The foreign affairs ministry of the United Kingdom (UK) broadened its advisory about unsafe areas for travellers in Myanmar this week as an anti-junta offensive expanded into Ayeyarwady Region.
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) maintains a list on its website of places in Myanmar where it advises against “all but essential travel.”
An update to the site added seven townships in Ayeyarwady Region to the list on Wednesday: Kyangin, Myanaung, Ingapu, Lemyethna, Yegyi, Thabaung, and Pathein. All except Pathein—Ayeyarwady Region’s largest town and administrative centre—share borders with Rakhine State.
While the FDCO did not give reasons, its decision to broaden the advisory was likely based on recent movements by the powerful ethnic armed organisation Arakan Army (AA), which has captured most of Rakhine State’s territory from the Myanmar military in a long-term offensive first launched in November. . .
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