About 800 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are running away from the fighting in Namtu Township, northern Shan State as fire fights broke out between Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS/SSA) and allied forces of Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP/SSA) on October 24, sources said.

About 800 war refugees from over 200 households are now taking temporary shelter at Shwe Myin Thar and Popa Yone monasteries in Namtu Township, according to the township’s IDP relief committee.

“We don’t know about the fighting in details as it is far away from us. But I am sure that the area is not peaceful enough to remain in,” said Sai Ba Nyan from the committee.

The IDPs are in need of personal used items such as blankets and mosquito nets but the relief aid have yet to arriv, he said.

Locals from Namtu have to abandon their homes often as fighting between RCSS and allied forces of TNLA and SSPP occurred frequent in the area.

“More than 600 IDPs from Panlog and Kaunghone villages in Mongyin village tract came to take shelter. They said they want to return home. We need clear, usable water and the municipal workers are trying to make it happen but it is not finished yet. So we are carrying water with bowsers. We also need blankets as the winter is coming. They usually run away to nearby villages,” said MP Nan San Hon of Namtu Constituency.

The MPs and activists are carrying out to solve the issue of armed conflicts inside and outside of the parliament and have arranged a meeting to solve the issue. Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) planned to provide aid to the IDPs.

The IDPs said they are facing difficulties to cultivate their crops and wanted both sides to avoid fighting in the time of cultivation.

News and Information Department of the TNLA announced that skirmishes occurred between RCSS and allied forces of TNLA and SSPP in Hsipaw Township in northern Shan State on October 23.

It said the fighting broke out as the RCSS launched an offensive attack near Lwelan Mountain in Hsipaw where the allied forces of TNLA and SSPP are based.

It also said the last fighting between RCSS and allied forces of TNLA and SSPP occurred in Namtu on September 21 and the fighting recurred after the RCSS launched offensive attacks in the area.