Muslims flee as fighting verges on Arakan State capital

By Admin 30 Dec 2024

DMG Newsroom
30 December 2024, Sittwe

Hundreds of Muslims from villages such as Bumay, Thaechaung, Barsa, Thetkelpyin and Darpaing have fled Sittwe Township as fighting between the military and the Arakkha Army (AA) has broken out in the vicinity of the Arakan State capital.

Some Muslims with identity cards are flying to mainland Myanmar, while those without ID cards are fleeing to AA-controlled territory, also known as "liberated" areas, by any means necessary.

"If fighting breaks out, we are more vulnerable to the consequences of war, so we flee. Now we can hear gunfire in Sittwe," said a Muslim from Bumay Village.

The AA clashed with the Myanmar military after the ethnic armed group fired mortar shells into a junta security checkpoint near Kyarmathauk Village in Sittwe Township on December 27.

With military tensions running high in Sittwe Township of late, many residents are trying to get out, leading to an increased demand for flight tickets to Yangon.

The military regime has dug bunkers in Muslim villages in Sittwe Township and prepared a defence against the ongoing AA offensive.

"The military regime has dug bunkers near the railway road in front of the village and boosted a defence. We have no ID cards. If there's a fight, I don't know where we would flee," said a Muslim woman in Bumay Village.

Myanmar's military regime is reportedly collecting extortion money from Muslim displacement camps and villages to pay the salaries to Muslim militiamen in Sittwe Township.

The Muslim IDPs of Sittwe Township were primarily uprooted by the conflict in Arakan State in 2012, and have been living in displacement camps in the township since then.