Over 1,100 teachers stuck in Sittwe due to junta’s blockading of land and water routes

By Admin 14 Nov 2023

DMG Newsroom
14 November 2023, Sittwe

More than 1,100 educational employees who had attended a capacity enhancement training course have reportedly been stranded in the Arakan State capital Sittwe due to the junta’s blockading of land and water routes in the state.

The junta blocked off all exits and entries to Sittwe, and major land and water routes across the state, one day after fighting between the military and Arakan Army (AA) flared anew on November 13. The three-day training course was conducted from November 10 to 12.

“The teachers were unable to return home as the training course finished at 3 p.m. Some teachers from nearby Sittwe returned home. More than 1,000 were trapped in Sittwe due to the junta’s blockages of land and water routes,” said a junior assistant teacher from Mrauk-U.

Among the strandees are about 300 educators from Mrauk-U Township, more than 200 each from Kyauktaw and Rathedaung townships, over 350 from Maungdaw Township and around 100 from Buthidaung Township.

“We didn’t bring a lot of money because it was a three-day training course. The prices of food have risen since yesterday. We have to spend around K60,00 for one meal. I don’t know how many days we will stay in Sittwe,” said Daw Hnin Nwe, a junior assistant teacher from Maungdaw.

More than 60 teachers who left Sittwe on the morning of November 13 ahead of the junta’s blockading of land and water routes for Myebon and Minbya townships are currently taking shelter at Yadanar Manaung Dhamma Yeiktha in downtown Mrauk-U as they cannot continue their journey.

“We have been stranded in Mrauk-U because the military blocked off all entry and exit routes,” said a junior assistant teacher from Myebon Township.

DMG phoned Arakan State education officer U Ba Htwee Sein regarding the matter, but he could not be reached.

“I want the Education Department to make arrangements for the strandees to return home. Even if we go home on our own, if something happens on the way, we will be the ones to suffer,” said a teacher from Maungdaw Township.

The Myanmar military and the AA observed an informal ceasefire on humanitarian grounds in late November 2022. The resumption of hostilities began when the ethnic armed group launched attacks on Border Guard Force outposts near Rathedaung Township’s Cheinkharlein and Donpaik villages on Monday morning.