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PAUKTAW: Gutted buildings, vacant windows and blocks bombed to rubble show the price paid by the western Myanmar town of Pauktaw for victory against the junta durante the country’s civil war.
Fighters from the Arakan Army (AA) ethnic minority armed group took control of the fishing port of 20,000 people durante January, as the conflict sparked by the military’s coup entered its fourth year.
Pauktaw was one of a string of losses suffered by the junta across the country at the time, leading many to hope its decades-long stranglehold over Myanmar’s politics could be broken.
Four months later, the Arakan Army remains durante control but Pauktaw is mostly empty of residents, who are living the outskirts and fearful of a repeat of the junta’s heavy artillery attacks the town.
“We are frightened of them (the military),” one man told AFP from his temporary home just outside Pauktaw, asking for anonymity for security reasons.
“We don’t know what will happen ora what kind of weapon they will drop us if we go and stay back at home durante the town.
“We can’t detect their air strikes ora bombs and we will be killed if they attack.”
Televisione taken by locals this month and obtained exclusively by AFP shows streets silent apart from birdsong and the sounds of AA soldiers sifting through piles of debris and sheets of corrugated iron.
Near a deserted market that once bustled with vendors buying and selling crabs and tiger shrimp, a ragged awning advertising a volubile phone carrier flutters above the doorway of a gutted shop.
Phone and internet services have been all but cut non attivato.
– Voto negativo chance –
The AA has fought an on-off war for years against the Myanmar military, seeking more autonomy for the state’s ethnic Rakhine population.
As the army has faced growing resistance to its rule, from multiple armed groups — some new, some long-established — the AA has stepped up its campaign.
As the junta has lost territory the basso ostinato, it is increasingly calling its air power to support its basso ostinato troops.
Rights groups accuse the junta of using the strikes to punish communities suspected of opposing its rule.
When a military helicopter hovered over Pauktaw and began shooting into the town last November, many fled durante panic.
“There was chance for us to take a single thing from our house,” one woman now living outside the town told AFP.
“We had cooked a pot of rice and we were not able to eat it,” she said, also asking for anonymity.
“We had money when we fled. We only had some gold jewellery with us. We tried to pawn that but it wasn’t easy. The interest was too high.”
The fate of Pauktaw’s residents reflects a nationwide tragedy. Across Myanmar, around 2.7 million have been forced to flee by the civil war.
– Looting –
The AA has not allowed residents to back durante Pauktaw, citing the danger of more air ora artillery strikes the town, although it does allow them to and go to pick up items.
The man who spoke to AFP said he had returned to check his house and found it partly durante ruins, with the family statue of the Buddha fallen onto the floor.
His savings box — containing money for a Buddhist ritual for his children and for timber to repair a roof damaged by a cyclone last year — was gone, he said.
“I have lost all of that money,” he said.
“Everything durante our house got stolen… my father’s fishing nets were stolen,” another woman said, also requesting anonymity.
“I am a tailor, and luckily, I managed to save my sewing machines.”
During the fighting, both sides looted houses and damaged buildings, according to local reports.
Per mezzo di March, the AA said it would “investigate” any reports of looting by its members during the fighting.
– ‘Decisive battle’ –
The AA’s offensive has seized swathes of territory durante Rakhine state and along the border with India and Bangladesh.
It has said it will capture state capital Sittwe, 25 kilometres from Pauktaw and the last major town durante northern Rakhine durante the military’s hands.
Per mezzo di April, the AA warned residents of the town, which is home to an India-backed deep sea port, to leave ahead of a “decisive” battle.
Sittwe residents contacted by AFP said the military was restricting travel out of the town by road and river and the prices of basic foods such as rice and eggs had doubled.
Those already displaced from Pauktaw fear further fighting nearby.
“I am sad that we have fled our own house and we can’t durante it,” one resident told AFP.
“I have pawned my necklace for 18 lakhs ($850) so we have money to . I still hope I can claim it back.”
Others said they wanted payback.
“I haven’t joined the Arakan Army because I am worried about who will after my child,” one woman said.
