‘We will never be able to go home if we wait for peace in our area,’ one village administrator said.

Internally displaced people (IDPs) are returning to their homes in northern Shan State’s Namtu Township in an effort to protect their property and tend their crops, despite continued fighting.

The area has seen clashes in recent weeks between the troops from the Northern Alliance of ethnic armed groups and the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army, as well as between the Burma Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army—a Northern Alliance member.

An estimated 2,000 people fled due to the fighting, seeking refuge in makeshift camps and monasteries in Mong Mu and Mansan village tract and in neighboring Hsipaw Township.

Even though armed conflict continues, IDPs say they are taking the risk to go back and tend to their crops, and because, in the haste in which they fled, they were unable to lock their houses.

“The battles still haven’t finished, but I have to go and see my house,” said Nang Noon, who sought refuge in Hsipaw’s Aung Mingalar Bodaw monastery before returning home this week. She said that she had heard that rice and cooking oil had been taken from her house. “My crops on my farm have been stolen. We can do nothing, but we have to go back home and see the situation. We have no options. If battles break out again, we will have to flee again,” she said.

SHAN learned that 278 IDPs who had sought refuge at the same monastery as Nang Noon returned to their homes on Monday.

“We need to cultivate peanuts. If we can work for a day, we will get some benefits for a day. It’s better to get something than to lose,” said an administrator for Namtu Township’s Panglong village, Sai Lek. “If battles break out again, we will have to flee again. We will never be able to go home if we wait for peace in our area. We cannot wait until the battles are finished because we have to work on our farms. As IDPs, we have to help each other,” he explained.

Intense battles have been taking place in Panglong village tract since September 1.