Maungdaw, Arakan State: The Western Command Commander, Major General Thaung Aye arrived in Maungdaw today at about 8:00 hours, said a Maungdaw officer.

The Commander arrived in Buthidaung Township yesterday at about 17:00 hours and stayed in Buthidaung overnight. Early in the morning he went to Maungdaw to meet all the Burmese border security force (Nasaka)’s sector commanders in Maungdaw, he added.

The commander met the Nasaka’s sector commanders and discussed border security and the erecting of fences. The commander instructed the Nasaka to finish the fencing within December, 2009, he added.

On the other hand, in the Nasaka’s sector number 1 to 6 area, all the army personnel stationed there are working on erecting the fence with local people, said a village authority member from Nasaka sector number 4.

The authorities and the stationed army section are forcing local people along the border areas to work in the fencing paying them only Kyat 400 per day, whereas the local people get 2000 to 3000 Kyat per day as the normal rate, the village authorities said.

When the engineering corps started erecting the fences again on December 8, the authorities forced the village authorities to supply local people to work in the fencing area along the border. Village authorities along the border had supplied 2000 local people daily. They were paid only 400 Kyat per day, said a school teacher from Maungdaw.

Poor people, who are often forced to work daily leave their village and cross the border and enter Bangladesh, said a young Arakanese Rakhine youth who crossed the border.

More Arakanese Rohingya and Arakanese Rakhine leave their village to escape forced labour for erecting the fence along the border, but from yesterday the army personnel have also joined them in the site. The Western Commander will check the fencing area, said the Arakanese Rakhine youth.