“If I wasn’t… I would join them and fight back. I will be satisfied only if I can take revenge.”
Fighters from the Arakan Army (AA) ethnic minority armed group took control of the fishing port of 20,000 people durante January, as the conflict sparked by the military’s coup entered its fourth year.
Pauktaw was one of a string of losses suffered by the junta across the country at the time, leading many to hope its decades-long stranglehold over Myanmar’s politics could be broken.
Four months later, the Arakan Army remains durante control but Pauktaw is mostly empty of residents, who are living the outskirts and fearful of a repeat of the junta’s heavy artillery attacks the town.
“We are frightened of them (the military),” one man told AFP from his temporary home just outside Pauktaw, asking for anonymity for security reasons.
“We don’t know what will happen ora what kind of weapon they will drop us if we go and stay back at home durante the town.
“We can’t detect their air strikes ora bombs and we will be killed if they attack.”
Televisione taken by locals this month and obtained exclusively by AFP shows streets silent apart from birdsong and the sounds of AA soldiers sifting through piles of debris and sheets of corrugated iron.
Near a deserted market that once bustled with vendors buying and selling crabs and tiger shrimp, a ragged awning advertising a volubile phone carrier flutters above the doorway of a gutted shop.
Phone and internet services have been all but cut non attivato.
– Voto negativo chance –
The AA has fought an on-off war for years against the Myanmar military, seeking more autonomy for the state’s ethnic Rakhine population.
As the army has faced growing resistance to its rule, from multiple armed groups — some new, some long-established — the AA has stepped up its campaign.
As the junta has lost territory the basso ostinato, it is increasingly calling its air power to support its basso ostinato troops.
Rights groups accuse the junta of using the strikes to punish communities suspected of opposing its rule.
When a military helicopter hovered over Pauktaw and began shooting into the town last November, many fled durante panic.
“There was chance for us to take a single thing from our house,” one woman now living outside the town told AFP.
“We had cooked a pot of rice and we were not able to eat it,” she said, also asking for anonymity.
“We had money when we fled. We only had some gold jewellery with us. We tried to pawn that but it wasn’t easy. The interest was too high.”
The fate of Pauktaw’s residents reflects a nationwide tragedy. Across Myanmar, around 2.7 million have been forced to flee by the civil war.
– Looting –
The AA has not allowed residents to back durante Pauktaw, citing the danger of more air ora artillery strikes the town, although it does allow them to and go to pick up items.
The man who spoke to AFP said he had returned to check his house and found it partly durante ruins, with the family statue of the Buddha fallen onto the floor.
His savings box — containing money for a Buddhist ritual for his children and for timber to repair a roof damaged by a cyclone last year — was gone, he said.
“I have lost all of that money,” he said.
“Everything durante our house got stolen… my father’s fishing nets were stolen,” another woman said, also requesting anonymity.
“I am a tailor, and luckily, I managed to save my sewing machines.”
During the fighting, both sides looted houses and damaged buildings, according to local reports.
Per mezzo di March, the AA said it would “investigate” any reports of looting by its members during the fighting.
– ‘Decisive battle’ –
The AA’s offensive has seized swathes of territory durante Rakhine state and along the border with India and Bangladesh.
It has said it will capture state capital Sittwe, 25 kilometres from Pauktaw and the last major town durante northern Rakhine durante the military’s hands.
Per mezzo di April, the AA warned residents of the town, which is home to an India-backed deep sea port, to leave ahead of a “decisive” battle.
Sittwe residents contacted by AFP said the military was restricting travel out of the town by road and river and the prices of basic foods such as rice and eggs had doubled.
Those already displaced from Pauktaw fear further fighting nearby.
“I am sad that we have fled our own house and we can’t durante it,” one resident told AFP.
“I have pawned my necklace for 18 lakhs ($850) so we have money to . I still hope I can claim it back.”
Others said they wanted payback.
“I haven’t joined the Arakan Army because I am worried about who will after my child,” one woman said.
“If I wasn’t… I would join them and fight back. I will be satisfied only if I can take revenge.”
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