Some 2,000 Arakan State migrants struggling to return from Yangon

By Kyaw Thu Htay 17 Nov 2020

Kyaw Thu Htay | DMG
17 November 2020, Sittwe

Local residents of Arakan State stuck in Yangon due to coronavirus travel restrictions are finding it difficult to return home, as authorities at the commercial capital’s Aungmingalar bus terminal have not allowed them to leave, according to a philanthropic group based in Kyaukphyu Township.

On November 13, the Laywaddy Kula Rakhita organisation for the first time arranged for the return of 125 people to Kyaukphyu and Ramree townships via express buses. But Aungmingalar terminal authorities have subsequently rejected the organisation’s request for more return trips, said Ko Byar La of Laywaddy Kula Rakhita.

“They are unnecessarily making things difficult. I don’t understand why they are stopping the people who are returning to their hometowns,” he said.

Laywaddy Kula Rakhita has sought the approval of the concerned departments, ward administrators and COVID-19 committees for the return of Arakan State locals from Yangon, and has also prepared quarantine centres, Ko Byar La said.

According to his organisation, there are some 2,000 people — many of them Arakanese migrant workers — in Yangon who have not been able to return to Arakan State due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Ma Aye Moe San, who is planning to return to Arakan State from Yangon, said she has been jobless for nearly three months due to factory closures amid the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. She asked the government to provide assistance for return trips like hers.

“I am struggling to make ends meet and to pay the rent. I want authorities to provide assistance,” she said.

Ma Aung Win Khaing from Kyaukphyu Township shared her own, similar dilemma.

“I lost my job some three months ago, and things are getting difficult,” she said. “I have to ask for money from my family to make ends meet. I’ve contacted the Laywaddy Kula Rakhita organization. However, I still can’t go back as the road is not open yet.”

Yangon Region’s Arakanese (Rakhine) ethnic affairs minister, U Zaw Aye Maung, said he is arranging transportation for prospective returnees.

“A flight left a few days ago [for Arakan State]. Twenty-four people took that flight. And we are working to officially transport them by car,” he said.