Amid renewed Arakan State hostilities, junta deploys armoured vehicles in capital Sittwe 

By Admin 13 Nov 2023

DMG Newsroom
13 November 2023, Sittwe

Myanmar’s military regime imposed a nighttime curfew in Sittwe on Monday and armoured vehicles were reported patrolling the streets in an apparent show of force as the sun set on a day that saw attacks by the Arakan Army on multiple military positions elsewhere in Arakan State.

The military government ordered all restaurants and roadside shops to close by 9:30 p.m. in the Arakan State capital and Sittwe residents were ordered not to leave their homes from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.

“All ward administrators were summoned to a meeting at the deputy commissioner’s office in Sittwe. Residents in Sittwe have been ordered not to leave their homes from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m,” a ward administrator in Sittwe told DMG.

“We work at night only. The order will negatively affect our livelihoods in the long run,” said Daw Ma Gyi, who sells street snacks at a night market in Sittwe.

Armoured vehicles were reported on the streets of Sittwe by 2 p.m. on November 13, just hours after the early morning attacks on junta outposts in neighbouring Rathedaung and Minbya townships.

“I saw four armoured vehicles rolling into downtown Sittwe when I was filled my motorbike with gasoline at a petrol station. I don’t know the reason why junta armoured vehicles drove to downtown Sittwe. Residents in Sittwe are worried about their safety,” said a local woman in Sittwe.

The Arakan Army reportedly took control of two Border Guard Force (BGF) outposts in Rathedaung Township’s Cheinkalein and Donpaik villages on Monday morning. The AA also ambushed a military convoy near Phetharpyin and Pharpyo villages in Minbya Township.

The hostilities in Rathedaung and Minbya townships were unsurprising to many amid speculation that a “western front” to the anti-junta armed resistance movement might open in Arakan State after the Three Brotherhood Alliance, of which the AA is a member, launched an offensive late last month in Shan State, with the stated aim of toppling Myanmar’s military regime.

Some junta soldiers and police officers in Kyauktaw, Ponnagyun and Kyaukphyu townships reportedly surrendered to the Arakan Army or abandoned their positions on the first day of renewed hostilities in Arakan State.

The deployment of heavy weapons and armoured vehicles in the Arakan State capital stoked a new level of fear among local residents, according to some.

“During the junta’s rule, the military would show their weapons and authority in all kinds of ways. But I would like to say that it is not good to show military might when the people are panicking,” said a resident of Sittwe.

Myanmar’s military regime also imposed nighttime curfews in Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya and Ponnagyun townships following escalating military tensions and clashes with the AA in late 2018.