Arakan Army Soldiers Stop Boats, Seize Rice in Myanmar’s Chin State

*A Sapar Htar villager injured by mortar fire is brought to Minbya Hospital in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, June 3, 2019*~ *Photo provided by U Than Tun*

Arakan Army soldiers halted river traffic in Myanmar’s Chin state on Monday, seizing over 70 sacks of rice being taken upstream to villagers suffering from food shortages, a state official told RFA’s Myanmar Service on Tuesday.

An AA spokesperson meanwhile denied the accusation, saying that the rice taken from the boats was intended for Myanmar government troops and was therefore subject to confiscation.

The 77 bags of rice were taken by force from two passenger boats traveling past Kyee Lae village on the Kaladan River near Paletwa township, Chin state municipal minister Soe Htet told RFA.

“The AA stopped all passenger boats and motorized sampans on the Kaladan River, and two of these boats traveling upstream were carrying rice, with one boat carrying seven bags and the other boat carrying 70,” Soe Htet said.

“These bags of rice were being taken to local citizens living upstream, as there has been a scarcity of food in the region,” he said, adding that after seizing the rice, AA soldiers had forced the boats’ passengers to carry the bags away.

Also speaking to RFA, AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha said that AA troops had stopped the boats for security reasons based on information his forces had acquired, and that the confiscated rice belonged to Myanmar’s military, with which the AA is in active conflict.

“We have learned that that the Burmese military is using civilian vessels as cover to transport materials to support their offensives, and that they are especially using passenger boats to carry their food supplies,” Khaing Thukha said.

“If we found upon inspection that these commodities belonged to the Burmese military, we would have confiscated them,” he said.

Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun, a spokesperson for the Myanmar military, meanwhile denied that the seized bags of rice had belonged to government forces.

“We have our own system for transporting food supplies for our troops, and our guards always accompany the transports,” Zaw Min Tun said, adding that the Myanmar military never sends supplies on civilian boats without guards.