Ransacking of NGO offices weighs heavily on northern Arakan State

By Admin 31 Jul 2024

DMG Newsroom
31 July 2024, Maungdaw

The offices of three nongovernmental organisations in Maungdaw District have been ransacked during the latest fighting in Arakan State, making the life-saving work of these groups that much more difficult under already challenging conditions.

Junta soldiers and allied Muslim militias broke into the offices of Doctors Without Borders (MSF), World Food Programme (WFP) and Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS), which provide humanitarian assistance in Arakan State.

They burgled the office of MSF in Buthidaung Town on April 15 and stole pharmaceuticals before setting the office on fire.

They also broke into a WFP warehouse near Waithali Village in Maungdaw Township on June 21. They torched the warehouse after stealing rice from it.

They did the same to the MRCS office in Maungdaw Town recently, stealing pharmaceuticals and torching the office.

One Maungdaw resident said: “Nongovernmental organisations are working for the development of Arakan State. The regime stole things and torched those offices. The international community must take action against them.”

Following the arson attack on its office, MSF announced in early July that it had ceased its humanitarian operations for an indefinite period.

The regime is deliberately targeting humanitarian organisations to cause suffering for local populations, said residents.

An international nongovernmental organisation employee in Sittwe said: “Those groups have nothing to do with the fighting. They have been continuously helping civilians and displaced people. The WFP provides cash, rice and basic food. MSF provided healthcare services. The MRCS also provides emergency healthcare services. People suffer as those operations have ceased.”

The Arakkha Army (AA) has said humanitarian organisations trapped in the fighting in Arakan State can seek its help. 

The regime has also killed some staff of NGOs.

A UNHCR security guard reportedly died on May 1 due to injuries he had sustained in junta custody. He was arrested by junta soldiers amid heavy fighting in Buthidaung.

One of the victims killed by the regime in its massacre at Byaing Phyu Village in Sittwe Township in late May was an employee of MRCS.