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Catholic and Baptist organizations run hundreds of camps for ethnic communities displaced by fighting
By John Zaw | Myanmar
While the world had paid much attention to the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine state, conflict continues unabated in Myanmar's western states where Christians bear the brunt.
Renewed fighting has been raging between Myanmar's military, known as the Tatmadaw, and the Arakan Army, which is fighting for autonomy in Rakhine in a conflict that spilled over to neighboring Chin state in December 2018.
The conflict has killed hundreds of civilians, injured scores of people including children and displaced thousands.
The UN says that more than 11,010 internally displaced persons (IDPs) remained in camps in Paletwa township, Chin state, and over 93,000 in Rakhine state as of Nov. 30.
Among the IDPs in Chin state, most are ethnic Chin Christians who have taken shelter at makeshift camps including churches.
Some 130 IDPs have been provided with temporary shelter in a church compound while others seek refuge in government-owned buildings, monasteries and relatives' houses.
In September, around 60,000 people in remote villages in Paletwa township faced a severe food shortage due to the disrupted road links.
As a result of roadblocks and the security situation, the price of rice is high and many rice bags sent by the government and donors have not reached villages in Paletwa township for months.
More than 400 villages with an estimated population of 110,000 in Paletwa township include over 85,000 Chin, mostly Christians, and about 17,000 ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.
Hundreds of Chin civilians have been displaced since the conflict between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army erupted in Paletwa in 2015.
During years of conflict, civilians in Chin state have been abducted by armed groups and scores went missing. Both the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army deny responsibility for the abductions.
There are dozens of cases of killings, forced labor, indiscriminate laying of land mines, enforced disappearances and abductions in Chin and Rakhine states, according to the Chin Human Rights Organization.
Despite a lull in gunfire, the situation remains tense in Paletwa where conflict has intensified and artillery shells reached a Catholic church compound, according to church sources.
As the world has been dealing with Covid-19, the UN secretary-general joined Pope Francis in calling for a ceasefire to tackle the deadly Covid-19 pandemic in a show of unity.
Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon called for a united and peaceful nation through dialogue as the decades-long civil war continues to rage in Myanmar.
"There is no other path than dialogue. Dialogue flows from open hearts and minds, from that passion for truth without which society disintegrates," he said in a letter on Aug. 11.
The Southeast Asian nation, which gained independence from Britain in 1948, has been bedeviled with civil war for nearly 70 years.
The conflict has displaced more than 100,000 people, mostly Christians, in Kachin, Shan and Chin states where the Catholic and Baptist churches have run hundreds of IDP camps.
The Catholic Church's social arm Karuna (Caritas) Myanmar has played a key role in providing humanitarian assistance to IDPs in Kachin, Shan and Chin states.
State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi initiated what has been branded the 21st century version of the original Panglong peace conference in bringing all ethnic armed groups to the negotiation table.
Peace, however, remains elusive as ongoing fighting in ethnic areas has undermined Suu Kyi's reconciliation bid.
In her opening remarks at the last Panglong peace conference in August, Suu Kyi said peace building is not only about stopping shooting and bombing, it is also about rejecting the logic of the current "bad political culture" in which might is right and people must rely on arms to be recognized or succeed.
But the civilian government can do little as security and border affairs are controlled by the Tatmadaw as enshrined in the 2008 constitution.
The 2008 charter mandates that a quarter of all parliamentary seats must be reserved for the military. It also gives them control of key portfolios like home affairs, defense and border security.
Pro-democracy campaigners oppose a provision that grants military MPs the power to veto any proposed charter changes, especially any amendments that would curb their political power.
The constitution also bars Suu Kyi from becoming president because she married a foreigner. She has thus been restricted to the dual roles of state counselor and foreign minister.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide in the Nov. 8 general election. It's the second resounding victory for the ruling NLD following a first landslide in the 2015 election which formally ended decades-long military rule in the conflict-torn country.
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