Arakan Army attacks junta naval base near Chinese investment projects

The Arakan Army (AA) launched an attack on a major junta naval base in southern Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu Township on Monday morning, located near pipelines built to transport fuel to China as well as the site of a recently renegotiated special economic zone (SEZ) backed by the country. The Danyawaddy base is in Thit Poke Taung village, three miles outside of the coastal town of Kyaukphyu and five miles from its port. Ships regularly traverse the area, where an SEZ is being developed by the junta with the Chinese state-owned CITIC Group, and where offshore oil and gas is exported through central Myanmar to its northern neighbour. Kyaukphyu residents said that they heard “an exchange of fire” and explosions after the AA reportedly launched a rocket at the Danywaddy base at 6am on Monday. Roads to the area were subsequently blocked, they said, and warships were on standby. The Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed organisations—of which the AA is a member, alongside the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army—declared on Monday night that they had launched their first strike against the navy base. Many of the previous areas of fighting and the AA’s earlier junta targets have been around the upper Kaladan River near Indian investment interests, such as the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transport Project. The nearly US$500 million initiative would link ports in Kolkata and Sittwe, Rakhine State, as well as a Kaladan River route from Sittwe to the Chin State town of Paletwa, and, finally, new roads to the Indian border. Junta propaganda channels on Telegram confirmed that the AA had targeted the Kyaukphyu site and that the navy had retaliated, but also described the township as free from conflict. However, on December 23, a clash broke out between the AA and military between the Kyaukphyu Township town of Sa Nay and the village Ah Wa Taung village; junta soldiers also reportedly triggered explosives near the Danwawaddy base one day earlier. The junta recently bolstered its forces in the town of Ramree, south of Kyaukphyu, where recent battles with the AA were reported from Sunday evening until Monday, and during which the military deployed weapons fire from both aircraft and navy ships, causing multiple houses in Ramree to burn down. Fighting has been occurring in the town since mid-December. Despite the fighting in the vicinity of the Kyaukphyu SEZ, the military council announced on December 26 that it had signed an updated contract with China’s CITIC Group.

Arakan Army attacks junta naval base near Chinese investment projects

The site is in the same area as the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone and the starting point of oil and gas pipelines running across Myanmar to China

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