IDPs in Pauktaw Twsp face desperate food shortages

By Admin 16 Jul 2025

DMG Newsroom

16 July 2025, Pauktaw

Some internally displaced people (IDPs) taking shelter on Myay Ngu Island in Pauktaw Township, Arakan State, are reportedly unable to eat regular meals due to food shortages and are resorting to drinking rice water for sustenance.

Myay Ngu Island is home to at least 2,000 people across 500 households who have fled the conflict between Myanmar's military regime and the Arakan Army (AA) in Sittwe Township, and are facing food shortages due to lack of aid amid a lack of jobs and rising food prices.

The IDPs say their livelihoods are becoming increasingly difficult day by day, leading some to take desperate measures to survive.

"The displaced families living near us have only one rice ration, so they eat rice water every day. I am also very poor, so I don't have enough money to distribute food to them. I heard that some displaced families in the southern part of the village are already starving," said Daw Than Than Nwe, an IDP woman from Pyaing Taung Village.

IDPs said that they had received assistance from some social organisations when they fled the fighting, but have not received any assistance since January 2025.

Myay Ngu Island has little farmland and forest cannot be relied on, so locals rely on fishing as their main livelihood.

Since the start of the battle for control of towns in Arakan State, the military regime has blocked roads into Arakan State, causing fishing operations to cease and local residents to face difficulties making a living.

While the locals themselves are facing food shortages, job shortages and rising prices, IDPs in the area are in even more dire straits.

"Of these three islands, especially Myay Ngu Island, there are few jobs and the only way to get around is by water, so it is difficult for the locals to make a living," said Ko Kyaw Soe Naing, a local man in Pauktaw Township. "Some of the displaced people on that island are even begging. I saw some of the displaced people going from house to house begging for rice."

Due to fighting in Pauktaw Township, tens of thousands of people from Pauktaw, Sittwe, and Ponnagyun townships have fled the fighting and are taking shelter in various locations.

Locals say some displaced people sheltering in villages near Pauktaw Township are also facing food shortages.

"IDPs eat rice donated by others. IDPs eat as if they have no money. Some IDPs eat leftover food from the monastery," said a local woman from Sarpyin Village in Pauktaw Township.

The IDPs in Pauktaw Township are facing the prospect of starvation over time due to lack of assistance, lack of jobs and rising prices, and are calling on the AA to provide as much compassionate assistance as possible.