A displaced man in Hai Pa Internally Displaced Person's (IDP) Camp hanged himself on Saturday 19 December according to a local aid worker in Mong Hsu Township.
Aik Nub, also known as Yi Mon, a 48 year old from Koong Nim village was found dead hanging from a tree in the camp compound at about midday.
Nang Jing, who helps the IDPs in Mong Hsu and was one of the people who discovered Aik Nub’s body, said: “He looked depressed every day…Aik Nub was stressed because he had to flee from his home and was unable to go back. He didn’t have job and couldn’t feed his family.”
She speculated that his situation could have contributed to his suicide.
She said: “He has one son and now his wife is also pregnant."
An ethnic Ta’ang (Palaung), Aik Nub was one of 10,000 people who fled their homes during the conflict between the government military and the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N), which began on 6 October.
On 15 December SHAN reported that when some of the villagers from Koong Nim village returned to their homes on 13 December the Burma Army forced them to return to the IDP camps in Hai Pa village.
On 23 December a coalition of Shan community-based organizations (CBOs) released a statement demanding that the Burma government withdraw their troops and allow over 3,000 displaced civilians in central Shan State to return to their villages.
BY SAI AW / Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
