Arakan State residents grapple with information deprivation 

By Admin 26 Dec 2023

DMG Newsroom
26 December 2023, Sittwe

Phone and mobile internet access has been cut off in many Arakan State townships following the resumption of hostilities between junta troops and the Arakan Army (AA) last month, with people lacking access to information as a result.

The state is running out of vital items including food and fuel as the regime has imposed travel restrictions following the fighting that broke out on November 13. Telecom masts operated by diesel generators have stopped working as a result.

A member of a civil society organisation in Ponnagyun town said: “Phone lines are only accessible in the town. MPT phone lines are out of service in rural areas. Mytel is still working in some parts of rural areas. But we can’t use internet. Communications are down during the fighting, and we feel like it is an information blackout.”

People lack access to information about fighting in their areas, and local residents also cannot inform others elsewhere in the state about what is taking place in their particular areas.

Phone lines are also down in Maungdaw Township, according to residents.

“Mobile networks are down in places where the fighting is taking place in Maungdaw. So, we don’t know what the local people in conflict zones need, and there were also civilian casualties as they did not receive help in time,” said a social activist in Maungdaw town.

Communications are down the varying extents in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya, Ann, Taungup, Kyaukphyu, Ramree, Manaung, Myebon and Pauktaw townships, according to local residents.

Local media outlets covering the latest developments and junta human rights violations in Arakan State are also finding it difficult to do their jobs.

“It has become very difficult to phone sources. We can hardly make calls to sources in rural areas, and it has become difficult to make real-time reports,” said a reporter from DMG.

The regime is said to be exercising its notorious four-cuts strategy in Arakan State, including information deprivation. At the same time, there has been a surge in misinformation and fake news.

“The regime has cut off mobile networks to impose a news blackout in Arakan State,” said a social activist from Ann town.

In Ann Township, only urban wards and villages near the town have access to phone lines, and some 90 percent of the township has lost access to mobile networks, said residents.

The regime has imposed road and waterway blockades in Arakan State since fighting resumed in mid-November.