Military-AA hostilities in Ann Twsp force thousands to flee

By Admin 04 Apr 2024

DMG Newsroom
4 April 2024, Ann

Thousands of local people from at least two dozen villages in Ann Township, Arakan State, have been fleeing to safer locations due to rising tensions between the military and Arakan Army (AA) in the area.

“Local residents dare not stay in the villages and are fleeing to safer locations as mortar shells land near the villages. The fighting is fierce, so we don’t see a safe position where we are now. We are worried about where we will flee next,” said a resident of Pyaungthae Village in Ann Township.

Thousands of local people from several villages such as Pyaungthae, Thalumaw, Lone, Gananpyin, Dainggyi, Melletmaung, Khamaungtaw, Gangawmyaing, Khamaungchaung, Patkway, Hsinkhontaing, Kyatyaykham, Kamyinkan, Meelaungkyun, Khayankyun, Kyamaung, Ngaletkya and Laungkya were displaced by junta shellings, airstrikes and military raids.

The displaced people are in need of emergency assistance such as food, shelter, medicine and clean drinking water.

“We mainly need food because we face challenges to ask for help. We dare not ask for help from social organisations as the regime often targets and attacks the crowds,” said a resident of Hsinkhontaing Village.

Fierce fighting followed the AA’s launching of assaults on multiple junta bases and military camps in Ann Township, where the military’s Western Command headquarters is located, on March 24.

The AA on April 2 declared an indefinite emergency closure of the vital transport road linking Ann Township to Padan Village in Ngape Township, Magway Region, in central Myanmar until further notice.

It has been over four months since the AA clashed with the military in Arakan State, with the number of people displaced by the conflict surpassing 300,000.