Junta sets up two more checkpoints in Sittwe

By DMG 06 Sep 2022

DMG Newsroom
6 September 2022, Sittwe

Myanmar’s military regime has recently installed two checkpoints in low-income neighbourhoods of the Arakan State capital Sittwe, according to residents.

The two checkpoints were established respectively at Warseik Bridge in Kelselyay ward, and at the junction to Setyoekya ward (Byinephyu village). It is a seven-minute motorbike ride between the two checkpoints.

Junta soldiers and police are currently deployed at those checkpoints, and it remains unclear why the new checkpoints were installed.

Employees who work late now feel compelled to return to their homes early for fear that they might be inspected at the checkpoints. Some have even resigned, a female resident of Byinephyu village told DMG.

“There have been increased checks lately. The administrator reportedly told junta soldiers that villagers here are just ordinary workers and [asked] not to impose tight checks on them. We housewives have had to wait for our husbands on our roads in the evenings for fear that they might be wrongfully arrested,” she said.

Residents of Byinephyu and Kelselyay wards largely work at grocery stores and other shops, and also as drivers in Sittwe town.

“Our village is a little bit far from the town, and villagers usually come home late at night,” said another woman of Byinephyu village. “In his previous job, he usually arrived back home around 3 a.m. He has quit that job. He is now working at a rice shop for a daily wage of 8,000 kyats. He needs to come back home early, and we can’t just look for money.”

There are bamboo sellers near the Warseik Bridge, and they have reported a decline in sales since the regime set up a checkpoint at the bridge in the third week of August, according to one bamboo seller.

“They have not yet carried out checks here. Sellers feel annoyed by their presence. And potential buyers do not want to come here because of their presence,” he said.

DMG’s calls to the Arakan State police chief, Police Colonel Thet Lwin, and State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura, went unanswered.

A police officer from the Arakan State Police Force who asked for anonymity said: “The police checkpoint near the Warseik Bridge was built out of necessity. But I don’t know about the military checkpoint at the entrance of Byinephyu ward.”

Prior to the latest creations, there had already been at least four checkpoints in Sittwe Township; at the entrance to Sittwe, and near the villages of Kyauktan, Thekkelpyin and Bumay, respectively.

The regime has extended curfews and imposed tight inspections in some Arakan State townships due to recent fighting in Mrauk-U, Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships, as well as in Chin State’s Paletwa Township.