Travel restrictions remain on Ponnagyun-Rathedaung and Minbya-Myebon roads

By DMG 08 Dec 2022

DMG Newsroom
8 December 2022, Ponnagyun

Myanmar’s military regime has lifted travel restrictions on some Arakan State roads and waterways in the wake of an informal ceasefire with the Arakan Army (AA), but the Ponnagyun-Rathedaung and Minbya-Myebon roads remain blockaded nearly two weeks after the truce was reached.

Two junta security checkpoints between Letwe Sartike and Tharzi villages still deny most locals access to Ponnagyun-Rathedaung road.

“Only motorbikes and three-wheelers can pass those checkpoints, and [four-wheeled] vehicles are not allowed. Locals are suffering a lot from the blockade, including their livelihoods and health,” said a Ponnagyun-Rathedaung driver.

“We don’t know why they still blockade the road here after they have lifted travel restrictions in other areas,” one resident said.

More than 22 miles long, the road has been blockaded for nearly six months, since June 16.

The Minbya-Myebon road, which is crucial for the delivery of supplies to Myebon, has been blockaded for more than two months, since October 2. The road was blocked off at Kyetsin Bridge, on the border of Minbya and Myebon townships.

Locals are struggling to bring food into Myebon Township, said residents near Kyetsin Bridge.

“We can’t pass Kyetsin Bridge either for social or health reasons. Teachers also can’t pass the bridge, so they can’t come to schools here,” a resident of Phalaung Pyin Village told DMG.

“Even if they allow us to use the bridge, residents will still feel unsafe. Only when soldiers withdraw from the bridge will locals dare to use the bridge,” he added.

The blockade means residents from Myebon and locals near the bridge have to rely on boats.

DMG was unable to reach Arakan State Administration Council spokesman U Hla Thein and Arakan State Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Kyaw Thura to obtain comment about locals’ demand for the lifting of travel restrictions on those roads.

The regime reopened some waterways beginning November 28, in some cases resuming ferryboat operations that had been suspended since October 19.