Arakan Army gains ground in Rakhine conflict, seizes control of Paletwa and other towns

BORDER LENS
The Borderlens Desk
February 20, 2024 

Reports emerging from Myanmar on Thursday have indicated that an ethnic army in the country has launched an attack on yet another major city in the west, with the state’s capital not far behind. The Arakan Army (AA), a rebel group, has intensified its fighting against Myanmar’s army in the strategically significant city of Sittwe in Rakhine province. This area holds particular importance due to India’s construction of a port for connectivity to its northeastern states via the Bay of Bengal.

The Arakan Dream: The Search for Peace in Myanmar’s Rakhine State on the Verge of Civil War

TERRORISM MONITOR
Jack Broome
April 9, 2021

  Publication: Terrorism Monitor Volume: 19 Issue: 7

On March 23, the Arakan Army (AA)—an ethnic armed organization (EAO) based largely in Myanmar’s Rakhine State—finally released a statement condemning the military’s seizure of power in the February 1 coup. AA spokesperson, Khine Thu Kha, said that the AA was “together…with the people” and would “continue to go forward for the oppressed Rakhine people” (Dhaka Star, March 23).

Up until this point, the AA had held back from issuing any kind of response to the coup, despite an increasing number of EAOs having already declared their support for the civil disobedience movement (CDM). Some groups, such as the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which is one of the AA’s alliance partners, have even begun to carry out attacks against the military in retaliation (Kachin News, March 12). Similarly, when the State Administrative Council (SAC), Myanmar’s new military government, announced on March 10 that it had removed the AA from the list of terrorist organizations, the rebel group made no formal acknowledgement of the move (The Irrawaddy, March 11).

The rebels who will and won’t fight Myanmar’s coup

ASIA TIMES

DAVID SCOTT MATHIESON
MARCH 31, 2021

Karen and Kachin rebels have launched attacks but other ethnic armed groups are lying in wait or even quietly collaborating with the coup makers

A Karen fighter holds a rocket launcher while standing guard at Oo Kray Kee village in Kayin state near the Thai-Myanmar border in a file photo. Photo: AFP/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul

Myanmar’s multi-sided civil war, now more clearly than ever a war waged by the military against all segments and ethnicities of society, saw its bloodiest day on March 27’s Armed Forces Day.

Notably absent to this theater of the absurd were senior officials from Myanmar’s ethnic armed organizations (EAO), who boycotted the event and have issued stern statements of opposition to the February 1 coup and the new State Administration Council’s (SAC) murderous rule.

Many are now calling on the nation’s various EAOs to escalate their attacks against the military, or Tatmadaw, and alleviate pressure on and express solidarity with the many unarmed urban opponents of the coup.