Women in western Myanmar are facing additional threats as a result of the fighting

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

Khine Thu ran into the woods after soldiers raided her hamlet in Myanmar's northeastern Sagaing area for the first time in June.
She's lost track of how many times she's run away since then, but she estimates it's around 15.

“When we hear soldiers approaching, we flee,” she explained.
“We flee into the woods and return to the settlement once the soldiers have left.”

 

As armed resistance to the February 1 military coup grows, the military rulers have responded with ruthless crackdowns on entire communities, mimicking a "four-cuts" approach honed in the country's restive border areas for more than 60 years.

Since April, the Sagaing region has been a hotspot for violent military raids as well as a stronghold of resistance.

According to a report filed to the United Nations Human Rights Council by Myanmar's National Unity Government (NUG) on September 19, 109 persons have been killed in the region since July.

 

73 persons from the Depayin and Kani townships, where mass killings were documented by human rights groups and local media in July, are among the fatalities.
Although all of those slain, including fighters and civilians, were men, women are forced to live with the consequences of conflict on a daily basis as security forces maintain a presence in the area's villages.
The military shut down the internet in ten townships in the Sagaing region, including Kani, earlier this month, fueling fears that the military might step up its attacks.

 

Soldiers opened fire and killed one person in Khine Thu's village of Satpyarkyin in Depayin township on June 14, a day after two daughters of a military-appointed administrator were found dead in a nearby village.

According to the NUG report, soldiers returned on July 2, and the ensuing skirmishes left at least 32 local people dead amid indiscriminate shelling and small weapons fire, while Myanmar Now stated that 10,000 people from eleven villages fled their homes.

 

The People's Defence Force (PDF) in Depayin said on Facebook that 26 of its members were killed in the incident, and that the military fired heavy weapons at fleeing villagers, while Myanmar's state-run Global New Light reported that "armed terrorists" had "ambushed" security forces, killing one soldier and injuring six others before fleeing after security forces retaliated.

Khine Thu, who, like the other women Al Jazeera spoke to, requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, said soldiers have been in and out since then, and that she and the other villagers were constantly ready to flee.
The village stays quiet even after the soldiers have left, and stores and markets have closed.

 

The locals find it impossible to meet their basic necessities while hiding in the jungle for days or weeks at a time, she said.

She explained, "In certain regions, we couldn't get drinking water."
“On some days, we only had one meal, while on other days, it was only rice with salt and oil or fish paste.
I'm very depressed, and there are times when I don't want to live.”

Another local resident, Aye Chan, claimed that residents lacked access to medicine and relied on plants and medicines to treat their ailments.

Because of the danger, she and Khine Thu have quit working as hired farmhands.

 

“We will never be able to live in peace.
We are unable to work.
We're only relying on other people's generosity and fleeing for safety whenever [soldiers] arrive,” Aye Chan explained.
“The military' presence in our village has a physical and mental impact on us.
We are unable to eat or sleep properly.”