Five lawmakers, representing the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the Arakan National Party (ANP), on Monday led an historic delegation to groups of Arakanese, an ethnic minority in western Burma, who were displaced by recent fighting. This marks the first time sitting parliamentarians have visited areas of internally displaced Arakanese.

Fighting has been ongoing between Arakanese armed groups and government forces since Burma’s independence from Britain, and, after government forces threatened their villages in the last two weeks, over 800 Arakanese were displaced, leaving many homeless or living in monasteries.

The ANP and NLD lawmakers provided the displaced people with rice, oil, medicine and noodles. Some NGOs and other civil society organizations are supplying water and necessities like mosquito nets.

“This is the first time the government has visited displaced Arakanese,” Khin Saw Wai, ANP member of Burma’s Parliament, told The Irrawaddy. “But there are still people who are displaced in other townships, and they also need help. The government needs to make sure that all displaced people receive the same amount of support.”

“[This area] is my home constituency,” Khin Saw Wai said. “They elected me to parliament, so I have a responsibility to them.”

UN officials also traveled with the joint ANP-NLD group, and discussed plans for providing the internally displaced Arakanese with drinking water and other supplies.

“With the rainy season approaching, things will get more difficult for the displaced Arakanese, and the future of the conflict between the Arakan Army and the Burma Army remains unclear,” Khin Saw Wai said, adding that since April 16, the Burma Army had kidnapped dozens of people and forced them to serve as porters.

“To handle displaced populations, all of the government agencies and civil society groups have to cooperate,” Khin Saw Wai said. “We hope that the government will start paying more attention.”

Khin Saw Wai’s NLD colleague agreed.

“The government is responsible for helping citizens who are in difficult situations,” Min Aung, an NLD member of the Arakan state parliament who is traveling with the group, told The Irrawaddy.

Source:
courtesy of THE IRRAWADDY

by Su Myat Mon

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