War-Time Kyaukphyu’s Isolation Weighs Heavily on Residents

By Admin 05 Aug 2024

Written by Moe Pauk
 
As a group of children played in the pouring rain last month, Daw Wai Oo Khin looked out at them and thought back to the carefree days of childhood. Then she gave a deep sigh as the growling of her stomach brought her back to reality.

Daw Wai Oo Khin, the mother of a teenage child, has been the sole breadwinner of the family since 2022 due to her husband’s illness.
 
She lives in the slums of southern Kalarbar Taung Ward in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Town. Most of the residents here made a living doing odd jobs — and most have been jobless for months, since the regime blockaded roads and waterways in Arakan State following renewed fighting between the military and Arakkha Army (AA) in November.
 
Daw Wai Oo Khin said that for much of this period, she has survived on one meal a day.
 
“In the early days after the blockade, charities in Kyaukphyu Town donated food like rice, cooking oil and salt to us. However, those groups are gone, and we can only eat one meal per day,” she said.
 
The regime blockaded roads and banned sea travel in the waters near Kyaukphyu Town following the fighting. Food supplies began to run out less than one month after the blockade was instituted. The impacts were more significant on manual labourers like Daw Wai Oo Khin who survive on daily wages.
 
Without jobs or other income, poor families had for a time survived on food supplies provided by local charities, but this has not proven sustainable. Supplies declined over time, accelerating since February of this year as the regime targeted charity workers with arrests.
 
“Some people gave us food out of sympathy. We eke out an existence on the rice given by them. Sometimes, we have to cook it as congee,” said Daw Wai Oo Khin.
 
“If we have nothing to eat, we can only lie down and sleep,” she added.
 
Largely a coastal island township, Kyaukphyu relies heavily on other townships for food and other consumer goods. Kyaukphyu Town residents have suffered severe food shortages after the regime blockades the routes.
 
Most of the businesses including construction, fisheries and transport have been halted by the junta’s blockade. Employees engaged in those businesses, and their families, are bearing the brunt of the economic impact.
 
Daw Agnal Chay from Kanyin Taw Ward in Kyaukphyu Town said junta soldiers were taking away their livelihoods.
 
“We have no jobs. We dare not fish in the river or creek for fear of arrest. We dare not do anything to make a living. There are no job opportunities. We are afraid of junta soldiers and police,” she said.
 
Locals dare not fish after the regime arrested 21 residents from Myit Nar Tan, Pike Seik and Pyin Phyu Maw wards on December 26, 2023.
 
Kyaukphyu Town is made up of 17 wards and has a population of more than 30,000 people, according to the 2014 population census. Half of the town residents are low-income families who make a living by doing seasonal jobs such as fishing, farming and hard labour at construction sites.
 
Losing livelihoods and income also means low-income families have no money to repair their deteriorating homes.
 
“The wet season is in full swing. The roof of my house is leaking, and I can’t afford to repair it. We have to cook and eat in the rain. I feel really depressed thinking about how to get by without an income,” said Daw Thein May from Taung Yin Ward in Kyaukphyu Town.
 
Military tensions have been running high in Kyaukphyu Township between the regime and the AA following clashes. The AA warned residents in April to flee the town before fighting broke out.

But it is not easy for Kyaukphyu residents who are under the control of the regime to leave the island town. The financial burden alone is significant.
 
“We need at least K200,000 to flee to a safer location. We will also need money to buy food in the liberated area. So we decided to live in Kyaukphyu even if we go hungry,” said Daw Khin Khin Win, a local woman from Cediya Ward in Kyaukphyu.
 
The regime only controls Maday Island in Kyaukphyu Township, where the bulk of Chinese projects are located, and about 12 villages, while the AA in effect controls the remainder.
 
The junta’s Light Infantry Battalion Nos. 542 and 543, Infantry Battalion No. 34, the Danyawaddy naval base, Taung Maw Gyi sub-naval station and a police battalion are all based in Kyaukphyu.
 
Junta troops have tightened security and planted landmines on widely used public roads in Kyaukphyu Township, creating fear among local residents. Due to the number of casualties caused by landmines, it is difficult for residents to leave Kyaukphyu without assuming significant risk to life and limb.
 
“The regime has planted landmines in areas near Kyaukphyu. There are frequent deaths and injuries caused by landmine explosions, and it is not convenient for the locals to risk their lives and go to their farmlands,” said U Ba Kyi, a local man in Taungyin Ward.
 
There is also the reasonable fear of arbitrary arrest. 
 
The regime has detained more than 200 people in Kyaukphyu Township since the latest fighting in Arakan State began in November of last year. Of the detainees, over 100 people have been released, but at least 82 are still being held by the regime.
 
Kyaukphyu residents live worried about being arrested in addition to the constant anxiety that accompanies food insecurity.
 
Customary international humanitarian law’s Rule 53 states that the use of starvation of a civilian population as a method of warfare is prohibited. Rule 54 says attacking, destroying, removing or rendering useless objects indispensable to the survival of a civilian population is prohibited.
 
Under the present conditions, soaring prices are putting basic needs out of reach for the grassroots, and notions of economic warfare are realities for many.
 
“There are no more goods imports for locals in Kyaukphyu,” said U Ba Than, a social activist in Kyaukphyu. “Only a few people were allowed to import food with the permission of the military regime. Sometimes there is food supplied by the Myanmar Navy vessels, but it is not enough even for the junta employees, and it cannot be convenient for the locals in the long run.”
  
In pre-conflict times, Daw Wai Oo Khin said her family was by no means rich, but never did they fear starvation. 
 
“I didn’t think we would be in such trouble. Now I have no money and no job,” she said. “I am living a life of being fed by others. Sometimes I feel so depressed that I don’t even want to live in the human world anymore.”
 
(Editor’s Note: Pseudonyms have been used throughout due to the security concerns of the interviewees.)