The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) on Tuesday strongly condemned the looting of food supplies and burning of its warehouse in Maungdaw in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State.
The WFP warehouse near Waisali village in Maungdaw was reportedly looted and set on fire by junta soldiers last Friday.
Citing eyewitnesses, Rakhine-based media outlet Narinjara reported that regime personnel from the Second Border Guard Police Battalion (Nakhakha 2) looted most of the rice before torching the WFP warehouse and village while retreating from an attack by the Arakan Army (AA).
The warehouse was holding 1,175 tonnes of lifesaving food and supplies – enough to sustain 64,000 people for one month, the WFP said on Tuesday.
Declining to identify the perpetrators, the UN body stated that the seizure of food and destruction of humanitarian facilities in Maungdaw undermined its efforts to support conflict-affected populations in Myanmar and must stop.
It called on the warring parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law to ensure that humanitarian facilities are respected and protected, and safe access is provided for the delivery of vital assistance to those in urgent need.
WFP staff have been unable to access the Maungdaw warehouse since late May due to intensifying conflict in northern Rakhine but say they are gathering evidence on the incident.
The AA on Tuesday issued aerial video footage of junta troops appearing to remove sacks from the WFP warehouse, preparing a defensive barricade at the district office, and burning down the warehouse.
The AA launched a large-scale attack on Maungdaw town on the Bangladesh border in late May after capturing neighboring Buthidaung town. The armed ethnic group has since swept through Maungdaw Township, seizing nearly all of its junta positions as of this month.
On June 17, it urged all residents to leave Maungdaw town as it attacked its last remaining junta bases.
