Junta bars Thandwe residents from returning Arakan State

By Admin 07 Aug 2024

DMG Newsroom
7 August 2024, Thandwe

Myanmar’s military regime has banned people holding citizenship identity cards indicating that they are from Thandwe Township from entering Arakan State.

Thandwe residents who were attempting to return to Arakan State after fleeing the fighting to Ayeyarwady Region and Yangon were turned back, said a Thandwe woman taking shelter in Ayeyarwady Region.

“We returned to Arakan State on August 5. Our citizenship identity cards were checked at the checkpoints, and we were told that Thandwe residents can’t enter. So, we went back,” she said.

They were turned back by a junta checkpoint on the mountain road linking Ayeyarwady Region with Gwa Township.

Residents from other townships can, however, enter Arakan State if they have citizenship identity cards and letters from administrators approving their travel, said a Gwa resident.

“People holding citizenship identity cards of Thandwe can only leave Arakan State, but are not allowed to enter. They are turned back at the military checkpoint. I have seen a whole vehicle of Thandwe residents turned back,” he said.

Displaced Thandwe residents are trying to return to Arakan State due to livelihood hardships.

One Thandwe woman taking shelter in Yangon said: “We can’t live for long here away from our home. In our hometown, at least we won’t starve even if we don’t have a job. So, we tried to return. However, we are not allowed to return, and I dread to think about the days ahead in Yangon.”

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes amid the conflict in Arakan State, and are suffering from severe hardship due to scarcity of jobs and hyperinflation.

The Arakkha Army (AA) has seized two junta battalions as well as Thandwe Town, its airport and the Ngapali hotel zone in Thandwe Township, and is focused on attacking the last junta position, the Maung Shwe Lay naval base, in the township.