Myanmar’s regime has been fencing off the riverfront area of Rakhine State’s capital of Sittwe, according to residents.
A resident said the regime has been erecting concrete posts to make a barbed wire fence along a 5km road that runs parallel to the Kaladan River.
“The junta has been erecting concrete posts along Kan Nar Street. We don’t know why. We guess it’s to defend against the Arakan Army,” he told The Irrawaddy.
The fence is being erected where the city is open to the river, he said.
The regime has blockaded Sittwe, the seat of the junta’s Rakhine administration since the fighting broke out in November last year. The regime has mined the waters around the city, according to residents.
The AA has taken control of most of northern Rakhine as well as neighboring Paletwa Township in Chin State.
Many residents have left Sittwe following clashes elsewhere in the state. Some cannot afford to pay travel costs to leave and others are prevented from leaving by the junta’s blockade.
A Mingan ward resident said Sittwe residents live in fear as junta troops have been arresting people at night.
“A few days ago, they raided Kandawgyi ward twice in a single night to arrest people. People can’t sleep. They have blockaded the city and we can’t flee,” he said.
Junta troops have been building bunkers and brick walls day and night across the cantonment in Sittwe, said residents.
Previously, the regime allowed air travel although it banned road and water transport out of Sittwe.
Earlier this month the regime reportedly also banned its employees from leaving Sittwe by air.
A junta employee, who asked for anonymity, said: “The military lately does not allow civil servants to leave. They have tightened checks at the airport. They check ID cards and if your occupation is registered as a civil servant, you are turned back. We are like illegal citizens.”
