Ann Twsp residents call for reopening of roads, waterways closed for a year

By Myo Thiri Kyaw 24 Nov 2020

Myo Thiri Kyaw | DMG
24 November 2020, Ann

Residents of Darlet village-tract in Arakan State’s Ann Township have called for the reopening of roads and waterways that have been closed for one year, also asking that the transport of commodities be fully allowed.

Darlet villagers have said they have run out of food supplies and are facing rising commodity prices due to the continued closure of land and waterways.

A resident of Ann Township, Ko Myo Lwin, said local people are encountering livelihood difficulties.

“As they don’t have jobs, their lives are even more difficult. Some poor people have to eat whatever is available. At a time of stability in the region currently, we want the roads and waterways to be opened so that commodities can be carried,” he said.

The military has closed much travel by waterways in Ann Township since December 2019 and many roads have been blocked since February of this year, with security cited as justification, according to local people.

About 50 villages within the Darlet village-tract have been buying and relying on rice and other consumer goods transported through roads and waterways from Ann, Kanhtaunggyi, Minbya and Mrauk-U townships.

About two-thirds of residents from Darlet village-tract had fled fighting and firing of heavy guns in the area for mainland Myanmar and elsewhere, according to a local woman who asked not to be named.

“As the area has not been peaceful, there are many Darlet residents who have moved to IDP camps and big cities like Yangon and Mandalay. They all have scattered,” she said.

There are also the typical healthcare needs of the elderly, children and pregnant women, which sometimes cannot be met due to the closures of roads, she added.

“If the Kyauktaw and Paletwa waterway routes are opened now, we will ask the government to open the routes for Ann Township,” said an Ann Township State Hluttaw representative, U Khin Maung Htay.

There are more than 1,800 IDPs at two camps in Ann Township and over 10,000 displaced people outside of the camps, according to November 2 figures collected by the Rakhine Ethnics Congress (REC).

In the entirety of Arakan State, more than 236,000 IDPs have been recorded, of which more than 80,000 are at IDP camps and the remaining 154,000 are staying outside the camps, the REC said.

An Arakan Army statement on November 12 called on the NLD government and Tatmadaw to cooperate in order to hold by-elections as soon as possible, also announcing the extension of a previously existing ceasefire that has to date offered little respite from conflict for many state residents.

Following a Tatmadaw announcement welcoming the AA’s statement, military tensions have appeared to ease in Arakan State and in Chin State’s Paletwa Township, local residents and Hluttaw representatives have said.