David Scott Mathieson
Myanmar’s war-ravaged Rakhine state faces a humanitarian catastrophe just as the insurgent Arakan Army (AA) looks set to take almost complete control of the area from the border with Bangladesh down to the Irrawaddy Delta after a year of brutal armed conflict.
The anti-military AA is currently besieging the central town of Ann, home to the Myanmar military’s Western Command, and is still engaged in furious fighting in Maungdaw to overrun Border Guard Police Camp 5, the final installation after months of grinding street battles and destructive drone warfare.
The coup-installed State Administration Council (SAC) military junta has been dropping reinforcements and supplies into both areas by parachute and helicopter, prolonging the fighting.
The AA has seized more than ten townships in several months of brutal fighting. The state capital, Sittwe, is effectively surrounded, forcing thousands of inhabitants to flee south to Yangon by ship.
The seaport and airport are still functioning, but land routes are reportedly closed. SAC security forces are fortifying the city in anticipation of an imminent AA assault. Recent photos emerging from Sittwe show deserted streets; a longstanding internet blackout frustrates a full picture of the situation inside the city.
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