Internally displaced people (IDPs) in Rakhine State say that rising commodity prices have made it harder for them to survive in camps.

"Now that commodity prices are soaring,., it is more difficult for us to get enough rice regularly, let alone to eat meat or fish” said a woman IDP from Sittwe Township.

An IDP from Ohn Yee Phaw camp in Sittwe Township said, “IDPs always have a hard time getting food, clothes and shelter. Even ordinary people are struggling to make ends meet now because of commodity prices.”

Rising commodity prices are not the only problems faced by the IDPs.

Currently, it is summer, so there is a shortage of water, said an official from the Ye Phyu Kan Camp in Ponnagyun Township.

"The pool in the camp we usually use for drinking water has dried up. We have to go somewhere else and carry the water [back]. The food delivery team has not been here for a month. We are all struggling,” he said.

Most of the IDPs work in rice paddy fields during the rainy season and on hill-side farms during the winter. To make matters worse for IDPs jobs are scarce this summer, according to an IDP from Kyauktaw who spoke to Mizzima.

An IDP aid worker also said that people in some camps are suffering from smallpox.

The IDPs are finding it harder to survive. The World Food Program (WFP) provides 17,000 Kyat per month to each IDP.

The junta’s Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement also provides some support to the IDPs. But, the military junta’s support has not kept pace with the current rise in commodity prices and it is difficult for IDPs to make ends meet, according to an IDP from the Sun Bawaki Camp in Mrauk-U Township.

So far, some 70,000 IDPs remain in a total of 170 IDP camps in Rakhine State. Hla Thein, the junta’s Rakhine State’s Administration Council spokesperson, told reporters at a press conference on 8 March that the IDP camps in Kyauktaw and Rathedaung townships will be closed.