Locals face food shortages amid blockades in northern Sagaing Region

Shortages in basic commodities such as rice and fuel have worsened in upper Sagaing Region as both the Myanmar army and anti-junta armed forces have blocked routes into the area since late November, Myanmar Now has learned. The routes in question are located around Paungbyin Township, where the Chindwin River meets roads used to transport goods to Homalin and Hkamti townships, as well as Layshi and Lahe townships in the Naga hills. Paungbyin is located on the eastern shore of the Chindwin, around 30 miles south of the town of Shwe Pyi Aye in Homalin, which was overtaken by resistance forces in late November. Boats carrying food and other supplies were, at the time of reporting, stranded along the Chindwin River in Paungbyin, Shwe Pyi Aye, and Mawlaik. According to a resident of Hkamti, only four such vessels reached his township throughout November and December. “If ships are going to be stranded like this any longer, then locals are not going to last for another three to four months,” he told Myanmar Now on Tuesday. As a result of the shortages, the price of rice has increased more than three-fold, from 3,000 kyat (US$1.43) to 10,000 kyat ($4.76) for just over two kilograms. The cost of an egg has risen from 200 kyat ($0.10) to 1,000 ($0.48), and a litre of petrol from 3,000 kyat to 12,000 ($5.72), he explained. Townships affected by the commodities shortages in upper Sagaing (Myanmar Now) The anti-junta People’s Defence Force, which fights under the publicly mandated National Unity Government, has reportedly blockaded ground and water routes around Paungbyin, while the military has set up checkpoints to search anyone passing through the township’s entrances and exits. While it was announced last week that roads around Paungbyin had reopened, locals said that only small numbers of trucks had been allowed to pass through. A Hkamti local who works to transport commodities through the region, said that most trucks from the major cities of Monywa, also in Sagaing, and Mandalay, were unable to proceed into or out of the area in question, due to the blockades around Paungbyin. He noted that huge amounts of perishable goods, such as eggs, had spoiled as the three-day drive from Monywa to Hkamti had turned into a months-long journey. “On some days, the roads are blocked because battles are brewing, and sometimes, it’s because the military is conducting airstrikes and firing heavy artillery shells,” the man said. “We just want the roads to be open on days when there are no battles, but they are blocked even on days when there is no fighting. It’s only going to get worse if this continues.” A source working in commodities distribution from Mandalay explained that bringing goods to northern Sagaing had been accompanied by great risk since Myanmar’s military coup in February 2021, when fighting overtook the region. “We have faced so many losses. There are delays, and we have to flee in panic when [the military] conducts airstrikes,” he said, emphasising that “several” drivers he worked with had been killed in battles and aerial attacks, and that some had caught malaria en route and were unable to access healthcare. A junta warship is seen on the Chindwin River in upper Sagaing Region in August 2023 (Confluence Area News) The source claimed that goods from Mandalay, which range from food to building supplies to motorcycle parts, are typically “taxed” by the junta and the Shanni Nationalities Army—a militia with ties to the military which is active in the region—as well as to local resistance forces. He estimated that the total fees paid by one truck during the journey from the central Myanmar city to upper Sagaing could range from 13 to 15 million kyat ($6,192 to $7,145). Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify these figures. “We feel guilty all the time, as if we were doing something illegal, when we are simply just struggling to put food on the table,” the man said. Attacks on junta targets escalated nationwide after the Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed organisations—the Arakan Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army—launched an offensive against the military called Operation 1027 in October, focussing largely on driving the regime out of northern Shan State. In Sagaing, resistance forces have since been able to seize the towns of Kawlin, a district seat; Khampet, near the Indian border; and Shwe Pyi Aye, strategically important due to its location also near Myanmar’s border with India. A number of trade routes have also come under the control of resistance groups and ethnic armed organisations, including those along the Chinese border in northern Shan State and the Indian border in Chin State and Sagaing.

Locals face food shortages amid blockades in northern Sagaing Region

With ships carrying rice and fuel stranded on the Chindwin River and trucks stopped outside Paungbyin, residents of neighbouring townships including Homalin and Hkamti may ‘not last another three to four months,’ sources say

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