Arakan Army’s gains enough to enable self-rule in Myanmar’s Rakhine state

RFA
A commentary by Zachary Abuza
2024.04.06 

Their strength will impact future negotiations over establishing a federal democracy and questions of citizenship. 

The Arakan Army, or AA, is continuing their sweep across Rakhine, furthering the military gains of the ethnic Three Brotherhood Alliance, of which it is a member, in Shan state. While the capture of nine towns, with a tenth in southern Chin state, is another humiliating defeat for the Burmese military, it also sets the scene for a very messy political discussion moving forward.

Arakan Army captures two junta battalions in Rakhine state

Benar News
RFA Burmese
2024.02.08

The Arakan Army displays weapons seized after the capture of the Myanmar army’s Light Infantry Battalion 379 in Minbya township, Jan. 30, 2024.AA Info Desk

Arakan Army insurgents have captured two key military units in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, giving the group effective control of Minbya township and putting it in a position to challenge junta control of the state capital Sittwe, according to an ethnic rebel alliance and regional sources.

Arakan Army seizes two Myanmar junta bases

daily observer
Published : Tuesday, 6 February, 2024 

The Arakan Army (AA) claims to have seized two Myanmar junta battalion headquarters in Mrauk U and Kyauktaw townships, Rakhine State, according to a news published in The Irrawaddy on Tuesday (February 6).

264 Myanmar border, security force members now in Bangladesh: BGB

Dhaka Tribune
Tribune Desk
Publish : 06 Feb 2024,

Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) members are seen talking to Border Guard Bangladesh members in Bangladesh after seeking refuge due to an attack by rebels on February 4, 2024. Photo: Dhaka Tribune

 

A total of 264 members of Myanmar's border and security forces are now taking shelter in Bangladesh amid clashes between the Myanmar military and the armed rebel group, Arakan Army, Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB) has said.

Arakan Army fighters claim control of key city in northwestern Myanmar

Al Jazeera
16 Jan 2024

Lying along the Kaladar River in Chin State, Paletwa is a strategically important city on a major trade route. 

 

The AA, led by Tun Myat Naing, has been fighting the military for years [File: Reuters]

 

The Arakan Army (AA), an armed ethnic group fighting as part of an alliance against the Myanmar military, has claimed control of a key western town near the border with India and Bangladesh.

Situation Update: Arakan Army Attacks SAC in Northern Rakhine and Paletwa

Rohingya Muslims stuck between Myanmar’s military junta, rebel Arakan Army

AA
Halil Ibrahim Medet
ISTANBUL
28.11.2022

Effect of military coup in country led to even more pressure on Rohingya after decades of oppression, says Arakanese activist

File Photo - A Rohingya Muslim man, fled from oppression within ongoing military operations in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, recites Adhan (call to prayer) as they take shelter at a makeshift camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh on September 24, 2017

After suffering decades of oppression, Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar are now caught between two fires from the country’s repressive military junta and the rebel Buddhist Arakan Army, according to local Arakanese activists.

The UN and other international human rights organizations have called the violence against the country’s Rohingya “ethnic cleansing” or “genocide,” saying the Muslim group is “the most persecuted minority in the world.”

 

Arakan Army Seeks to Build ‘Inclusive’ Administration in Rakhine State

THE I DIPLOMAT
Kyaw Hsan Hlaing
August 31, 2021

The armed group’s decision to include Muslim Rohingya representatives in local administration marks a sharp break with a succession of central governments.

Seven months since the military coup in Myanmar, the political wing of the rebel Arakan Army (AA) has significantly expanded its administrative and judicial mechanisms across Rakhine State in western Myanmar, with hundreds of its personnel now effectively administering the region independently of the military junta that rules in Naypyidaw. The group is also attempting to involve the state’s entire population, including the Rohingya Muslims, in the governance of what it hopes will become an autonomous Rakhine State.

On April 11, 2020, the 11th anniversary of the formation of the AA, Gen. Maj. Twan Mrat Naing, the army’s commander-in-chief, outlined the concept of the “way of Rakhita,” which he described as “the struggle for national liberation and the restoration of Arakan’s sovereignty to the people of Arakan.” This refers to the restoration of the independent Arakan kingdom that ruled significant parts of western Myanmar until 1824, when it was conquered by the Burmese kingdom based in Mandalay.

