Maungdaw, Arakan State: At about 10 am this morning, a group of soldiers arrived in Naing Chaung village of Maungdaw Township and forcibly captured around 100 Rohingya workers, while they were building a road at the site of the World Food Program (WFP) project, a trader from the locality said.
The workers get 3 kgs of rice per day from WFP, when they work for road construction. The project was started recently on the initiative of WFP members. So, the poor local villagers get work in this project and are able to support their families.
This morning, at about 10:00am, when the workers were working on the road, a group of army personnel went to the spot and the workers were taken into the forest forcibly, as laborers to bring wood posts (pillars) for construction of army camps.
A village elder, on condition of anonymity said, “It is an insult to the WFP members, because the army has the power to take laborers from other places. If the army orders the village committee members, to provide some laborers, they will send workers within a very short time.”
Therefore, the workers will not get any support from the WFP today and they will not be able to support their families.
Normally, in Maungdaw Township, there are no military personnel. If there is any emergency in Maungdaw Township, the army will be deployed. But, recently, the Burmese government has taken an initiative of fencing the Burma-Bangladesh border with barbed wire. Therefore, the Burmese government has reinforced the army in border areas for security reasons and for the fencing.
Forced labor, however, is on the rise in Maungdaw Township. In Aley Tan Kyaw village tract of Maungdaw South, villages have to provide 300 villagers daily to Burma’s border security force (Nasaka). Villagers in Maungdaw Township are apprehensive of more forced labor in future, a businessman from Maungdaw Town said.
Besides, on March 17, about 150 army personnel arrived at Taungbro (Right) Deboniya of Maungdaw Township, for the security of the Burma-Bangladesh barbed wire fence.
