"Amid fighting between Myanmar and Arakan Army (AA) forces in northern Rakhine state, the global humanitarian organization International Rescue Committee (IRC) said it has decided to end its food program in the state on account of the government’s restrictions on staff movements. On Jan. 6, the IRC ended its Tat Lan program that provided sustainable food security and improved nutrition and livelihoods to villages in Rakhine’s Myebon, Pauktaw, Kyaukphyu, and Minbya townships. An announcement by the organization said the program ran for more than five years and had provided livelihood and food security to more than 56,000 people, but that the Rakhine state government instructed it to cease operations in 2018. IRC staffers were denied travel permission because they were recruiting journalists, said Win Myint, Rakhine minister of municipal affairs. “They were recruiting the journalists, [and] we didn’t know what their intention was,” he said. “This was something inappropriate. These activities were not include in a memorandum of understanding. That’s why, we stopped the operations.”..."