Civilians fleeing violence in upper Myanmar flock to Mandalay

Soldiers, police, and junta-appointed administrators raided a village at the foot of Mandalay Hill on February 4, taking many of the displaced people sheltering there into custody. Although they let a few of these internally displaced persons (IDPs) go after they paid a fine, more than 30 are still detained. According to one displaced man staying in Mandalay, the regime has begun targeting IDPs with the intention to recruit them forcibly into the army. “We have to worry constantly about when they might knock on our doors and take us away by force,” the displaced man said. IDPs from all over the country began moving to Mandalay en masse in 2023, most fleeing areas with intense fighting in northern Shan State and Sagaing Region, with some also coming from nearby areas such as Mandalay Region’s Madaya Township, according to locals, landlords, and real estate professionals in Mandalay. IDPs from Khin-U township seen in August 2023 (Khin-U Information Department) The influx of people increased dramatically again at the beginning of 2024, according to a source active in the real estate market. “Many of them had to sell whatever they owned to move here. Some built homes on cheap land plots, but the majority just rented rooms. Eighty percent of the tenants here are IDPs,” the real estate agent told Myanmar Now. She added that there was often no proper transfer or documentation of the title or ownership of the properties when IDPs bought them, which could create more problems for them in the future. “Most of them don’t even understand how the real estate market works here. They just sold their belongings and came to buy a house. Dishonest agents and brokers took advantage, collaborating with administrators to sell them houses without providing proper documentation,” she said. “We are in the middle of a war right now, so we just have to come back around to these problems later,” she added. The military council announced in the second week of February that it planned to begin enforcing a decade-old conscription law, putting civilians in major cities like Mandalay on edge even as conditions for displaced persons there become harder for other reasons. Harassment by junta authorities, sharply rising rents, sky-high commodity prices, and scarce opportunities for employment have added to the difficulties facing IDPs in Mandalay. Military authorities frequently arrest IDPs for failing to comply with the regime’s rules to register overnight guests, only releasing them in exchange for bribes of up to 1m kyat (US $475), a practice that is now common in other cities as well as Mandalay. One IDP from Ye-U Township, Sagaing Region said junta-appointed administrators and personnel specifically target IDPs from Sagaing Region because it has a reputation as a stronghold for the armed resistance. “Big groups of soldiers conduct the overnight guest list checks, often cursing and asking IDPs very rudely ‘what are you doing here,’” said the displaced man from Ye-U. “Some IDPs here have to work at monasteries in exchange for lodging, and the soldiers raid the monasteries with the most IDPs, arresting them at will.” The man from Ye-U Township had been forced to flee to Mandalay when arson attacks by junta troops destroyed more than half of his home village of Mone Hla in November 2022, shortly after battles had broken out nearby. He is now working as a welder for a daily wage, with another member of his family selling flowers at a market and another working at a convenience store. IDPs from Nam Hpat Kar village seen in the woods on January 26 (Myat Pan/ Myanmar Now) A displaced woman from Lashio Township, northern Shan State said the military was singling out civilians that had identification numbers with 5 as the first digit, indicating residence in Sagaing Region, and that the harassment made it harder to find a job or home. “The rents are crazy. We used to be able to get a room for 250,000 kyat when we first arrived, but the same room rents for 450,000 to 500,000 now. But don’t misunderstand, we’re grateful we were able to get a room as many won’t even dare rent out a place to us. And it’s even harder for people coming from Sagaing Region,” she said. TWO’s relief efforts for the locals whose homes destroyed by junta attacks during clashes in Namhsan, seen on February 1 (TWO) She added that she had learned to sew and was earning money by making women’s undergarments but was still just barely managing to get by. Her family is still planning to move back to northern Shan State when the fighting stops, she said. According to a woman involved in aid work for displaced people, the incoming IDPs least affected by the soaring rents are those staying in monasteries and religious buildings or with friends. “There are hundreds of IDPs staying at monasteries in Mahaaungmyay Township. Most couldn’t even bring any belongings with them; they had to flee with nothing but the clothes on their backs,” the aid worker said. “The monastery is taking care of their food and accommodation while donations of clothes, rice and food come in from the local neighbourhood,” she added. However, according to a local man living near one of these monasteries, some of the IDPs staying at the monasteries claim to have fled their homes due to threats not from the military, but from the People’s Defence Forces (PDF)—anti-junta armed resistance groups commanded by the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG). “Some are regular civilians, but some are from Pyu Saw Htee villages,” he said, referring to villages dominated by junta-trained militias. “It was the latter who said they had to flee due to threats from the PDF.” The fact that they are not targets for harassment by junta authorities may account for the relative ease felt by some of those staying in monasteries. Organisations associated with anti-junta groups are providing funds and relief work for civilians impacted by conflict. The Ta’ang Women’s Organisation (TWO) claimed in a recent statement to have provided aid to 234 households and to more than 1,000 people in Namhsan Township, northern Shan State, who had been left homeless by a weeklong battle in December 2023 that destroyed more than 200 civilian houses. During the battle, which took place before the Ta’ang National Liberation Army succeeded in taking control of the township from junta forces, raids by the junta air force and artillery strikes had also destroyed religious buildings and schools, the TWO’s statement said. The NUG’s ministry of humanitarian affairs and disaster management announced that they had sent 22,721,000 kyat (US $10,790) in NUG funds to villages in Mandalay Region between June and August 2023, saying he aid went “the families of deceased and injured resistance fighters, civilian victims, political prisoners, and striking administrators taking part in the civil disobedience movement.” In mid-January the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated the displaced population of Myanmar at 2.6 million, noting that approximately 628,000 had been forced to flee their homes since hostilities intensified in different parts of the country in late October. Displaced Khin-U locals seen in late October 2022 (Moe Oo/Myanmar Now)

Civilians fleeing violence in upper Myanmar flock to Mandalay

Already forced out of their homes, displaced people have to contend with new hardships where they settle, such as dishonest real estate brokers, soaring rents and prices, and targeted harassment from soldiers

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