AA urges junta to allow unfettered delivery of aid to storm victims

By Admin 02 Jun 2023

DMG Newsroom
2 June 2023, Sittwe

Myanmar’s military regime and the Arakan Army (AA) have discussed free delivery of relief supplies to storm victims in Arakan State.

Representatives of the junta’s National Solidarity and Peace Negotiation Committee (NSPNC) and from the tripartite military alliance formed of the Arakan Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) held talks on Thursday and Friday in Mongla, an area controlled by the National Democratic Alliance Army in eastern Shan State.

At the meeting, the AA demanded that international organisations and local civil society groups be allowed to freely provide humanitarian aid supplies to storm-hit communities, according to AA spokesman U Khaing Thukha.

The delivery of humanitarian supplies by local civil society organisations has been delayed by tight checks at security checkpoints manned by the regime.

A volunteer helping storm victims said: “It is OK to carry out checks. But we should be allowed to help freely. Rigorous checks are causing unnecessary delays.”

In a May 29 statement, the Arakan Civil Society Organization (ACSO) also called for allowing international organisations and civil society organisations to allow unfettered access to storm victims.

A total of 216,681 houses were damaged or destroyed by Cyclone Mocha in rural parts of Sittwe, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya, Myebon, Rathedaung, Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships in Arakan State, and over 1.2 million people were affected, according to the AA.

At their meeting with the regime, the three ethnic armed organisations demanded that their members currently detained by the junta be released, and demanded that they be removed from the list of unlawful associations.

In its statement about the meeting, the regime said it held talks on strengthening multi-party democracy, establishing a Union based on democracy and federalism, cooperating for peace and development of the Union, and trust-building with ethnic armed organisations.

Attending the meeting, which was brokered by China, were NSPNC chairman Lt-Gen Yar Pyae, Brig-Gen Phone Win Naing of the MNDAA, TNLA vice chairman Tar Khu Larn and the deputy military chief of the Arakan Army, Dr. Nyo Twan Aung.