More than 1,000 displaced residents remain unable to return home in Ye Chaunghpyar, an area controlled by the New Mon State Party, due to ongoing military junta airstrike threats and reconnaissance flights day and night.
The military junta’s air force bombed several villages in Ye Chaunghpyar in late May, even though no fighting was taking place at the time. Reconnaissance flights have continued in the area since then.
Displaced residents from at least five villages return briefly to their homes and workplaces during the day to check on them, then retreat to safer areas at night.
“Planes come every day. Sometimes during the day, sometimes at night, but at least once a day. That’s why people are still afraid of being bombed again. Some go back to the village in the afternoon but won’t stay overnight. A few do sleep in the village, but not many, maybe a third of the people,” a Ye Chaunghpyar resident said.
Homes in Chaungnakwa village, built with donations from the Nippon Foundation of Japan, were destroyed in the May airstrikes. Some residents’ farmland and orchards were also damaged.
Displaced residents are currently sheltering in villages, monasteries, forest orchards, and the homes of relatives in safer areas within New Mon State Party (NMSP)-controlled territory in Ye Chaunghpyar, and are struggling to secure food and other basic needs.
“It’s not just the airstrikes that residents are afraid of. There’s also the issue of military junta troops entering NMSP-controlled territory. We’re just telling ourselves that our leaders will find a way to sort things out,” a Ye Chaunghpyar resident said.
NMSP officials said they are concerned that military junta forces may be allowed to enter their controlled territory again.
In late June, the military junta requested permission to use certain roads within NMSP-controlled territory in order to move troops through NMSP and Karen National Union (KNU)-controlled areas to reach Three Pagodas Pass (Payathonzu).
As a result, residents said that even though they live in NMSP-controlled territory, they no longer feel secure, fearing airstrikes at any time and the possible entry of military junta troops into the area.
