About 5,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Karenni State’s west Hpruso Township have been facing food shortages for two months and are now in need of emergency food, according to people helping them.

People fleeing increasingly intense fighting have been arriving in Hpruso Township since the beginning of 2022 according to Hpruso residents and donors helping the IDPs.

The person from the IDP Assistance Committee in charge of distributing food to the IDPs in western Hpruso told Mizzima that the IDPs there are currently facing food shortages due to rising prices and difficulties in distributing food.

They said: “For about two months we have been unable to distribute food to the IDPs. Now we are facing many difficulties. Internet connections are bad, the price of goods has gone up and even doubled. Food distribution is also very challenging because transporting goods by road during the conflict is extremely challenging.” 

He added: ‘“We mainly need commodities such as rice, oil, salt and medicines.”

Since the coup there has been frequent fighting between local defence forces and junta troops in Karenni State, and daily clashes are still happening.

Currently, there are about 300,000 IDPs in Karenni state, according to Karenni IDP assistance organisations.