Taungup residents stuck in Bago Region due to junta blockades

By Admin 03 Oct 2024

DMG Newsroom
3 October 2024, Pyay, Bago Region

Some 50 residents from Taungup, Arakan State, including some educational employees have reportedly been stranded in Pyay, Bago Region, due to the junta’s blockading of land and water routes into Arakan State.

The regime has imposed additional travel restrictions since the last week of September due to military tensions between the military and Arakkha Army (AA) along the Arakan mountain range.

“I came to Pyay to withdraw cash and I have not been able to return home for one week,” said a resident of Taungup.

Around 20 Taungup residents have been stuck in Pyay for a variety of reasons including business and health matters.

Meanwhile, about 30 educational employees displaced by fighting went to Pyay to work at some schools there, but were stranded in Pyay as the regime barred them from serving at some schools in the western Bago Region capital.

“Some educational employees presented their request to serve in some schools in Pyay. They were stranded in Pyay as their request was rejected by the Ministry of Education,” said a source close to educational employees.

The strandees are facing financial difficulties as they stay at guesthouses and hostels, and have to buy food from eateries in the town.

With clashes between the military and AA reported along the Taungup-Padaung road and military tensions between the two sides running high, the flow of goods has stopped, causing shortages of commodities in the area.

“Local merchants were allowed to buy goods with recommendation letters signed by the military in the past. Locals are running out of commodities due to the junta blockades,” said a local woman in Taungup.

Civilian casualties are reported in Taungup Township due to the regime’s frequent airstrikes and artillery attacks, despite there not being significant fighting with AA troops in the area. 

Locals are facing social and economic hardships across much of Arakan State due to the junta blockades.