As fighting spreads, UK warns citizens against travel to parts of Ayeyarwady Region

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 2023. The AA advanced over the Rakhine State boundary into Ayeyarwady Region after taking over most of Rakhine State’s southernmost township, Gwa, in December 2024.When AA captured a coastal village near Shwethaungyan in Ayeyarwady Region’s Pathein Township last week, junta forces responded with heavy artillery shelling and devastating aerial attacks on the village. The same travel advisory page warns against all but essential travel to southern and eastern Shan State, Mandalay and parts of Mandalay Region south of the city, and Tanintharyi Region south of Tanintharyi Township. Map showing parts of Myanmar where the British government advises against all travel and “all but essential” travel (FDCO) Most Western counties have blanket advisories against going to Myanmar, including the governments of Australia, Canada, and the United States, as well as Spain, Ireland, and other members of the European Union. Along with the UK, all of these countries abide by targeted sanctions against businesses and entities in Myanmar, introduced in response to the military coup of 2021 and subsequent human rights abuses by the ruling junta. The British foreign office also advises against any travel at all to areas heavily impacted by fighting, including northern Shan State, the other six states, Sagaing and Magway Regions, northern Mandalay Region, and parts of eastern Bago Region. The British government has not yet advised against travel to Naypyitaw, Yangon or most of Ayeyarwady Region, which remain largely under junta control with minimal risk of attack by anti-junta forces.

As fighting spreads, UK warns citizens against travel to parts of Ayeyarwady Region

The British foreign office’s website added seven townships in Ayeyarwady Region to a list of places where it advises against “all but essential” travel in Myanmar

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