IDPs flee monastery

12 June 2019
IDPs flee monastery
Rakhine ethnic people, who fled from conflict areas, take refuge at A Myo Thar Monastery temporary camp in Sittwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, 12 May 2019. Photo: Nyunt Win/EPA

More than 1,000 civilians displaced by clashes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state fled from a Buddhist monastery giving them shelter on Tuesday before government soldiers could enter the compound to search for hidden rebel troops, RFA reported.

The soldiers entered the camp at the Pauktawbyin monastery on Tuesday afternoon after being refused entry for more than a day by monks who feared that the presence of uniformed troops inside the compound would cause the refugees to panic, senior monk Ashin Thabarwa Nadi told RFA’s Myanmar Service.

Though over 1,000 refugees from 200 families who were sheltering at the monastery were able to leave the compound before the soldiers entered, another 1,000 or so were left behind, the monk said.