Hundreds in Myebon subject to food blockade

By Win Nyunt 23 Dec 2019

Win Nyunt| DMG
23 December, Sittwe

More than 400 people from Ywar Thar Yar and Chone Chaung villages in Arakan State’s Myebon Township are facing food shortages as the Tatmadaw has prohibited them from bringing foodstuffs and other supplies into their villages.

A military column stationed at the Yaw Chaung Bridge, two miles from Ywar Thar Yar village, has been monitoring the movement of villagers and banned the transport of food supplies into their villages, said a villager who declined to be named, citing safety concerns.

“We have to pass the bridge. A military column stationed at the bridge has ordered us to sign when we leave the village or enter the village. We are not allowed to take food supplies into our villages,” the villager said.

The ban was first imposed on November 25, and in the month since, food access has become an increasingly acute problem affecting more than 100 people in Ywar Thar Yar and over 300 people in Chone Chaung.

“We could not use motor boat,” a villager from Ywar Thar Yar said, referring to potential alternative means of transporting foodstuffs. “They [the Tatmadaw] stopped checking in the village now, but we are not allowed to take any food into our villages. All villagers are facing difficulties getting food.”

DMG was unsuccessful in attempts to contact Colonel Win Zaw Oo, head of the Tatmadaw’s Western Command, to seek comment on claims of a food blockade of the two villages.

“A military camp at Yaw Chaung Bridge has been checking boats coming from the lower part of the creek. And it does not allow boats coming from the upper part of the creek to pass the creek. Villagers are facing difficulties in getting food. And they dare not go into the forest to get food and vegetables,” said U Pe Than, a Pyithu Hluttaw MP for Myebon Township.

Ywar Thar Yar has received unwanted attention from the Tatmadaw in the past: A troop sweep of Ywar Thar Yar on November 10 led to the arrest of five villagers, residents of Ywar Thar Yar said.

The population of Ywar Thar Yar has dwindled dramatically, from a previous 1,700 people, as its residents have left for nearby villages, fearing that they will face questioning or other unwanted actions by Tatmadaw troops.