Civilians forced to flee fighting between ethnic armed groups in northern Shan State are in need of emergency support as their irregular work in other people’s rice fields doesn’t earn them enough money to fill their bellies.

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“Sometimes we don’t have work and have to share what we have with everyone,” a woman requesting anonymity has told SHAN.

About 45 people have been staying in Mong Ting village since fleeing intense fighting between the Restoration Council of Shan State and several Northern Alliance groups in Kyaukme Township in 2021. The internally displaced persons (IDPs) sleep in a high school in Mong Ting and a primary school in Nar Moon.

Other villagers affected by the clashes in the village tract and other areas of Kyaukme Township who’ve sought shelter in Taunggyi Township are also destitute.

An anonymous man from Taunggyi town said that these people, who used to work picking tea leaves, now cultivate maize and other crops on low-land farms. Like the others, they don’t earn a regular income and therefore don’t have enough food for themselves and their children.