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Some two-thirds of residents of a beach resort town in Myanmar’s heartland have fled their homes amid fighting between junta troops and ethnic Rakhine rebels, sources in the region told RFA Burmese on Wednesday.
Until now, the Arakan Army, or AA, has been fighting junta troops in Rakhine state, in Myanmar’s west, where it controls nearly all townships, and other states and regions on the country’s periphery.
Now the emboldened rebel army is moving beyond its traditional territory.
The fighting near Chaung Thar, a popular beach destination in Ayeyarwady region’s Pathein township, is the latest sign that the junta is losing ground as the civil war grinds toward its fourth full year following its February 2021 coup d’etat.
Normally home to around 6,000 households, only about 2,000 remain in Chaung Thar, according to a resident, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
“Residents of Chaung Thar are fleeing in fear of the fighting,” he said. “Wealthy individuals have closed their grocery stores and hotels before leaving. Approximately two-thirds of the town’s residents have already fled.”
Those who fled the town are taking shelter in the cities of Pathein and Yangon, while residents of nearby Shwe Thaung Yan, Baw Mi and Ma Gyi Zin villages have fled to Thabaung town, residents said.
Many of those who have not left Chaung Thar stayed because they lack the money needed to relocate, they said.
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While gunfire was heard near the town in recent days, the situation has been calm since Tuesday, residents reported.
A hotel staff member told RFA that some hotels on the town’s beachfront remain open, despite the fighting.
The junta has yet to issue any statement on fighting in the area and attempts by RFA to contact Khin Maung Kyi, the junta’s Ayeyarwady region spokesperson and social affairs minister, for comment went unanswered Wednesday.
The fighting near Chaung Thar comes two weeks after the AA and allied forces captured Pathein’s Ma Gyi Zin village, on the border on Rakhine state, on Jan. 9. Residents told RFA that fighting has since intensified in nearby Baw Mi and other villages.
Since early January, the AA, which controls nearly all townships in Rakhine state, has been attacking military bases in the bordering regions of Ayeyarwady, Bago and Magway, according to residents.
On Dec. 29, AA insurgents captured the west coast town of Gwa from the military, a major step toward their goal of taking the whole of Rakhine state, and then said they were ready for talks with the junta.
However, nearly a week later, the military had carried out at least six airstrikes since the proposal in the AA-controlled townships of Ponnagyun, Ann, Gwa and Myebon, killing 10 civilians and injuring more than a dozen others, residents told RFA Burmese.
On Monday, the AA said in a statement that fighting is ongoing in some areas along the Rakhine-Ayeyarwady border, as well as in Chin Su village, in Ayeyarwady’s Yegyi township.
Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.