There are widespread allegations that most of over 400 tons of rice, medicines and aid materials sent to people in need in Sittwe City, the capital of Arakan (Rakhine) State, was given to junta soldiers instead.
On 2 August 404.75 tons of supplies, including 7,897 bags of rice weighing 24 pyi (about 44 kg) each, were sent by sea to Sittwe City to help recovery efforts in Arakan State, according to reports in junta newspapers the following day.
Though the junta has claimed to be sending aid in the form of rice, fuel, food products, and medicines from Yangon to Sittwe, most of the aid has gone to junta battalions in the area, with hardly any of it reaching the local population.
A Sittwe City resident said: "The coup generals themselves are the main culprits of the dire food shortages in the region. Now, they have hypocritically announced that they provided food for the people. The real question is, where does the food go if it doesn't reach the public?”
After Cyclone Mocha hit the west coast of Myanmar on 14 May 2023, the junta sent some aid for affected people in Arakan State. But, since fighting started in Arakan State on 13 November 2023 there have been far fewer aid deliveries to the area.
The junta has lost control of over nine townships in Arakan State and faced a series of setbacks since then, due to a relentless offensive by the Arakan Army (AA).
A woman living in Sittwe said to DMG: “The junta has frequently announced that aid has been delivered from Yangon to Sittwe. However, shortages of food and other goods remain severe, and commodity prices continue to skyrocket in Sittwe. The lack of jobs is dire, and many families are facing livelihood crises. I urge the relevant authorities to sell the delivered supplies at affordable prices, if they were indeed intended for the people.”
The AA announced that junta bases and administrative offices in Sittwe City, including the office of the junta-appointed Arakan State Chief Minister, have been encircled and are under siege as the junta desperately attempts to ramp up its defences across the city.
Measures taken by the junta to help them hold the city include forcibly relocating residents from nearby villages and the outskirts of Sittwe City into the urban areas, deploying troops in these now-vacant villages, and laying numerous landmines around the city. The junta has also been shelling AA positions around the city on an almost daily basis, according to locals.
