Villagers go hungry in Maungdaw Twsp

By DMG 22 Aug 2022

DMG Newsroom
22 August 2022, Maungdaw
 
Locals in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, are facing food shortages as Myanmar’s military regime has blocked off supply routes and restricted regional travel since August 14, following fighting between junta troops and the Arakan Army (AA).
 
“Villagers are not even allowed to leave their villages; the entire southern Maungdaw [Township],” said U Maung Than Sein, the administrator of Kainggyi village. “Border guard police rejected our request to leave the village to buy food. We were told that we are only allowed to leave for health emergencies. Food prices have shot up now.”
 
In Maungdaw town, a sack of Paw Hsan Hmwe now sells for K80,000, while lower quality rice sells for K50,000 per sack. The price of edible oil has reached K9,000 per litre, and a single egg goes for K800, according to locals.
 
In Tharay Konbaung village, residents are sharing rice with each other, said administrator U Tun Tun Naing.
 
“Rice prices have increased, but you can’t buy it even if you have money. So, for now, we share rice and food with each other in our village. But if it goes on like this, we are going to go hungry,” he said.
 
Previously, sellers from the town came to villages in small trucks, selling rice and other basic foodstuffs and also supplying local shops, but those cars are not longer allowed to travel as such, said a resident.
 
Villagers in Kyauk Pandu and Inn Din, in southern Maungdaw Township, are also facing food shortages, with the regime prohibiting travel between the two villages.
 
“We can’t buy rice in our village,” said a resident of Inn Din village. “We can’t travel to Rathedaung to buy food. We can’t even leave our village to catch fish or collect vegetables. We can’t even pasture our cattle now.”
 
Kyauk Padu villagers have called on the regime to reopen the roads as early as possible, warning that residents there are facing starvation.
 
“Some villagers have fled because they don’t want to starve to death. A four-member family fled the village today to Mayu and Zedi Pyin villages. We only have little stocks of rice and oil now,” said a resident of Kyauk Padu.
 
DMG was unable to obtain comment from U Kan Tun Aung, the Maungdaw Township administrator, about the blockade.