United Wa State Army (UWSA) announced on May 30 that they did not pose a threat to IDP camps in Shan State bordering with Thailand as Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) and Shan State Refugee Committee (SSRC) accused them.

The SHRF and SSRC announced on May 23 that more than 6,000 IDPs living in five refugee camps near the border of Thailand have been threatened by both the military and UWSA as they tightened security in the area.

Although the area is based by the army, militia including forces of Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) and the UWSA, no fighting was occurred in the area after 2005. The IDP camps and UWSA base are far away and they didn’t pose a threat to them.

Some people living in the IDP camps have been sheltering since 1994 and new IDPs arrived after 2006. The SHRF and SSRC provided assistance to the IDPs with the cooperation from UNHCR, UNOCHA and TBBC till 2017, the announcement of the UWSA said.

The IDP camps were founded after fighting occurred between army and RCSS forces. According to the agreement between RCSS and government on October 15 2015, both sides will help the IDPs to return their homes but the RCSS didn’t follow the NCA. Donors and representatives of the UNHCR took a field trip to IDP camps in 2017 and they found the IDPs were not matched with the standardizations of international war refugee status. The organizations stopped their aid in early 2018.

The UWSA said the accusation made by the SHRF and SSRC is to seek sympathy on the IDPs from international community.

The SHRF and SSRC said although the RCSS had ceasefire agreement with the army, the army reinforced their forces near the IDP camps, build new road, launched drones in the area. The army also used 120mm heavy guns to fire six times to two IDP camps in February 2019 and the IDPs still kept bomb shelters in the camps.

Moreover, the UWSA is intruding in the area and the reinforcement of the army and UWSA is highlighting the growth of military force in southern Shan State, it said.