.
Over 2,000 residents fled to the forest after the Tatmadaw launched ground attacks and airstrikes against Awng Lawt Village since April 11.
The majority of the IDPs were allowed to take shelter in Tanai, Myitkyina, and Namti after they were blocked by the Tatmadaw for over a month.
Only ten households currently remain in Awng Lawt Village.
