The junta-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) has summoned the Arakan National Party (ANP) to explain itself over a statement in which it condemned the regime for fatal shellings of villages in Arakan State.

 

The junta-appointed election body asked ANP officials to come to its office on October 12, said U Tun Aung Kyaw, a member of the ANP’s policy leadership committee.

 

“Our party issued a statement about the consequences of armed conflicts in Arakan State, about how innocent civilians including children and women were killed or injured by the fighting. The UEC told us they wanted to discuss the statement,” he said.

 

In its statement on September 29, the ANP condemned the Myanmar military for artillery attacks that resulted in civilian casualties and damage to dozens of houses.

 

The party urged the warring groups not to make use of residential areas either to take cover from or attack the other side.

 

The statement also called on the Myanmar military to lift its travel ban on local and international nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) providing humanitarian aid to internally displaced people (IDPs) in Arakan State.

 

The regime in the second week of September ordered local and international NGOs to halt humanitarian aid operations in six townships amid rising military tensions in the region. It has also denied residents the ability to travel via roads and waterways in several parts of the state.

 

The ANP statement called the travel ban a threat to the lives of local people living in those areas.

 

Party officials have yet to meet to discuss whether or not to attend the meeting with the UEC.

 

“We issued the statement based on the truth, reports from media and locals. The UEC didn’t clarify which part of the statement they are upset about,” said U Tun Aung Kyaw.

 

Six civilians died and 25 others were injured by junta artillery strikes in August and September amid the renewed fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army, according to a DMG tally.

Nearly 9,000 people have been displaced since the renewed fighting broke out in August, said a September 28 report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).