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Arakan Army controls Rakhine’s border with Bangladesh, Rohingya still victims
After six months, the township of Maungdaw has fallen to the AA, while fighting continues in the south of the state. The ethnic Buddhist militia seems set to establish its own state and many fear that it might take revenge against Rohingya after some were drafted, often forcibly, to fight alongside Myanmar’s regular army.
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Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Arakan Army (AA), the main armed group fighting Myanmar’s military in the western state of Rakhine, has taken control of the border with Bangladesh after seizing the town of Maungdaw on Sunday, an AA spokesperson announced.
After months of fighting, the Arakan Army took over the junta's last stronghold, Border Guard Police Battalion No. 5, giving it full control of northern Rakhine, where a proto-state is already in the making in liberated areas.
The AA joined the fight against Myanmar’s armed forces only in July 2022, more than a year after the February 2021 military coup that set off the civil war.
Like many other ethnic militias in Myanmar, the AA had signed a ceasefire with the junta, which broke down after the army shelled a military base.
In October 2023, the AA went on the offensive with Operation 1027, together with the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), two other historic ethnic resistance groups fighting the junta in the north of the country on the border with China.
Since then, the AA has managed to take almost all of Rakhine, home mostly to Muslim Rohingya, while the group itself is made up of predominantly Buddhist Rakhine (or Arakanese). The group’s name, Arakan, is the historical geographical name of Rakhine State before the central government changed it in 1989.
By taking Maungdaw, the AA now controls all three municipalities bordering Bangladesh: Maungdaw and Buthidaung in Rakhine, and Paletwa, in Chin State, which also borders India.
The only outpost that has not yet been recaptured is the headquarters of the military’s Western military command. Should this also fall, like in Lashio, Shan State, it would be a great blow to the regime.
Fighting is now taking place in the southern part of the state for control of three other townships: Gwa, Taungup and Ann. However, many fear that the AA will take revenge against the Rohingya for fighting alongside the military over the past year.
Despite a proposal to issue an international arrest warrant against the junta leader, General Min Aung Hlaing, the situation on the ground has been completely disrupted by the civil war; what is more the Rohingya have found themselves victimised twice: the first time due to the persecution by the military after 2017, and a second time because of the civil war.
Myanmar’s armed forces (Tatmadaw or Grand Armed Forces), began to draft Rohingya into its ranks, exploiting ethnic and religious enmity with the AA. Hundreds of Rohingya, who later ended up being part of one of the most powerful and brutal groups, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), were conscripted by the military by force.
In the past few months, the AA began to discriminate against Rohingya and deliberately attack civilians (more than a hundred in a single attack in early August). Recently, it confirmed the situation, saying it was fighting against several Rohingya armed groups now aligned with Myanmar’s military, namely the Arakan Rohingya Army (ARA), and the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO), not to mention ARSA.
The British chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, who proposed to issue an arrest warrant for General Min Aung Hlaing, has made no mention of this in his statements, but only focused on the suffering of the Rohingya in overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh.
Living conditions in Rakhine have also been poor in recent months; in November, the United Nations reported that two million people were at risk of famine because of the junta’s ongoing blockade (by land and river) of the state, preventing the shipment of food, fuel, medicine, and humanitarian aid.
To alleviate the situation, the AA could restore trade with Bangladesh, but it is not yet clear whether it can administer the territory it freed from junta control. Until the civil war in Myanmar ends, it is more likely that clashes will continue along ethnic lines.
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18/08/2022 12:36
