More Myanmar refugees flee to Mizoram, India | Popgen Tech

UN agencies reported 1,800 new arrivals in the last week of September alone

Fighting in Myanmar has prompted thousands more to flee the state of Chin and seek refuge in the neighboring state of Mizoram in India.

There were 1,800 new arrivals in the last week of September alone, bringing the total number of refugees to 48,000, according to the latest report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The report said that more people have to cross into India due to the intensifying conflict.

“Humanitarian assistance to support recovery from Covid-19 and seasonal shocks will continue through the provision of food and CRI to the most vulnerable new arrivals from Myanmar and nearby host communities,” the report said.

The agency said nearly 6,200 children from Myanmar are currently enrolled in private and government schools in Mizoram.

The exodus of people from the western Chinese state of Myanmar to Mizoram has been steady since fighting broke out between the military and various militias after last year’s coup.

Renewed fighting in Rakhine State between the military and the Arakan Army that has spread to the city of Paletwa, in the south of Chin state, since August has also led to ethnic Chins being displaced indoors.

“Dozens of churches were burned”

Churches, NGOs and other organizations in Mizoram have been on the front lines providing food and shelter to Myanmar refugees.

Mizoram shares a long border with Myanmar, where the military took power on February 1, 2021, after toppling the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and putting several political leaders and activists behind bars.

Fighting has intensified in northwest Myanmar, which includes the Christian-majority state of China, where the military has used airstrikes and artillery bombardment against new militia groups that have killed several civilians and displaced thousands, according to media reports.

The impoverished state of China has been in the vanguard of resistance to the military regime and has witnessed fierce retaliatory attacks such as aerial bombardment, heavy bombing and indiscriminate attacks on civilians.

Dozens of churches were burned, vandalized and destroyed by junta soldiers while priests and pastors were also targeted.

The Church has played a key role in providing humanitarian aid to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), especially in the Diocese of Loikaw in Kayah and neighboring Pekhon in Shan State in the south and the Diocese of Hakha and Kalay and the Archdiocese of Mandalay covering parts of the Sagaing region which is under the battle. .

Myanmar’s bishops have repeatedly appealed for access to the growing number of displaced people in need of food, shelter and medicine.

“In our country, thousands of people are suffering from a political, economic and humanitarian crisis as churches and monasteries have been bombed, villages burned and people killed,” Cardinal Bo said in a homily on October 9.

As of October 3, there were an estimated 1,349,000 IDPs, including 1,019,00 people who were newly displaced in the country since February 2021, according to the latest report by the UN refugee agency.

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