More than 4,000 villagers who lost their homes when the military torched their villages in strife-torn central region of Magway this month are suffering from a lack of food and are unsure how they will be able to rebuild their lives, the villagers told RFA.<\/p>\n
Since August 13, soldiers, along with members of the Pyu Saw Htee militias supporting the junta, have burned down 830 homes in the villages of Hlay Khoke and Nga Ta Yaw, in Magway\u2019s Yesagyo township. <\/p>\n
Now many of the villagers are homeless and have nothing to live on. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe couldn’t bring anything with us. All the families had to run away,\u201d a 60-year-old woman from Nga Ta Yaw village, who lost everything, told RFA\u2019s Burmese Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn’t take anything. We had to run for our lives. My family lost everything in the fires. We now live in a monastery, and I don’t have any food. I’m living because the monks are feeding me. I couldn’t take anything. I had a house and a little shop. They were all burned down,” she said.\u201c <\/p>\n
Another resident of the same village said he hopes people will offer the villagers help.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey first started firing at the village with all kinds of weapons, including heavy weapons, in the morning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur people had to flee from the village. After we fled, they started burning the houses. The difficulty for us now is that we have no place to live. We have almost nothing to eat. We need help as we all are in deep trouble. I would like to ask our brothers and sisters at home and abroad to send us donations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The homeless villagers have fled to anywhere they could find refuge, nearby villages and forests, or the local monastery where they\u2019ve put up makeshift tents, he said. They cannot return because the military and the Pyu Saw Htee still have a presence in the area surrounding the village. Farmers in the area of the burned villages have told RFA that they have been unable to tend to their crops.<\/p>\n
Some of the people had no time to prepare an exit and had to flee with only the clothes on their backs, another woman from Nga Ta Yaw told RFA.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, I have no clothes and no food. We\u2019re facing such hardships and feeling miserable. I can\u2019t help crying because the entire village was razed to the ground,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wish our side could win. People are facing so many difficulties and so much hardship. The local defense forces gave us encouragement. But at the moment, I am sad because I cannot contribute anything to them as I myself am already in deep trouble,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In Hlay Khoke village, which had more than 400 homes, a man and a woman both in their 90s died in a fire started by the pro-junta forces, a resident told RFA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are so low down, being nasty for no reason. Just like the saying, \u2018Burning the barn to be rid of the rats,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween 180 and 200 houses in our village were destroyed in the fire. What is so horrible is that an old couple in their 90s died in the fire, and we were all heartbroken,\u201d he said, adding that the army has blocked the roads and so the refugees have not yet received any aid.<\/p>\n
Anger against the military is growing, a woman from Hlay Khoke, and mother of four children, told RFA. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe can never forgive them. We will fight this battle until the end whether we are homeless or not. We will fight even without food,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am now a widow, my son and I will join the fight. We have decided to fight against them with whatever weapons we can get our hands on,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have now lost our homes. We have nothing to eat and no place to live. \u2026 Don\u2019t think that we’ll lose our spirit because we don’t have a home. We’re now even more determined.\u201d<\/p>\n
The junta has not yet released any information regarding the events in Hlay Khoke and Nga Ta Yaw villages. Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, the junta\u2019s spokesman, has previously told RFA that their forces did not raid villages nor burn the homes of civilians.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Radio Free Asia –Copyright \u00a9 1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036Radio Free Europe–Copyright (c) 2015. RFE\/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More than 4,000 villagers who lost their homes when the military torched their villages in strife-torn central region of Magway this month are suffering from a lack of food and are unsure how they will be able to rebuild their lives, the villagers told…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n