Local aid workers say tens of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) face food and shelter challenges in rain-sodden Karen State’s Hpapun District as fighting intensifies.

According to a Karen National Union (KNU) statement on 15 August, the fighting between the KNU and junta forces is intense in the Hpapun District (Mutaw), Karen National Union (KNU) 5th Brigade-controlled area and villagers have been forced to flee.

There are currently around 100,000 IDPs taking shelter in the KNU 5th Brigade area.

The IDPs have arrived in Dweiloe, Butho, and Lutaw Townships in Hpapun District, all of which have been subjected to frequent aerial attacks by the junta forces since the 2021 military coup, the statement says.

According to the KNU, the local Karen cultivators have left their workplaces due to the fighting and also there is a fundamental problem of insufficient food due to the increasing IDP numbers.

Daily battles are taking place in the KNU-controlled areas of Doothathu District Brigade (1), Taungoo District Brigade (2), Nyaunglepin District Brigade (3), Myeik-Dawei District Brigade (4), Mutaw District Brigade (5) and Dooplaya District Brigade (6).

The KNU Brigade (1) and Brigade (3) areas have the highest number of IDPs who have fled the war with over 150,000, according to 14 August KNU statement.

Aid workers who are helping the IDPs said that due to the continuous rains, there is not enough shelter and medicine for the IDPs who are living in tents in the forest.

Following the military coup, fighting between the local KNLA joint forces and the Military Council army has intensified, with hundreds of battles taking place each month, states the KNU.

According to the monthly report approved by the KNLA Brigade-5 (Central), the Hpapun district of the KNLA Brigade (5) area has the highest number of monthly battles, with more than 100 battles having taken place in July, during which around 90 members of the Military Council were killed.