As Sittwe civilian arrests rise, so do local concerns

By Admin 21 Sep 2024

DMG Newsroom
21 September 2024, Sittwe

Local residents in Sittwe are worried about their safety as Myanmar’s military junta has beefed up security and has been making arrests of civilians under various pretexts since early this month.

The regime conducts overnight guest checks and fires mortar shells on a daily basis after setting up more security checkpoints in Sittwe, locals said.

“The regime makes civilian arrests daily and we feel insecure. The city of Sittwe is like a hostage cage,” said a local woman.

Junta soldiers entered Sittwe’s Myoma Market and arrested more than 20 people including some women on September 19. The arrestees remain detained.

The regime also arrested five boatmen at the BXT port in Sittwe on September 16, and family members are concerned for the safety of the detainees.

Junta soldiers detained some 50 local residents from Sittwe’s Oh Tan, Mizan and Shwepyar wards on September 13 on the pretext of having conducted overnight guest checks.

“Our children were arrested without any guilt. After examining them, if they are not guilty, I want them to be released as soon as possible,” said a family member of one arrestee.

With Maungdaw looking likely to soon fall to the Arakkha Army (AA), the regime is boosting its security presence in Sittwe, the only remaining city that it holds in northern Arakan State.

Junta troops occupied 14 Arakanese villages in Sittwe Township after forcing villagers there to move to Sittwe Town in June of this year. The regime has also deployed soldiers in Shwepyitha Ward and beefed up security in the neighbourhood.

“Just as the regime used civilians in Pauktaw and Buthidaung as human shields, it seems that it intends to use Sittwe residents as human shields. The regime’s recruitment of local residents from villages near Sittwe into the war is more than a violation of human rights and has become a war crime,” said U Pe Than, a political and military analyst, and former Arakan State lawmaker.

U Pe Than added that the regime could lock down the residents of Sittwe and use them as human shields, and that the AA thus needs to deal with the situation carefully.

Fighting between the military and AA began in Sittwe Township at the end of August, and the Arakan State capital has been besieged by the ethnic armed group since then.