Photo : Messenger
The Myanmar government troops, Tatmadaw, prepare to embattle the advancing rebel's Arakan Army (AA) in taking over Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State.
Tatmadaw troops have fortified their position in Sittwe, an island open to the Bay of Bengal. The soldiers and police personnel have erected bunkers and increased their monitoring along the Kaladan River on the east side of Sittwe.
The military junta's navy personnel fired an artillery shell near the Korean port bazar in Sittwe, eyewitnesses told Narinjara News, which reports on rebels.
On March 2, a navy warship halted near Thel Khone village under Pauktaw township, on the opposite side of Sittwe, and launched an artillery shell.
Later, the warship fired a shell near the port bazar. The navy personnel fired the shell as a warning to deter them from going to the other side. The junta's battalions also launched artillery shells near the Sittwe area.
Hundreds of thousands of residents from both urban and rural areas in Sittwe have fled and sought refuge in liberated zones as there are reports that the Arakan Army (AA) may capture the Rakhine capital city very soon.
The Myanmar military had already destroyed the Ah Myint Kyun Min Chaung bridge on the Yangon-Sittwe highway with a mine attack to prevent the advancing AA rebels from entering the Sittwe locality, only heightening public concerns.
Destroying the crucial connectivity bridge has effectively trapped the city residents. The residents are apprehensive about their escape when the rebels storm the state capital.
Only one-third of the Sittwe population remains in their places. Most of them escaped by boats, and the boatmen's charges are exorbitant.
The residents told Narinjara News that if the conflict arises, the soldiers will use the people as hostages. It is feared that the soldiers may use the residents as human shields and hence they are preventing public movements.
As the artillery shells hit the power grid substation in the township, many Sittwe residents were cut off from electricity. Also, internet and phone connections are down in Sittwe.
Since November 13, the AA has seized control over nine towns as well as the junta's military bases, police stations, tactical operation command bases, and battalions.
Meanwhile, the UN Human Rights Council's chief Volker Turk last week said Myanmar continues its "deadly freefall into deeper violence ... at the whim of reckless military authority."
During an interactive dialogue on Myanmar in Geneva as part of the 53rd session, he said, "The human rights situation in Myanmar has morphed into a never-ending nightmare, away from the spotlight of global politics. The 3 years of military rule have inflicted and continue to inflict unbearable levels of suffering and cruelty on people in Myanmar...it is almost impossible to imagine that the people of Myanmar can endure more suffering," remarked Volker Turk.
On the other hand, the Myanmar military junta has "strongly objected" to the Thai parliament's hosting of a seminar on the situation in Myanmar that was joined by senior figures from Myanmar's anti-junta shadow government, Thai opposition lawmakers, democracy activists, and others.
Despite the objections, the event, "Three Years after the Coup: Towards a Democratic Myanmar and Its Impact on Security Along the Thai Border," was held at Parliament House in Bangkok during the weekend.
Myanmar's Foreign Ministry in a "secret" letter sent to the Thai Foreign Ministry stated that hosting the event at Parliament House would create "negative impacts on the existing friendly bilateral relations between Myanmar and Thailand," according to a copy of the letter viewed by The Irrawaddy newspaper.
The junta ministry asked "the Government of Thailand to relay Myanmar's concerns on the said activity to the Parliament of Thailand and notify them not to carry out any activities that could hinder the ongoing cordial ties in the future," it added.
Myanmar, which shares a more than 2,400-km-long border with Thailand, has been in social and political turmoil since the military coup in 2021. Military rule in the country has become a threat to regional stability as the regime faces nationwide armed resistance and is not able to control the country.
Some of Myanmar's established ethnic armed groups and anti-regime resistance forces have been fighting the junta since the military coup in 2021. When fighting breaks out near the border, refugees flee to the Thai side.
On the other hand, Narinjara News reports that the AA has captured thousands of prisoners of war (POWs) during the current conflicts in the Rakhine and Paletwa regions, and they are being treated with dignity and care, said AA spokesperson U Khaing Thukha.
He warned that those among the POWs who had committed crimes will face actions in accordance with the Arakan people's government laws.
Messenger/Fameema
