Burma Army: Looting, Intimidation, Displacement in Kachin State
Burma Army units in Kachin State are looting the rice rations of internal displaced people (IDP’s), and have fired on a group of villagers in at least one occasion last month, reports the Free Burma Rangers, a frontline humanitarian organization.
The FBR lists and dates the Burma Army took over a camp for displaced people. On 21 November 2013, Burma Army soldiers – from Battalion 47, 56, 240, 276, and 319 – occupied Nam Lim Pa clinic, in Nam Lim Pa IDP camp, using the building to store weapons and ammunition.
FBR claim that the Burma Army troops looted rice rations of the displaced people at the camp and said that when a group of villagers happened to approach the camp, they were fired upon by the Burma Army troops.
The group noted that as a result of the Burma Army presence, 59 IDP’s fled the camp seeking refuge in a nearby village. Fighting broke out at Nam Lim Pa between Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Burma Army that afternoon – the fighting lasted around 4 hours.
FBR said in their report that the Burma Army had cut off the villagers’ “safe access to shelter, food and vital medical treatment.”
FBR provided photographic evidence showing parts of Nam Lim Pa destroyed by fire, and an unfired mortar round left at the site. The humanitarian group added that it was seeing an influx of IDP’s in the area.
Initially, “over 2,000 IDPs took temporary refuge at an IDP camp located between Pa Kam and Sin Kam. There were 600 IDPs at the IDP site three weeks ago, but once IDPs from Nam Lim Pa arrived, the number dramatically increased. Due to security concerns, many IDPs moved to Bom Tsit Pa IDP camp on 4 December 2013 – which now hosts roughly 1,760 IDPs,” FBR said.
