Desk Report
April 12, 2017
Myanmar is shutting down three IDP camps, according to a senior official on Tuesday.
One of the three camps house Rakhine IDPs, while the two others based in Akyab and Ramree house Muslim, both Rohingya and Kaman IDPs.
There is concern that the closure of the camps will bring additional hardship for the Muslim IDPs as their land has been taken over by hostile Rakhine gangs from neighbouring settlements. As a result, the declaration by National Security Advisor U Thaung Tun that IDP camps will close as per the recommendation of the Kofi Annan led Advisory Commission have created confusion among Muslim IDPs.
Thaung Tun has not specified where the IDPs will go.
Unlike the Rakhine IDPs who are well cared by the state, Muslim IDPs survive in conditions described as worst in the world, and are unable to leave the camps as they are targeted by hostile nationalist gangs.
