On Sept. 16, about two months after intensified armed clashes resumed in Myanmar between the state military and the Arakan Army in Rakhine and southern Chin States, the military regime blocked the United Nations and international humanitarian organizations from accessing six townships, despite severe humanitarian need.
Two weeks later, the junta further restricted the supply of medicine from Yangon to Rakhine State while at the same time arresting at least two medical doctors.
The Arakan Army is an ethnic revolutionary organization fighting for the self-determination of the people of Rakhine, which claims to have 30,000 troops under its control.