Winter Arrival Increases Worries

Newsreel Asia Insight #41
Nov. 11, 2023

A humanitarian crisis of alarming proportions is unfolding in Manipur with the loss of at least 53 people, including many children, from the Kuki-Zo tribal community due to inadequate healthcare and poor living conditions in the makeshift shelters of one district alone, Newsreel Asia has learned.

The situation arises amid ongoing ethnic violence, involving the majority Meitei community and the Kuki-Zo tribes. Persisting for over six months, this conflict over land rights and identity has claimed at least 150 lives and displaced more than 41,425 individuals from the Kuki-Zo community, according to the Indigenous Tribal Leaders’ Forum, a Kuki-Zo organisation. The Meitei community has also suffered losses of life, but they have not disclosed the death toll.

Discussing Churachandpur district, known locally as Lamka and home to the Kuki-Zo people, Mary Beth, a local volunteer, said the district houses 112 relief camps, sheltering roughly 20,000 displaced individuals. The 53 deaths in this district primarily stemmed from the lack of specialist doctors and medicines. Predominantly Meitei, these doctors fled the district after the violence erupted on May 3, she told Newsreel Asia.

Most of the deceased were financially disadvantaged individuals with pre-existing conditions such as asthma, cancer and diabetes, Beth explained.

On Nov. 9, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh claimed that his government, with the support of the Central government, has expended 4 billion rupees for providing relief assistance to individuals and families affected by the violence, as reported by Deccan Herald. It remains unclear whether this amount includes relief for the Kuki-Zo people impacted by the conflict.

Beth said that about 60 percent of the displaced people have been sleeping on the ground for over six months. The government has provided each family, averaging four members, with only one blanket and mattress, she said.

The rainy season aggravated the situation, leading to damp floors and worsening health issues among the displaced, including a measles outbreak in July and August.

Even the district government hospital in Churachandpur is struggling with a shortage of medicines and equipment and is reliant on non-governmental organisations for supplies, she said.

Despite the state capital of Imphal, inhabited by the Meiteis, being only about 60 kilometres away and well-connected by a good road, no transport, even by the government, has reached Churachandpur since May 3. Consequently, all goods and supplies must be brought to Churachandpur from Aizawl, the capital of the neighbouring state of Mizoram, roughly 350 kilometres away on hilly terrain.

Beyond the physical health crisis, there is a burgeoning mental health emergency, Beth said. Widespread reports of anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances and nightmares are prevalent among the Kuki-Zo community, including breastfeeding mothers facing acute fear and appetite loss.

Children in the camps show signs of severe trauma, she said, and added that 50 day schools have been established by the community for group activities for children. She shared distressing examples of children drawing violent imagery and exhibiting behavioural changes in these schools.

Front-line volunteers like Beth are also facing psychological challenges in this crisis. They grapple with the emotional exhaustion that comes from listening to harrowing stories of violence, killings, and rape, witnessing injuries and watching graphic videos of atrocities committed against the members of their community.

With winter approaching, the demand for warm clothing has become critical, a need that many were unprepared for, Beth said, explaining that the majority of the Kuki-Zo people fled the Imphal Valley during the peak summer month of May.

Regrettably, what Beth shared could represent just the onset of a humanitarian crisis that might escalate further. The continuing violence despite military presence across the state is victimising more people almost daily, potentially worsening the situation.

Meitei women have reportedly been blockading key routes to hinder security personnel from protecting lives, and the local police are perceived as biased against the Kuki-Zo community, further complicating the situation. Young Kuki-Zo residents are resorting to arms for self-defence.

The decades-long conflict turned violent on May 3 after a contentious court order suggesting that special economic benefits and quotas be extended to the Meiteis, previously reserved for the tribal Kuki-Zo people. This proposal also included provisions for Meitei purchases of land in historically Kuki-Zo territories, further intensifying the conflict.

The violence has caused widespread destruction of infrastructure as well, with over 7,000 Kuki-Zo homes and more than 360 churches and synagogues destroyed.

As the conflict surpasses its six-month mark, the Kuki-Zo people continue to be ensnared in an intensifying humanitarian crisis. The unceasing violence relentlessly threatens the already devastated lives and homes of the community members.