The Arakan Army, Myanmar Military Coup and Politics of Arakan

tni
Authors: Kyaw Lynn
Programmes:Myanmar in Focus

A Myanmar Commentary by Kyaw Lynn

In the aftermath of the November general election the intense fighting between the national armed forces (Tatmadaw) and the Arakan Army came to an unexpected halt. Since the February coup of the State Administration Council, the situation has remained delicately poised. Political sentiment is very high. But Rakhine nationalism is presently on a different cycle to political movements in other parts of the country. In this commentary Kyaw Lynn outlines why the coming months will remain a time of high tension and uncertainty in Arakan politics.

Arakan Army troops in forest training / Photo credit JG

When political analysts in Myanmar and beyond discuss the role of ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) in the struggle against the military coup in February, the Arakan Army (AA) becomes one of the key political forces in shaping their dialogue and perceptions. The AA, the military wing of the United League of Army (ULA), is the only armed group that can challenge the power of the national armed forces (Tatmadaw) on Myanmar’s western frontiers. This became especially evident during the 2018-20 period when the ULA-AA demonstrated its sharp resistance against the power of the centralised Myanmar state. Behind the ULA rise, there were three key features: popular support among the Rakhine population, well-trained soldiers, and a younger leadership that read the evolving mood and political situation in the country perceptively well.

Rakhine's Arakan Army joins other minorities in condemning junta

Dhaka Tribune
REUTERS
March 23rd, 2021

The group condemned the current actions by the Burmese Army and police calling it 'cruel' and 'unacceptable' 

The Arakan Army (AA), a major ethnic militia in Myanmar’s restive Rakhine state, on Tuesday joined other ethnic groups in condemning last month’s military coup and the ensuing violent crackdown on protesters.

While several other armed groups fighting long-running wars in Myanmar's borderlands have signalled their support for pro-democracy protests, the AA, which had agreed a ceasefire with the government ousted on February 1, had not commented publicly.

Myanmar Military, Arakan Army Confirm Indirect Talks as Some Refugees Head Home

Radio Free Asia
2020-11-30

Residents, who fled from conflict between the Myanmar army and the Arakan Army (AA), arrive at a temporary refugee camp at a monastery in Sittwe, Rakhine State, June 29, 2020.
 AFP

Myanmar’s military and the rebel Arakan Army are holding indirect talks through mediators to try to build on a three-week lull in fighting in Rakhine state since elections, spokesmen for the warring sides told RFA.

While contacts through a third party attempt to put an end to a two-year-long war between rebel troops and government forces has killed more than 300 civilians and displaced about 226,000 others, some war refugees have already to villages, in the face of landmines and other unexploded ordnance.

Leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her ruling National League for Democracy won a second five-year mandate in Nov. 8 general elections that were followed by an NLD outreach to ethnic-based political parties, gestures toward peace talks from the country’s powerful military, and three weeks without fighting in Rakhine state.

Myanmar citizens deported from Singapore over alleged insurgent ties remanded in custody

REUTERS
July 26, 2019

Thu Thu Aung

YANGON (Reuters) - Six Myanmar nationals deported from Singapore over alleged links to an ethnic minority insurgent group were remanded in custody in Yangon on Friday, a court spokesman said, as relatives of the accused said they were being held incommunicado.

Ohn Tin, the mother of Hein Zaw, the arrested Arakanese Association-Singapore chairperson, speaks to the media outside of Mayangon court in Yangon, Myanmar, July 26, 2019. REUTERS/Myat Kyaw Thu 

“We issued another remand this morning for them,” Min Thant, an information officer at the Western District Court in the commercial capital of Yangon, told Reuters by telephone, without giving further details.

The five men and one woman were arrested in Singapore in early July and later deported to Myanmar, where they were arrested shortly after arriving.

Lawmakers Submit Urgent Proposal to Resume Internet Services in N. Rakhine

The Irrawaddy

By Min Aung Khine 

25 June 2019

The session of Rakhine state parliament in Sittwe, Rakhine State on June 24, 2019. / Min Aung Khine / The Irrawaddy

SITTWE—An urgent proposal regarding the shutdown of internet services in eight townships in Rakhine State was submitted to the state parliament on Monday.

