Villagers in five villages in Tanintharyi Region’s Palaw Township are unable to go fishing because the junta has banned fuel from being bought into the villages.

The situation has been ongoing for the last 20 days. Now villagers are unable to buy fuel from vendors in the villages and are unable to purchase it from other areas because they are not allowed to bring it back to their villages.

The affected villages are Lakku, MhawKyaung, Mya Daung, Pitat, and Minhtain.

A Lakku villager said: "We are facing hardships as there is no fuel available for our fishing boats. These villages rely on fishing, and the lack of fuel is greatly impacting our livelihoods.”

As they have not been able to take their boats out for 20 days, some of the fishers have had to go find work on other fishing boats in nearby townships.

Another Lakku villager said: “We have completely run out of fuel. As a result, our fishing boats cannot put to sea and go fishing. Also, many of the villagers are scared that if we do attempt to go out to sea, we may be targeted or attacked by the Military Council. We don’t know why they have banned fuel [in our village].”

Lakku Village and Mya Daung Village in Lakku Village tract are the closest villages to the sea and the junta have been blockading them with boats, causing the villagers to fear for their lives and flee.

Many junta soldiers have entered Palaw Township, both by land and sea. Because there are so many soldiers in the area they have frequently clashed with Palaw Township defence forces.