This frame grab was taken from a video posted on the AA info desk telegram channel on June 25, 2024, in the video records SAC troops looting and burning down the WFP warehouses and village houses in Waisali Village in Maungdaw Township on June 21, 2024. (Photo: AA info desk telegram)
Mizzima
A United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse in Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State was looted and burned down by junta forces.
According to the WFP, the warehouse, which held 1,175 metric tons of life-saving food and supplies – enough emergency food to sustain 64,000 people for one month, was burned down on 22 June 2024.
According to the Arakan Army (AA) the warehouse was burned down on 21 June at about 5:00 pm. The AA also released drone footage of WFP warehouses in Waisali Village, Maungdaw Township being looted as they burned down. People are seen apparently removing bags of cement from the burning warehouse and using them to construct defences in front of a building that the AA said was a junta district office.
The AA claimed that the looting and burning was carried out by the State Administration Council (SAC) and “Muslim Militants”. According to eyewitnesses who spoke to the Rakhine-based media outlet Narinjara, the looters came from the Second Border Guard Police Battalion (Nakhakha 2).
The WFP issued a statement following the burning down of the warehouse. Below is the statement in full:
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) strongly condemns the looting of food supplies and the burning of its warehouse in Maungdaw, in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State last Saturday [22 June].
WFP is providing emergency food support to conflict-affected populations in Myanmar and has assisted almost one million people so far this year. The seizure of food and other goods and the destruction of humanitarian facilities in Maungdaw undermine these efforts and must be stopped.
WFP calls on all parties to the conflict to uphold their obligations under International Humanitarian Law to ensure that humanitarian facilities and assets are respected and protected, and safe and secure access is provided for the delivery of vital assistance to those in urgent need.
WFP staff have been unable to access the Maungdaw warehouse since late May due to increasing conflict in northern Rakhine. The warehouse was holding 1,175 metric tons of life-saving food and supplies – enough emergency food to sustain 64,000 people for one month. WFP continues to gather details of the circumstances surrounding the incident.
