AB News – June 22, 2024

Local sources informed AB News that military junta troops breached and looted the World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in Maungdaw on June 21, taking all the stored food supplies and setting the warehouse on fire.

Security sources, who requested anonymity, reported that the military junta broke into the WFP storage facility at Three Mile, Thasi, in Maungdaw, took all the supplies, and set the buildings ablaze.

It was also learned that alongside the junta troops, armed Muslim Militants, who were equipped by the junta, participated in the looting and arson of the WFP warehouse. ARSA and Muslim Militants are largely collaborating with SAC in Maungdaw and prohibiting the residents to move out of the town.

“Maungdaw is currently a conflict-ridden area with a diverse population. When supplies run out, people will rely on resources from WFP. The military junta has deliberately created hardship for the people by targeting these supplies. Such actions are unworthy of a group claiming to be a national government,” one local resident said.

Additionally, on April 15, the junta set fire to the WFP warehouse and the MSF medical warehouse in Buthidaung.

The military junta has obstructed humanitarian aid in Rakhine State by various means and continues to destroy essential UN offices, which contain vital medicines and food supplies for the local population during the ongoing conflict.