The United Nations’ food agency on Tuesday strongly condemned the looting of food supplies and burning of one of its warehouse in Arakan
Update from the civil war zone of Western Myanmar
(source: FRC and Nay San Lwin): Rohingya Wards Attacked by Arakan Army Drones
and Artillery Shells
Today, on June 25,
2024, starting at 5:30 pm, at least 20 drones and artillery shells landed in
the wards where there is no Myanmar military presence. The affected wards are
Ward 1, Ward 2, Bo Hmu Ward, and Ka Yin Dan Ward in Maungdaw Township.
This happened within
an hour. Several people were injured, and the extent of the destruction is
unknown. Three of the injured are in very critical condition and won't survive
if they can't cross the border to Bangladesh for medical attention.
As the firing continues,
Rohingya residents are fleeing to save their lives. By 7 pm, no one was on the
roads in Maungdaw downtown.
The Rohingya residents
said the artillery shells were fired by the Arakan Army (AA) based in Pan Taw
Pyin village. The drone bombs were launched from Ward 3 and Ward 4, which are
Rakhine Wards.
Rohingya residents
also mentioned that these days, they can clearly see they are the target of the
AA, and no artillery shells or drones have landed in the Rakhine Wards.
The military base in Myo Thu Gyi is at least 3 miles away from the Rohingya Wards. The residents fear for their lives, feeling targeted by the AA. ==========
"Nay San Lwin, a co-founder of the Free Rohingya
Coalition, an advocacy group based outside of Myanmar, said in a message to The
Associated Press that members of both the Arakan Army and Myanmar’s military
had been separately involved in the looting and burning of the WFP warehouse,
which held more than 20,000 bags of rice."
UN World Food Program
decries looting and burning of its warehouse in western Myanmar combat zone
The United Nations’
food agency has strongly condemned the looting of food supplies and burning of
one of its warehouses in a war-torn area in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine
A statement released
by the World Food Program said the destroyed building in Rakhine’s Maungdaw
township held 1,175 metric tons (1,295 U.S. tons) of food and supplies — enough
to sustain 64,000 people for a month in case of an emergency.
The incident, which
happened on Sunday, makes even more desperate a humanitarian crisis caused by
bitter fighting between Myanmar’s military government and guerrillas of the
Arakan Army belonging the Rakhine ethnic minority, which seeks autonomy from
the central government.
The wider context of
the fighting is Myanmar’s nationwide civil war, in which pro-democracy
guerrillas and ethnic minority armed forces battle the country’s military
rulers, who took power in 2021 after the army ousted the elected government of
Aung San Suu Kyi.
The fiercest fighting
is currently taking place in Rakhine. The U.N. says that more than 3 million
people have been displaced nationwide by fighting since the 2021 army takeover,
causing a massive and largely unmet need for humanitarian assistance.
The WFP also called
“on all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under International
Humanitarian Law to ensure that humanitarian facilities and assets are
respected and protected, and safe and secure access is provided for the
delivery of vital assistance to those in urgent need.”
The statement did not
identify the perpetrators of the looting. The Arakan Army blamed the attack on
army soldiers and local Muslims said to be fighting alongside them.
However, Nay San Lwin,
a co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, an advocacy group based outside of
Myanmar, said in a message to The Associated Press that members of both the
Arakan Army and Myanmar’s military had been separately involved in the looting
and burning of the WFP warehouse, which held more than 20,000 bags of rice.
Maungdaw, in northern
Rakhine and close to the country’s border with Bangladesh, appears to be on the
verge of being seized by the Arakan Army.
Several days ago, the
guerrilla group urged the residents of Maungdaw, who are mostly from the Muslim
Rohingya ethnic minority, to evacuate from their houses urgently for their
safety.
In May, the Arakan
Army took over another Rakhine city, which like Maungdaw has a majority
Rohingya population. At the time, the military government and the Arakan Army
each blamed the other for burning down most of the city and forcing its
residents to leave.
The Rohingya were the
targets of a brutal counterinsurgency campaign incorporating rape and murder
that saw an estimated 740,000 flee to neighboring Bangladesh as their villages
were burned down by government troops in 2017.
Ethnic Rakhine
nationalist supporters of the Arakan Army were then among the persecutors of
the Rohingya minority. The Arakan Army now claims it is not prejudiced against
the Rohingya, and provides them with humanitarian aid. The military government
similarly claims to have been distributing rice to Maungdaw’s residents.
Rohingya have lived in
Myanmar for generations, but they are widely regarded by many in the country’s
Buddhist majority, including members of the Rakhine minority, as having
illegally migrated from Bangladesh. The Rohingya face discrimination, and are
generally denied citizenship and other basic rights.
Armed resistance
against military rule intensified last October, when an alliance of three
ethnic fighting groups, including the Arakan Army, launched a successful
offensive to seize territory and towns in northeast Myanmar along the border
with China.
Later, China brokered
a months-long truce between the military and the Three Brotherhood Alliance,
but in recent days fighting has resumed in the area between an alliance
partner, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, and the military government’s
troops.
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