Arakan State military council holds meeting on security of govt employees

By Admin 30 Nov 2023

DMG Newsroom
30 November 2023, Sittwe

The Arakan State military council held a state-level meeting regarding the security of government employees on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by the junta-appointed Arakan State chief minister and heads of departments, according to sources close to the Arakan State military council.

“All the department heads attended the meeting. They adopted plans for the security of department employees. Lower-level staff still do not know what was instructed at the meeting,” said the source.

Family members of department heads assigned to Arakan State have left the state because of the renewed fighting that broke out on November 13, according to sources familiar with the matter.

On Thursday, government employees in some townships were instructed to go to the office as usual.

A female staff member of a township General Administration Department said: “I have fled to somewhere because of the current situation. Yesterday, I was told by the office to come to the office without fail. They told me nothing about our safety. There is no guarantee for our safety.”

Arakan State military council spokesman U Hla Thein wrote on his Facebook on Tuesday: “We discussed wide-ranging issues including planning the budget for the next fiscal year, welfare of staff, and how to keep running development projects and schools.”

Except for the office of the Arakan State military council in Sittwe, government departments in other townships are barely guarded by junta troops, according to staff. In contrast, the regime denies access to roads surrounding the Arakan State military council office in Sittwe, and the office is heavily guarded.

Government employees in Sittwe are going to the office as usual, while some employees in other townships have fled to safer places due to fighting.

Civilians in Sittwe, Maungdaw, Ramree, Taungup, Kyaukphyu, Buthidaung and Ponnagyun towns have been subjected to arbitrary junta arrests during the ongoing fighting.