The Myanmar junta is using hunger as a weapon in Rakhine
Last Updated on August 26, 2024 9:17 am
Myanmar’s controversial army has been accused of using hunger as a weapon of war in the conflict-ridden western state of Rakhine. It is reported that the junta government is blocking the arrival of relief aid by setting up checkpoints, blocking roads and waterways, and denying access to humanitarian organizations.
Several senior UN officials, local and international aid workers in Rakhine spoke to the media on condition of anonymity.
The Myanmar junta is now facing strong resistance from Myanmar’s ethnic rebel groups. Rakhine is at the center of the conflict. The Arakan Army (AA), the region’s powerful ethnic minority armed insurgent group, has taken control of at least 10 towns in Rakhine state after breaking a one-year ceasefire deal with the junta last November.
As in other parts of Myanmar, Rakhine has lost control of one army base after another, and the junta is now using hunger as a weapon to cling to power. Khin Mar Cho, a refugee at a monastery in Rakhine, worries for her four-year-old son. Because he is struggling to gather enough food to feed his son in a temporary displacement camp at the monastery. And this is the reality of many Rakhine people.
Khin Mar Cho said the junta forces arrested all the men after raiding Bain Phew village in Rakhine State. They shot dead Khin’s brother and other neighbors. Survivors like Khin Mar Cho fled to a monastery just outside the regional capital, Sitt. There one monk is struggling to feed about 300 people.
Aid officials say the junta is trying to starve civilians in areas controlled by the Arakan Army. They are using tactics that UN officials and human rights organizations have repeatedly described as war crimes and crimes against humanity. “It is clear that the junta is using food as a weapon,” said a senior aid official.
In this regard, the military junta said it had stopped aid groups from entering areas controlled by the Arakan Army. Because aid workers cannot move safely in areas not controlled by the military.
“We don’t need the junta for our security,” said a senior aid official, calling the junta’s comments an excuse.
Aid workers say they don’t know the full extent of the suffering caused by telecommunications and internet shutdowns, as well as restrictions on access to Rakhine. But they say, the crisis is serious. According to the United Nations, 873,000 people in the state are in need of food aid. But less than a quarter of them received this assistance.
A UN report published last June warned that the most vulnerable people risk dying if they don’t get help. Now the situation has worsened.
Source: CNN