MSF suspends medical activities in Myanmar's Rakhine state

The charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has halted medical activities in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state due to an "extreme escalation of conflict" between an ethnic armed group and the military, it said.

MSF was suspending "medical humanitarian activities" in northern Rakhine due to the "extreme escalation of conflict, indiscriminate violence, and severe restrictions on humanitarian access," it said on Thursday.

Clashes have rocked Rakhine state since the Arakan Army attacked security forces in November, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since a military coup in 2021.

Arakan Army fighters have seized swathes of territory, piling further pressure on the junta as it battles opponents elsewhere in the country.

The suspension would affect 14 mobile clinics in the townships of Rathedaung, Buthidaung and Maungdaw, it said.

Fighting had impacted "regular healthcare services" by MSF teams in central and northern Rakhine since November, the charity said, adding that it faced difficulties moving medical and other supplies.

Forcing Rohingya to flee

Many roads and waterways in riverine Rakhine state have been blocked by the military or the Arakan Army, closing options for villagers to flee to safety.

In May, the Arakan Army said it had seized the town of Buthidaung in northern Rakhine, home to many of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority.

Several Rohingya diaspora groups later accused the Arakan Army of forcing Rohingya to flee and then looting and burning their homes.

The Arakan Army has said its fighters are moving in on the nearby town of Maungdaw, on the border with Bangladesh.

The World Food Programme (WFP) condemned on Tuesday the "looting of food supplies" and burning of one of its warehouses near Maungdaw.

The Arakan Army, which says it is fighting for autonomy for the state's ethnic Rakhine population, has vowed to capture the whole of the state.