Military blockades road in Maungdaw Twsp as local leaders fret over growing tally of administrators detained

By DMG 22 Jul 2022

DMG Newsroom
22 July 2022, Maungdaw 

The Myanmar military has restricted access to a key road in Maungdaw Township following fighting with the Arakan Army (AA) in northern Arakan State on Monday, as local administrators expressed concerns about the junta’s recent arrests of some of their peers. 

A military checkpoint set up by junta troops and affiliated border guard police this week in Kyeinchaung village, which is strategically located in northern Maungdaw, has prevented travel in the area for days. The road blockade is causing problems for the residents of more than 20 villages in Maungdaw Township. 

“We have to buy food including rice, oil and salt from Maungdaw [town], and we sell pepper to Maungdaw. But we haven’t been allowed to go to Maungdaw for a few days now,” a resident of Mingalar Nyunt village told DMG. 

A driver of passenger buses on a route linking the town of Maungdaw and villages in the township’s north said buses like his have since halted operations. 

“We’ve stopped operations for the past three days. We dare not go as they have blocked off the road at Kyeinchaung checkpoint. If the roads are blocked off for a long time, this will create problems for the livelihoods of locals,” said the bus driver. 

The checkpoint blockade has led to food shortages and price increases for more than 10,000 people from 20 villages that are linked to Maungdaw town by the road through Kyeinchaung. 

“Bus drivers dare not run their buses since the day of the fighting,” said a resident of Taman Thar village. “I was also not allowed to pass the checkpoint today. Some houses have run out of rice, and they are having to borrow rice from their neighbours. 

Junta and AA troops clashed at two locations in Maungdaw Township on July 18, with casualties reported and the Arakan Army claiming to have taken 14 regime soldiers and border guard police captive in the fighting. 

Former Arakan State Parliament lawmaker U Maung Ohn of Maungdaw Township called on authorities to open the Kyeinchaung road.  

“They can check road users, but they should not block off the road,” he said. 

DMG was unable to contact Arakan State Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Kyaw Thura for comment. 

On Wednesday, the military detained three residents from Kyeinchaung, including the village administrator. Those arrests and others in the region recently have left local administrators on edge and fearing that they could be next. 

“We are concerned for our safety following the Myanmar military’s detention of some village administrators and villagers in Maungdaw Township. Some local residents fled to downtown Maungdaw for fear of being arrested by the Myanmar military on suspicion,” said a village administrator who spoke on condition of anonymity. 

“We are worried that we will be arrested, examined, and beaten, regardless of who we are,” another unnamed village administrator told DMG. 

He added that if there are more arrests of local leaders, village administrators in Maungdaw Township may begin resigning from their posts out of fear, as occurred among some of their peers in Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Myebon and Minbya townships during the 2018-20 conflict between the military and Arakan Army.