- Title: Displaced women and children in Manipur's relief camps uncertain about future
- Date: 7th August 2023
- Summary: CHURACHANDPUR, MANIPUR, INDIA (RECENT - JULY 25, 2023) (REUTERS) CHILD SLEEPING IN CRADLE IN KUKI PEOPLE'S RELIEF CAMP / WOMAN SITTING NEXT TO CRADLE PEOPLE AT RELIEF CAMP FOR KUKI TRIBAL GROUP WHO WERE DISPLACED BY RECENT VIOLENCE WITH MEITEI COMMUNITY INFANT SLEEPING WOMEN FROM KUKI TRIBE SITTING IN RELIEF CAMP CHILD SMILING WHILE LOOKING AT CAMERA MAKESHIFT BEDS AND BELONGINGS AT RELIEF CAMP / WOMEN AND CHILDREN SITTING TOGETHER CHILD NIBBLING FOOD DAUGHTER OF KUKI WOMAN DISPLACED BY RECENT VIOLENCE, KIM NEINENZ, KISSING HER INFANT SIBLING CHILDREN SITTING NEXT TO NEINENZ (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) 38-YEAR-OLD KUKI WOMAN DISPLACED BY RECENT VIOLENCE, KIM NEINENZ, SAYING: "The houses in our neighbourhood were torched and there was gunfire everywhere and we were wondering what to do. The situation became so challenging for us that we had to run away from our houses. And I was pregnant, nine months pregnant, so I was, how should I say...we fled from our house with great difficulty and reached the relief camp." FACE OF NEINENZ'S BABY WHO WAS BORN IN RELIEF CAMP (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) 38-YEAR-OLD KUKI WOMAN DISPLACED BY RECENT VIOLENCE, KIM NEINENZ, SAYING: "It is often said that pregnant women should be happy. But if a pregnant woman is scared, what impact will it have on the child growing inside her? I was worried that my fear might affect my child's growth and I used to worry if her or his heart will beat properly and will his or her limbs function properly. I was extremely worried about all these things. However, by the grace of God, the baby was born healthy. Thanks to God." BISHNUPUR, MANIPUR, INDIA (RECENT - JULY 23, 2023) (REUTERS) MEITEI COMMUNITY RELIEF CAMP WOMEN TALKING CHILD ON MOTHER'S BACK LOOKING ON WOMEN AND CHILD VARIOUS OF CHILDREN IN A ROW MEITEI WOMAN DISPLACED BY RECENT VIOLENCE, THINGBAIJAM THABA DEVI (RIGHT), SITTING WITH HER CHILDREN AT CAMP VARIOUS OF DEVI'S DAUGHTER EATING NOODLES DEVI LOOKING ON / DEVI'S DAUGHTER EATING NOODLES (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) 39-YEAR-OLD WOMAN FROM MEITEI COMMUNITY DISPLACED BY RECENT VIOLENCE, THINGBAIJAM THABA DEVI, SAYING: "The Kuki militants attacked us and burnt our houses. And we had no idea about this as everything happened suddenly in the night. We all gathered (to hide) in a big house and spent the night there and kept waiting for the break of the dawn. The next morning, the federal and state forces came to rescue us and escorted us and our children to the relief camp. Our houses were burnt down and we barely managed to escape with our lives." MEITEI COMMUNITY RELIEF CAMP BELONGINGS AND MOSQUITO NETS AT CAMP WOMAN SLEEPING INSIDE MOSQUITO NET CHILD SLEEPING MAN WIPING CHILD'S FACE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOCIAL WORKER IN MEITEI RELIEF CAMP, HEMAM BOYAN SINGH, SAYING: "He (Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh) failed to provide (safety), which is the paramount duty of the state, paramount duty of the state is to protect life and liberty, life and property of the citizens. So far, he (has) failed to do so." BANANA STEM BEING CHOPPED WOMEN AT RELIEF CAMP VARIOUS OF WOMEN PREPARING FOOD AT RELIEF CAMP FLAMES FROM MAKESHIFT STOVE FOOD BEING PREPARED AT RELIEF CAMP CHURACHANDPUR, MANIPUR, INDIA (RECENT - JULY 23, 2023) (REUTERS) ARMED INDIAN MILITARY SOLDIER GUARDING BORDER WHERE MEITEI AND KUKI PEOPLE HAD DEADLY CONFLICT BRUNT DEBRIS FROM EARLIER ETHNIC CLASHES CHARRED BICYCLE AND DEBRIS ON GROUND MILITARY SOLDIERS ON GUARD OUTSIDE VANDALISED HOUSE MILITARY SOLDIER ON PATROL SOLDIERS AND ARMOURED VEHICLES PARKED ON ROADSIDE ARMOURED MILITARY VEHICLE AS SEEN THROUGH BARBED WIRE BARRIER BARBED WIRE BARRIER ON ROAD
- Embargoed: 21st August 2023 10:47
- Keywords: Bishnupur Churachandpur India Kuki Manipur Meitei Narendra Modi children delivery ethnic clashes ethnic tribes pregnant mother relief camp violence
- Location: MANIPUR, INDIA
- City: MANIPUR, INDIA
- Country: India
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Conflicts/War/Peace,Civil Unrest
- Reuters ID: LVA001221904082023RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Kim Neinenz, a 38-year-old Kuki tribal woman, was well into the final stages of her pregnancy when she was forced to flee with her other young children to a relief camp, when deadly sectarian violence erupted between the Kuki and the Meitei community.
On the other side of the conflict, a 39-year-old mother of four from the Meitei community, Thingbaijam Thaba Devi, said they fled in the cover of darkness under the protection of state police and the army, when her family's home was torched along with many others during a sudden late-night attack by the Kukis.
Such parallel stories of women and children displaced by the months long ethnic conflict are now common tales among the Meitei community and the Kuki tribals who have been engaged in a bitter fight which flared up in India's northeastern Manipur state in early May.
The sectarian violence has led to tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes on both sides, according to activists and officials, and left at least 181 people dead in total.
At a relief camp set up in a government building in Churachandpur, a few kilometres away from their homes, Neinenz and other Kuki women huddled together. They spoke in soft whispers while their young children slept nearby.
Recounting the ordeal, Neinenz said she was worried sick whether her unborn child at that time would be affected by her fearful escape on May 3 and how relieved she was after delivering a healthy baby on June 1 at the temporary relief camp.
There were also other women like her who have given birth at the camp, uncertain of what their future holds, said Neinenz.
Meanwhile, at the opposite side, in a camp for the displaced Meitei community in Bishnupur, dozens of children lay on thin mattresses inside a congested shopping centre that has been converted into a makeshift relief camp, with women sharing stories of their escapes from the violence and cooking food communally.
Meitei woman Devi said they had to hide when they were attacked and their house was burnt down and could only escape to a relief camp on the dawn of May 4 with the help of the authorities.
The two ethnic communities used to live peacefully side by side, until violence broke out on May 3 after a court ordered the state to consider extending to the majority Meitei population special economic benefits and quotas in government jobs and education that up to now have been reserved for the tribal Kuki people.
There is no sign of any early resolution.
The Kukis, who are a third of the Meitei population, have borne a disproportionate brunt of the violence and make up two-thirds of the victims, according to new government data reviewed by Reuters last month.
They have mostly fled to the hills, leaving the capital Imphal and the surrounding valley, areas dominated by the majority Meiteis.
With no sight of peace returning anytime soon, the parallel lives of Kuki and Meitei women like Neinenz, Devi and their children remain uncertain with each passing day.
(Production: Bhushan Kumar, Sunil Kataria, Tarun Kumar, Travis Teo) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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