Myanmar’s junta plans to use residents expelled from around a dozen villages as human shields to defend the Rakhine State capital Sittwe, which the ethnic Arakan Army (AA) has surrounded and is poised to seize, local residents said.
The All Arakan Students’ and Youths’ Congress (AASYC) said in a statement on Tuesday that all residents of more than 12 villages to the north of Sittwe had been ordered to demolish their homes and leave their villages within five days starting Monday.
With all entrances to and exits from Sittwe Township blocked, the evicted civilians have been ordered to relocate to Sittwe town, half of whose population has already fled their homes since February.
Residents and military analysts said the regime’s military is using the evictees as human shields as part of its efforts to fortify Sittwe.
Thousands of evicted villagers have moved to the capital by foot since Sunday and local rescue organizations are helping them find shelter, a Sittwe resident told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
“The regime’s military wants to lock up all the people in the town as hostages in order to deter an AA attack,’’ he said.
Regime forces are also planning to take up positions in some of the villages it has emptied, the Sittwe source said.
Junta troops blew up two major road bridges in Sittwe and Kyauktaw townships on routes leading to the capital in February when the AA intensified its offensive targeting towns in Rakhine.
The ethnic rebel army has taken control of almost all of northern Rakhine State, seizing several townships including those surrounding Sittwe.
After seizing many military bases, the AA is close to seizing the whole of Maungdaw Township next to Sittwe.
If Maungdaw falls, Sittwe will be the AA’s next target—and its last remaining objective in northern Rakhine State, a military analyst who closely monitors the fighting in Rakhine told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
AA forces can only approach the capital by water, as Sittwe is surrounded by the sea and the only major road bridge at the entrance to the capital was destroyed by the junta months ago.
“The junta is afraid that AA troops will approach Sittwe via waterways through the villages outside the town. That’s why it is planning to demolish those villages,” the military analyst said.
He agreed with the view that by moving the expelled villagers into the town, the junta is planning to defend Sittwe by using them as human shields.
In February, the ethnic rebel army told the regime’s Sittwe Military Command to surrender or face defeat. Since the warning, more than half of the town’s population, including junta officials, have left the town.
In early April, AA chief Tun Myat Naing urged people trapped in Sittwe Township to evacuate to areas the rebel army had taken control of, as it was planning an offensive to take the capital.
The AA launched a large-scale offensive on Nov. 13 last year. Since then it has seized 10 of Rakhine State’s 17 townships and Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State.
It has also been attempting to seize Thandwe town and the nearby tourist destination of Ngapali Beach in southern Rakhine State.
