Chinese aid reaches Burma’s Kachin IDP camps

On Feb. 21, Red Cross Society of China visited Kachin IDP camps in Laiza, the capital of Kachin Independence Organization.

The Chinese government’s first ever humanitarian aid to Kachin refugees in Burma arrived last weekend to three internally displaced persons’ (IDPs) camps along the border. Chinese state media Xinhua reported Sun Shuopeng, who heads China’s Red Cross Society, as saying it’s the first time for the organization to give aid to neighboring countries still embroiled in conflict.

On Feb. 21, the first 4,200 of 10,000 boxes of humanitarian assistance to be delivered, arrived to camps around the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) Laiza headquarters, said Labang Doi Pyi Sa, head of the KIO’s IDP and Refugee Relief Committee. The total value of aid to be given is estimated at US $816, 000.

The following day aid was given to the Hpre IDP camp near Pangwa. The camp that houses 800 people is in an area that once served as the headquarters of New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K). The NDA-K has since transformed into the government-controlled border guard force.

On the same day a ceremony for the aid mission took place at Kambaiti checkpoint, Doi Pyi Sa said. The ceremony was joined by the Myanmar Red Cross Society. After 2,000 aid boxes were given to IDPs in the government-controlled Myitkyina and Waingmaw townships where Minister of Kachin Social Affairs Daw Bawk Ja, also spelled Bauk Ja, was on hand to greet Chinese officials.

Each donated aid box contains 10 items that include medicine, rice, cooking oil, salt, sugar and blankets.

During the Laiza visit, the Chinese team noted that Je Yang camp residents suffered from water and available latrines and hoped to address this if a second mission to the area is possible, Doi Pyi Sa said.

There are an estimated 80,000 of at least 100,000 IDPs sheltering in camps in KIO-controlled area, according to the armed group’s IDP and Refugee Relief Committee.

The UN has made some relief missions for displaced Kachin populations. But others were blocked by the government on several occasions during the course of the nearly three-year old conflict. So far the vast majority of support extended since fighting started has been from locally based civil society groups, private individuals and the KIO.