‘I want to return home only after the situation is really stable in our area,’ said a displaced person in Langkhur.

More than 70 internally displaced people (IDPs) from southern Shan State’s Mongpan Township were made by the Burma Army’s Central-East Command to return to their village from Langkhur, where they had fled to escape tension between armed groups.

The villagers came from Long Cho in Nawng Moon village tract, and according to a government staff member—who spoke to SHAN under the condition of anonymity—they were sent back to their community in a convoy of seven army vehicles on Tuesday afternoon. The individual said that it was believed the order came from the Central-East Command.

A Mongpan local told SHAN that on Friday the Central-East Command also ordered around 300 IDPs who fled to Wa-controlled areas east of the Salween River to go back to their homes.

“[They] are yet to arrive at the village. I’ve heard that they will return home in next one to two days,” the Mongpan local said on Tuesday.

The nearly 400 IDPs left Mongpan in late December because of building military tension in the area between the Burma Army, the Pa-O National Liberation Organization, and the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army. Many also cited fears of forced recruitment.

“I don’t want to return home. I am afraid to serve in the armed forces. I don’t want to serve in the PMFs [People’s Militia Forces, also known as government militias],” an IDP, who has taken refuge in Langkhur, told SHAN. “In our situation, it is really difficult to make a living. I am also worried about the education of our children. If possible, I want to return home only after the situation is really stable in our area,” they explained.

Because of clashes between armed groups, locals in Mongpan have been unable to tend to their crops. A monastery was also burned down in the fighting.