Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Thibaw (Hsipaw) Town, Shan State, are facing emerging food shortages and urgently need assistance.

Thibaw Town is home to over 2,000 IDPs, most of whom fled fighting in the northern Shan State towns of Kyaukme and Naungcho (Nawnghkio). Heavily dependent on donor support, these IDPs are now struggling as food stockpiles run out, often relying on occasional day labor to cope with their hardships.

A humanitarian worker in Thibaw said that donors have nearly disappeared, leaving each IDP family with only enough rice to fill around five empty condensed milk tins. In Myanmar, empty condensed milk tins are a common tool for measuring rice portions.

“There are hardly any donors left. The food that IDPs had stocked up is almost gone. Some families now have only four or five tins of rice, which, for larger families, would barely last a day,” he told Shan Herald.

He added that some IDPs are forced to make ends meet by taking on random, short-term, physically exhausting day labor jobs.

During intense fighting between the junta and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in northern Shan State, junta airstrikes killed many civilians, forcing locals to flee their homes.

In recent days, junta air raids have intensified in TNLA-controlled Thibaw and Kyaukme towns.

Junta and TNLA delegations met in Kunming, China, on August 27 to discuss a ceasefire, but talks stalled without an agreement. Both sides, however, pledged to meet again in September.

photo credit - Shar Htet Paing