Tents, food and medicine are needed by several thousand Kyaukphyu Township residents in Rakhine State who have been displaced as the Arakan Army (AA) advances on the important port town.
Over 40,000 residents from over 40 villages have been displaced amid naval shelling and regime drone strikes, according to volunteer groups.
Two charities are helping displaced civilians along with the administration of the United League of Arakan, the political wing of the AA, according to residents.
No international humanitarian aid has apparently reached Kyaukphyu.
A Ranmar Myay Aid group representative told The Irrawaddy: “People are struggling with health issues. Some elderly people can’t get the medicine they need. Women’s sanitary products aren’t available.”
The aid group said shelters were needed as the rainy season sets in, adding that many people had lost all their belongings, largely in junta naval shelling and drone strikes.
An AA source said the armed group was targeting junta outposts defending Police Battalion 32 under 5km from Kyaukphyu.
The armed group has seized junta positions along roads from Kyaukphyu to the Danyawaddy naval base and Made Island, where China is building a major port to gain access to the Indian Ocean. The Chinese oil and gas pipelines connecting Yunnan province with the Indian Ocean also start in Kyaukphyu.
The AA has seized 14 out of 17 Rakhine State townships and Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State, controlling the entire border with Bangladesh and a border section with India since November 2023.
It has seized southern areas of Kyaukphyu Township while attempting to seize the Rakhine capital, Sittwe.
Along with allied groups, the AA has expanded operations into Magwe, Bago and Ayeyarwady regions, seizing several regime bases.
