Traders hope that the Ahngumaw to Maungdaw highway in Rakhine State will be opened, following the recent ceasefire agreement between the junta and the Arakan Army (AA).

Trade from Bangladesh coming into Myanmar at Maungdaw has been suspended for three months following the closure of the road because of fighting.

The junta closed the highway on 13 August after skirmishes on the highway near Cheinkyarli Village. It also banned villagers from villages on the highway travelling to other villages on the highway.

A trader said: “People lose their livelihoods when there is no trade.”

When the Ahngumaw to Maungdaw highway is shut, goods from Rakhine State and other parts of Myanmar cannot get to the border trading post in Maungdaw.

The closing of the road meant that traders had to suspend their business and incurred huge losses. Other workers who also rely on the border trade for their livelihoods had no work and as a consequence suffered because they were not earning enough.

According to rumours circulating the Ahngumaw to Maungdaw highway will be re-opened on 30 November, but a trader based in Maungdaw said that he had received no official notification from the relevant authorities saying that the highway would re-open.