More internally displaced people (IDPs) arrived in Kyaukme town in northern Shan State on Tuesday night, due to the threat of fighting between the Burma Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). 

Some 43 people from Ohn Oui in Kun Kaw village tract came to Kyaukme and have been staying in the Dhamma hall in Ward 8, according to the local IDP Help Committee. 

“They mainly need food. The weather is really cold here. So they need blankets and warm clothes. They need many things,” Tin Maung Thein, who is working with the committee, told SHAN.

The Burma Army and the TNLA have had frequent clashes in Kun Kaw village tract, which is also in Kyaukme Township, causing locals to flee their villages multiple times. 

“These IDPs are repeatedly fleeing. Currently, there are no clashes in their area but they fled their village because they are afraid of clashes re-occurring in their area,” Ah Ban, who is working with the Oum Ta Mawng social team in Kyaukme, explained.  

More than 80 people from the area previously came to stay in relatives’ homes in the town on December 7, however, Ah Ban noted that this arrangement is not a permanent solution to their displacement.

“They have difficulties with long stays in their relatives’ homes. It is better if these IDPs can live in a place together,” she said. 

The Burma Army and the TNLA have had multiple clashes in Kyaukme Township since November. The fighting there has displaced some 700 people.