Junta blockade of road linking Maungdaw and Sittwe causes local hardships in northern Arakan State

By DMG 16 Aug 2022

DMG Newsroom
16 August 2022, Maungdaw 

Local people in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township are concerned about possible food shortages as the Myanmar military has blocked off the main road linking the township with state capital Sittwe following fighting with the Arakan Army (AA) on Saturday. 

The military and the AA clashed near the Angumaw-Maungdaw road, the major route linking Maungdaw with Sittwe, between Done Pike and Cheinkhali villages in Rathedaung Township, as well as near Mt. Wai Lar in Maungdaw Township, on August 13. 

Junta checkpoints along the road have barred travel on the road since the clashes, said residents. 

“The military checkpoint at our village has denied access to the road, and the checkpoint run by border guard police has also denied road access,” said a resident of Bawdigone village in Maungdaw Township. “It has been three days. We can’t even ride our motorbikes to other villages. We have to rely on Maungdaw to buy food, so we might run into food shortages.” 

Prices have increased as a result, said a resident of Maungdaw Township’s Khayay Myaing village.  

“Some households have already run out of rice. I want them to reopen the road as early as possible,” he said. 

In northern Maungdaw Township, the Kyeinchaung No. 24 checkpoint jointly run by the Myanmar military and border guard police has blocked off the road. 

A Kyeinchaung villager said: “There are no vehicles travelling along the road as they have blocked the road. Food prices have increased.” 

More than 40 cargo trucks transporting food supplies from Sittwe to Maungdaw are reportedly stuck in Agnumaw. 

“They don’t allow us to drive to our destination or return back to Sittwe,” a cargo truck driver said. “They are deliberately cutting off food supplies for local people.” 

Former lawmakers from Maungdaw said the junta’s latest restrictions will further increase military tensions in the township. 

“Commodity flows have stalled as the regime has blocked off the road,” said former Arakan State lawmaker U Maung Ohn of Maungdaw Township. “It is a reason why the fighting may continue in Maungdaw. Locals will suffer more if military tensions escalate further. The military has made arrests of locals in Maungdaw, and the AA will not stand idly by. So, clashes are most likely to happen in Maungdaw.” 

DMG was unable to obtain comment from Arakan State Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Kyaw Thura.