Border News Agency
Sittwe, August 8.
In Sittwe, the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) and junta forces have been conducting continuous checks and restrictions on civilians, with around 30 civilians reportedly detained, according to local residents.
In Sittwe Township, junta forces have reinforced their frontline outposts with weapons and troops, while conducting intensified searches and arrests in the town, according to local residents.
“It’s been about a week of intense crackdowns. The ALP guys are even worse. The military is also involved. Every day they search houses and monasteries and make arrests,” a Sittwe resident told Border News Agency.
Junta forces have reportedly been arresting civilians from Set Ron Su, Min Gan, Anauk San Pya wards, and monasteries housing displaced people.
According to information collected by Border News Agency, at least 30 people have been detained between August 1 and today, including a pregnant woman and elderly men.
Junta troops and members of the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) led by Daw Saw Mra Razar Lin have been conducting daily raids on residential areas and monasteries, and their actions have reportedly become increasingly oppressive.
“They fire heavy weapons every day. Now, we’re suffering from hunger on one hand, and on the other, living in fear that the junta troops will come and arrest us. Our lives are like—if hunger doesn’t kill us, being taken by them will. We’re living lives where we can do nothing,” a Sittwe resident told Border News Agency.
Human rights activists point out that confining civilians in the town and carrying out arrests constitutes a violation of human rights.
Junta forces have forced almost all villagers in Sittwe Township into the town and kept them confined. They are said to have set up military camps in those villages and reinforced their troop presence there.
In late July, junta forces reportedly reinforced frontline bases in Sittwe Township with additional weapons and troops, and military units based in Sittwe have continued shelling nearby villages, according to local residents.
In addition, villages in Ponnakyun and Pauktaw townships, which border Sittwe Township, have also come under continuous attacks from heavy weapons and drones, according to reports.
Due to the shelling, there are civilian casualties, and many homes have been damaged, according to local residents.
In Sittwe, prices of basic food items, including rice, have risen sharply. With widespread unemployment in the informal labor sector and a lack of aid and support, people are struggling to meet their basic needs, which has led some families to despair and, tragically, a few cases of suicide, locals say.