Lawmaker U Hla Thein Aung of Minbya Township submitted the proposal urging the Union government to resume internet services in eight Rakhine townships where the Tatmadaw (or Myanmar Army) and the Arakan Army are fighting.

Family Members of Three Rakhine Villagers who Died in Detention Demand Investigation.

RADIO FREE ASIA  
2019-05-10

Daw Ahla, wife of Thein Tun Sein who died in detention after being arrested by Myanmar's military.

RFA

The family members of three villagers from Myanmar’s Rakhine state who died while being detained by the military are demanding justice, saying that the military’s explanation for the villagers’ deaths were lies.

Six people killed, eight injured in Rakhine unrest.

MYANMAR TIMES

NYAN LYNN AUNG| 03 MAY 2019

Members of the Myanmar Red Cross Society carry a wounded man from a boat to Sittwe Hospital in Rakhine State on Thursday. Photo - EPA

Six people were killed and eight others injured during a disturbance at a school compound where hundreds of villagers were being detained by government forces in a village in Rathedaung township, Rakhine State, a senior spokesman of the Tatmadaw (military) said on Thursday.

Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said the casualties happened before dawn on Thursday when some detainees crowded around the police officers guarding them, and the police fired warning shots to stop them.

Myanmar Army Rounds Up Hundreds of Rakhine Villagers For Questioning.

RADIO FREE ASIA 
2019-05-01

Three people walk along a road are seen during a government-organized visit for journalists in Buthidaung townships close to the surge of fighting between ethnic armed rebel group of the Arakan Army and government troops in the restive Rakhine state, Jan. 25, 2019.

AFP

Myanmar’s military has rounded up several hundred people in several villages in Rakhine state for question on their ties to the Arakan Army (AA), holding 275 men after releasing women, children and the elderly, local sources told RFA’s Myanmar Service on Wednesday.

Myanmar’s Military Reports ARSA Attack on Police Vehicle in Rakhine State.

RADIO FREE ASIA   
2019-04-23

Myanmar soldiers walk away from a helicopter that took them to Maungdaw in western Myanmar's Rakhine state to track down attackers who staged deadly raids on border posts, Oct. 10, 2016.

AFP

Myanmar’s military reported that the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked a police vehicle with mines Monday in Rakhine state’s Maungdaw township, repeating an earlier claim that the Muslim Rohingya militant group was working with the ethnic Rakhine rebel Arakan Army (AA).

No peace byprayer, say defiant Rakhine rebels.

THE Star ONLINE 
Saturday, 20 Apr 2019

Panghsang (Myanmar): Rakh­ine rebels locked in a vicious fight with Myanmar’s army will not “get peace by praying”, its commander said as he vowed his forces will fight on despite being outnumbered and under aerial assault.

Shelling Injures Two Civilians in N. Rakhine, Villagers Say.

The Irrawaddy
19 April 2019
By MOE MYINT

Maung Tun Aye is treated for shrapnel wounds at a hospital in Mrauk-U Township, Rakhine State, on Thursday. / Mrauk-U Karuna Wave / Facebook

YANGON — Two civilians in northern Rakhine State’s Mrauk-U Township were wounded by shrapnel from artillery fire after the Myanmar Army began shooting and shelling in the area on Wednesday night and into Thursday, according to locals.

Mrauk-U resident Ko Than Tun said about 460 people fled Baungdwat Village, about 3 km south of the township’s urban center, on Thursday and have taken shelter at the Myothit monastery in central Mrauk-U.

Women Are Increasingly Drawn to the Arakan Army’s Fight Against Myanmar’s Central Government.

RADIO FREE ASIA  
2019-04-18

Female Arakan Army recruits train with their male counterparts in northern Myanmar's Kachin state in an undated photo.

RFA video screenshot

The Arakan Army, which is battling the Myanmar military for autonomy in turbulent Rakhine state, has grown in both force strength and firepower since its formation in 2009 to the level that the rebel group can now launch successful offensives on police or military outposts. And its message is drawing as many young female recruits as men.