Recommendation letter required for local travel in northern Maungdaw Twsp

By Admin 24 Apr 2023

DMG Newsroom
24 April 2023, Maungdaw

Local people in northern parts of Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, are allowed to pass through the junta’s security checkpoints only if they have a recommendation letter from their respective ward or village administrators, according to residents.

“We have been allowed to go to Maungdaw only if we can show the recommendation letters of the respective ward and village administrators since eight months ago. We don’t need to seek the police’s recommendation letter,” said a local man from Mingalarnyunt Village in Maungdaw Township, who did not want to be named for security reasons.

Junta soldiers at security checkpoints near the Kyee Kan Pyin border guard police headquarters and Kyeinchaung Village check travellers for recommendation letters.

There are at least 30 villages in northern Maungdaw Township affected by the travel restrictions. 

“Junta soldiers check whether or not the people have a recommendation letter from the relevant ward or village administrators, so there is a delay in travel. I want the military to allow locals to travel freely. I think they [junta soldiers] check locals for whether they have any links with the Arakan Army,” said a resident of Tamanthar Village in northern Maungdaw Township.

DMG continues to attempt to contact Maungdaw District deputy commissioner U Nay Oo and Arakan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura regarding the matter.

U Pe Than, a political analyst, said the junta should allow residents to move freely during the current cessation of hostilities.

“The military junta gives the excuse of checking on locals to arrest drug dealers. But during this period, people should be allowed to move freely. Checking the people for a long time is disruptive for the people, so I see that it should be relaxed,” he added.

Relief workers from local and international nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) were allowed to go to Sittwe and Pauktaw townships after the military and Arakan Army reached an informal ceasefire on November 26, 2022, but access for local and international NGOs to Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships remains restricted, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said in a statement on March 4.