ASIA/MYANMAR - Fear and displacement: Christmas marked by conflict

by Paolo Affatato

Yangon (Agenzia Fides) - "We are preparing for Christmas, we are preparing for the Holy Year, but the joy among the faithful is no longer the same as in the past. The wounds of the civil war, the suffering, the hardship and the grief leave their mark on the people of Myanmar," said Fr. Bernardino Ne Ne, a priest from Loikaw who currently serves in Yangon, where in recent years he has also been National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies, to Fides. With the beginning of 2025 - and the end of his term - the priest will return to Loikaw, in the state of Kayah, in northern Myanmar, marked by conflict and displacement. Since February 2021, the military junta's coup has first sparked a "civil disobedience movement", then a civil war with the emergence of the People's Defense Forces, which in a second phase joined forces with the ethnic minority armies and formed a coalition fighting against Myanmar's regular army.
Today, the country is divided: on the one hand, the center and the main cities such as Naypyidaw, Yangon and Mandalay, which are completely under the control of the regime, and on the other, the peripheral states and border areas controlled by the militias of the rebel alliance. In the midst of the conflict, the civilian population is suffering above all from displacement: people have fled the cities and villages, seeking makeshift shelter or protection in forests or makeshift refugee camps. The number of internally displaced people in Myanmar has reached a record number with more than three million people forced to leave their homes. The Chin, Magway and Sagaing regions in northern Myanmar are home to the largest number of internally displaced people, with nearly 1.5 million displaced people. Father Ne Ne notes: “In Yangon, in the city, life continues almost normally. Our believers also come to church and pastoral and worship activities continue, of course always under one condition: that we do not talk about politics, that we do not delegitimize the established power. We know this, the believers know this, we pray for peace and justice and we can at least celebrate the sacraments and carry out all the spiritual initiatives. This is how we will experience Christmas: the Christmas Eve mass will be at five in the evening, not later, because with darkness the military patrols intensify, people are afraid and no longer leave their homes. We are still in an atmosphere of conflict and tension.” In areas of open conflict such as Loikaw, the diocese in Kayah state, the situation is even more serious: "In areas like Loikaw, airstrikes, armed clashes and the destruction of civilian property continue to cause severe suffering, leading to injuries and further forced displacement. They will live Christmas in fear of being bombed at night. We know that hundreds of thousands have fled to rural and mountainous areas, and many of these refugees are Catholic. At first, parishes and institutions made their premises available. But then, as the fighting increased, everyone was forced to flee. Churches are closed because there are no more believers in the area. Of the 39 parishes in the Loikaw diocese area, only nine are still functioning. In one of these parishes, dedicated to the Mother of God and located north of Loikaw, I will be carrying out the pastoral ministry of parish priest," he says. Today, exercising this ministry essentially means "being among the displaced, visiting them in the makeshift refugee camps where they live and celebrating mass with them. In my future parish alone, there are 15 of them: some with over 200 people, other settlements with 40-50 people. Being a priest in Loikaw today means sharing this fate, being in their midst, being a presence of consolation and hope." This is also the situation experienced by the Bishop of Loikaw, Celso Ba Shwe, who had to leave the Christ the King Cathedral and the adjacent pastoral center in Loikaw because the Burmese army took possession of them in November 2023 and turned them into a military base. "For him and other priests who lived there, it is the second Christmas outside the cathedral," said Father Ne Ne. "In recent months we have had discussions with the military, who of course will not spontaneously ask us to return. There is the possibility of starting negotiations to get them to leave the place: but this will not be easy, the situation is complex. First of all, the area inside and around it could be mined. Then the interior of the pastoral center is pratically destroyed, everything must be reorganized. Finally, for the return we must have guarantees that the military will grant us freedom of movement, because the bishop and the priests must constantly visit the refugee camps and constantly go where the faithful are. They cannot be 'trapped' in the cathedral, that would be pointless. All these things must be considered and clarified. Let us pray and hope that in the new year we can receive this gift, the return of our cathedral. This is a request that we place in God's hands during this Christmas season, together with the gift of peace," he concludes. (Agenzia Fides, 19/12/2024)

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