Road Closures, Intensifying Conflict Deepen Livelihood Crisis in Rakhine’s Taungup Mountains

A view of Aungthabyay Village and the Taungup mountain pass in the Arakan mountain range in 2022.

Ongoing armed conflict and a two-year road closure have devastated livelihoods across more than a dozen ethnic Chin villages in the mountain range connecting Rakhine State and Bago Region, residents and community workers said.

The strategic Padaung–Taungup road, a major overland corridor linking mainland Myanmar with Rakhine State, has remained shut since fighting escalated, cutting off local communities from trade with passing travelers and mainland markets.

Before the blockade, residents in about 20 villages along the mountain section in Taungup Township relied on selling seasonal produce, bamboo, and local foodstuffs. Deprived of trade routes, villagers have been forced to rely on subsistence shifting cultivation, bamboo harvesting, and foraging—activities severely disrupted this year by unseasonal heavy rainfall that ruined local crops.

"Since the war broke out and the roads closed, we can no longer sell anything," a local villager told DMG. "This year, heavy rains ruined many crops before they could grow, wiping out our remaining income."

The economic collapse has triggered a cascading crisis in education and healthcare.

With families unable to pay basic school fees, children are increasingly dropping out of school to help parents with manual labor.

Remote mountain geography further isolates villagers from emergency medical care in Taungup town.

The humanitarian strain comes amid continued fighting between Myanmar junta forces and the Arakan Army (AA) in neighboring Padaung Township near the Bago Region border.