Asia

The Arakan Army controls the border with Bangladesh and the Rohingya are victims again

After six months of fighting, the municipality of Maungdaw was conquered and now the fighting continues in the southern territories. The ethnic Buddhist militia appears poised to create its own state and many fear it will decide to take revenge on Rohingya groups who have fought alongside the Burmese army in recent months, often forced by force.

Yangon (/Agencies) – The Arakan Army, the main ethnic militia fighting against the coup army in the western Burmese state of Rakhine, has taken the border control with Bangladeshafter conquering the municipality of Maungdaw in recent days. This was announced by the spokesmen of the militias: after months of fighting, the Arakan Army took possession on Sunday of the last stronghold of the Junta, the number five battalion of the border police, and in this way can also control the northern area of Rakhine, where the creation of a proto-State in the areas liberated from the Burmese regime has already been launched.

The Arakan Army only began participating in the civil war against the Burmese army in July 2022, more than a year after the February 2021 military coup that sparked the conflict. Like many ethnic militias in Myanmar, it had signed a ceasefire with the junta, which was annulled when the Tatmadaw (the Burmese army) bombed a military base. In October last year it launched an offensive, Operation 1027, together with the MNDAA and the TNLA, two other historical Myanmar ethnic militias engaged in the fight against the Military Junta in the north of the country, on the border with China.

Since then, the Arakan Army has managed to reconquer almost all of the Rakhine territory, inhabited mainly by the Rohingya population of Muslim religion, while the Arakan Army is made up of predominantly Buddhist Rakhine (or Arakanese) ethnic fighters. The militia’s same name, Arakan, was used to describe the Rakhine region before the Burmese government changed its name in 1989.

With the conquest of Maungdaw, the Arakan Army now controls the three municipalities that border 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 regime’s Western Military Command, a defeat that, like that of Lashio in Shan State, would be extremely serious for the army. Fighting now continues in the southern part of the State for control of three other municipalities: Gwa, Taungup and Ann.

However, many fear that the Arakan Army takes revenge on the Rohingya population, who have fought alongside the Burmese army in the last year of the war. Despite the proposal to issue an international arrest warrant against the head of the Burmese junta, General Min Aung Hlaing, the situation on the ground has been completely disrupted by the civil conflict, and the Rohingya have ended up being doubly victims: the first time due to the army’s persecution since 2017, and the second time due to the civil war.

Indeed, in the last year the Tatmadaw has begun to recruit the Rohingya into its ranks, exploiting the ethnic and religious conflict with the Arakan Army. Hundreds of Rohingya, who later ended up being part of one of the most powerful and brutalthe Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), were also recruited by the Burmese army even by force.

The Arakan Army, which in recent months had deliberately discriminated against and attacked Rohingya civilians (more than 100 in one attack in early August), confirmed the situation a few days ago, stating that it was fighting a series of Rohingya militias now allied with the Burmese army: Along with the ARSA, there are also the Arakan Rohingya Army (ARA) and the Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO). The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the British Karim Khan, proposed issuing an arrest warrant against Min Aung Hlaing but has not mentioned this situation in his statements, instead focusing solely on the suffering of the Rohingya in the overcrowded camps. of refugees from Bangladesh.

Living conditions in Rakhine have also been dramatic for months. In November the United Nations announced that two million people were at risk of famine because the military junta has closed access (by land and river) to the Rakhine, preventing the delivery of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid. To alleviate the situation, the Arakan Army could restore trade with Bangladesh, but it is still not clear whether it will really be able to administer the territories liberated from the military junta. Until the civil conflict in Myanmar ends, clashes stemming from ethnic tensions are much more likely to continue.



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