The Hakha-based Community Care for Emergency Response and Rehabilitation (CCERR) has announced it will provide assistance to internally displaced people (IDPs) in Paletwa Township who have fled clashes between the Burma Army and the Arakan Army (AA).

Funds have been collected through private donations, CCERR representatives said, adding that they will continue to solicit contributions from religious organizations, civil society organizations and individuals throughout Chin State. All the aid will be transferred in March.

“We have a responsibility to help our ethnic brothers and sisters as much as we can. When they face troubles, we must help them. Currently, we can only contribute some money to them. We want to fulfill their needs,” Daw Biak Mawi Sung, who works with CCERR, told Khonumthung News.

Intense clashes between government forces and the AA have been escalating in Paletwa Township in recent months, with IDPs fleeing elsewhere in Paletwa, as well as to Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State and Bangladesh.

Local sources say at least eight villages have suffered damage and leading residents to seek refuge elsewhere and allegations from local aid workers that the government is “not effectively helping IDPs.”

Khonumthung News reported that the Tatmadaw sent troop reinforcements, military equipment and helicopters to neighboring Matupi Township earlier this month, raising concerns that fighting will continue to displace civilians.