Pandemic’s third wave likely to further delay Mrauk-U UNESCO bid

By DMG 24 Jul 2021

DMG Newsroom
24 July 2021, Mrauk-U  

Repeatedly delayed efforts to get the ancient Arakan Kingdom capital Mrauk-U inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site may again be set back as western Myanmar, like much of the rest of the country, remains in the grip of a deadly new wave of coronavirus.  

Myanmar submitted a draft nomination to the United Nations cultural agency in September 2019 and planned to submit the final proposal in January 2020. 

The relevant stakeholders failed to do so, however, due to fighting between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army in Arakan State, and subsequently the Covid-19 pandemic. A revised time frame was laid out, with January 2022 set as the new target date. 

However, a fresh and ongoing wave of coronavirus is disrupting the work, said U Soe Soe Lin, director of the Mrauk-U branch of the Department of Archaeology and National Museum. 

“We have some difficulties getting updates in certain aspects of the work. We have submitted reports and there is a need to discuss them in Yangon. But many things can’t be done yet due to Covid-19,” he said.   

According to the Mrauk-U branch of the Department of Archaeology and National Museum, the review process required ahead of the final proposal’s submission is now 90% complete. Whether the final proposal can be submitted next year depends on the scale of the Covid-19 outbreak, said U Soe Soe Lin. 

Daw Khin Than, chairwoman of the Mrauk-U Cultural Heritage Preservation Group, said: “I don’t think there can be excessive delays. Fieldwork has been done and all the remaining work can be done at the office. There can be some delays, but I don’t think they can seriously impact the process.” 

Myanmar’s ousted civilian government began the UNESCO World Heritage List nomination process in 2017. Some pagodas and stupas were damaged in the fighting between Myanmar’s military and the AA in 2019.