Myanmar: The junta’s forced conscription of Rohingyas

the interpreter
Md. Himel Rahman
Published 2 Apr 2024 

The implications of this cynical act for people already oppressed could reverberate for neighbouring Bangladesh and across the region. 

 

Six years ago, a calculated “cleansing operation” conducted by the Myanmar Armed Forces and aided by local militias resulted in the expulsion of more than 750,000 Rohingyas from the northern Rakhine State in Myanmar. Now, the same Myanmar Armed Forces are forcibly conscripting the Rohingyas in order to fight against the Rakhine insurgents. This cynical exploitation carries implications for all involved – including neighbouring Bangladesh, host to most Rohingya refugees.

‘Piles of corpses’ left after Myanmar junta attacks village

RFA
By RFA Burmese
2024.03.18 

An aerial attack left 20 people dead and 33 injured in a township under Arakan Army control.

A junta aerial bombardment killed and injured dozens in western Myanmar, residents told Radio Free Asia.

Most residents in Thar Dar, a predominantly Rohingya village in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, were sleeping when a fighter jet dropped a bomb around 1 a.m. Friday, a resident said.

Myanmar junta shelling kills eight displaced Rohingya people in Sittwe

Myanmar Now
Yaung Ni
March 11, 2024 

Rohingya people mooring their boats near Thea Chaung village, Sittwe Township, trying to prepare for Cyclone Mocha in early May 2023 (Photo: Myanmar Now)

Eight Rohingya civilians were killed and nine injured around 9pm on Saturday by a heavy artillery shell fired by junta forces into the Rakhine State capital of Sittwe, local sources said.

The Rohingya in the shadow of the Arakan army

Dhaka Tribune
Shafiur Rahman
Publish : 02 Mar 2024,

There is a complex level of conflict and suffering that continue to enshroud the Rohingya community 

“Instead of getting killed at the frontline by taking up arms for the junta, we would rather fight them and join the Arakan Army (AA).”

Myanmar junta detain over 400 Rohingya, citing obligation to get military training in Rakhine

mizzima
February 26, 2024

File Photo

In the third week of February, Myanmar’s Military Council apprehended more than 400 Rohingya men in Rakhine State, purportedly for compulsory participation in military training, as reported by people involved in addressing the Rohingya crisis.

Myanmar Junta forcefully recruiting Rohingya from camps

THE BUSINESS STANDARD
TBS Report
24 February, 2024,

Legal experts say that the drive is illegal since Myanmar has refused to recognize the Rohingya as one of the country’s ethnic groups and denied them citizenship for decades 

Rohingyas are entering Bangladesh territory crossing Myanmar border on October 9, 2017. Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed Paulash/TBS
 

In the wake of a nationwide conscription law, Myanmars junta is seeking to recruit Rohingya muslims to join their army. They are offering freedom of movement to those restricted to camps from displacement in the Rakhine state as a way to entice them into military service.

Myanmar junta in a make-or-break Rakhine fight

ASIA TIMES
Anthony Davis
February 1, 2024

Arakan Army poised for all-out Rakhine war but replication of recent insurgent successes in Shan state is far from guaranteed 

Arakan Army insurgent fighters take aim in their conflict against Myanmar state forces in Rakhine state. Photo: YouTube / Arakan Army promotional video

 

As the tempo of conflict in Myanmar’s northeast slows after months of dramatic insurgent advances, the civil war’s center of gravity has shifted decisively to the western seaboard state of Rakhine.

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).

Arakan Army Accuses Myanmar Junta of Chemical Warfare

Irrawaddy
Hein Htoo Zan
December 5, 2023

Arakan Army troops in Rakhine State in 2019. / The Irrawaddy

The Arakan Army (AA) has claimed Myanmar’s junta has been using chemical weapons in Paletwa Township, Chin State, since Sunday.

The AA, a member of the Brotherhood Alliance that launched Operation 1027 in northern Shan State, has been attacking the regime’s hilltop outposts in Traunaing and Hnonebuu villages in the township that borders Rakhine State since November 14.

Its statement said “chemical warfare agents” were dropped from Y-8 and Y-12 aircraft on Sunday evening.

U Khine Thu Kha, the AA’s spokesman, told The Irrawaddy that chemical bombs were also dropped on Monday.

“The fascist military twice dropped chemical bombs while we were attacking the Traunaing hilltop outpost. The junta is launching at least 30 airstrikes a day in Paletwa,” he said.

The junta denied the accusations.

U Khine Thu Kha said the Traunaing and Hnonebuu outposts had been used to oppress Chin and Rakhine communities in Paletwa Township.

The other two Brotherhood Alliance members, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), have reported the junta’s use of chemical weapons.

The TNLA reported that a chemical bomb was dropped on November 4 at Mong Kyat camp in Lashio Township, which had been seized from the regime.

It said TNLA soldiers suffered from dizziness, breathlessness, nausea, extreme agitation, fatigue and low oxygen levels in their blood.

On November 18, the TNLA said its troops suffered similar symptoms at the Sakhan Thit hill base in Namkham Township.

On November 23, the MNDAA stated that junta aircraft dropped four chemical bombs on a seized regime hilltop outpost in Namsalat village, Hseni Township, in northern Shan State.

MNDAA spokesman Li Jiawen warned of more chemical attacks, including on civilian targets, while the junta’s mouthpiece, Major General Zaw Min Tun, denied that chemical weapons had been used.

 

Link : Here

Echoes of 2017 Genocide as Myanmar Junta Imposes ‘Four Cuts’ on Rakhine

The Irrawaddy
by Ko Oo
November 23, 2023

A junta warship in Rakhine

Fighting erupted between the Myanmar military and ethnic Rakhine Arakan Army (AA) on November 13, ending a yearlong ceasefire. The latest bout of fighting is the third since late 2018.

Myanmar Junta Outposts Fall in Northern Rakhine: Arakan Army

The Irrawaddy
Hein Htoo Zan
November 13, 202

The Chein Khar Li Border Guard Police outpost on the Angumaw-Maungdaw road. / The Irrawaddy

 

Clashes have broken out between the Arakan Army (AA) and Myanmar’s junta in Rathedaung, Kyauktaw, Minbya and Mrauk U townships on Monday, with at least three junta positions falling across Rakhine State, according to the armed group.

The AA attacked junta Border Guard Police outposts in Done Pike and Chein Khar Li villages, Rathedaung Township, in northern Rakhine State, before dawn.

Myanmar Junta Hits Back at U.S.’s Rohingya Genocide Declaration

Bloomberg
Khine Lin Kyaw
22 March 2022,

• Foreign Ministry says ‘never engaged in any genocidal actions’
• Shadow government urges U.S. to refer situation to ICC

Rohingya refugees wait for food distribution at the refugee camp of Balukhali in Bangladesh in Sept. 2017.Photographer: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images

Myanmar’s military government on Tuesday rejected U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s declaration that the Min Aung Hlaing-led military committed genocide against the Rohingya minority in 2016 and 2017.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement that “Myanmar has never engaged in any genocidal actions” and harbors no “genocidal intent” for any group. Blinken’s remarks were “politically motivated and tantamount to interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.”

ASEAN’s humanitarian aid to Myanmar must not legitimise military junta: Progressive Voice & FORUM-ASIA

TOC

The Online Citizen
Asia, Civil Society
04/08/2021

“ASEAN and the international community must recognize and engage with the NUG, and disengage with the junta in provision of humanitarian assistance to prevent them from weaponizing humanitarian aid."

 Protesters hold a banner supporting the National Unity Government (NUG) during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon on 11 July 2021 (Source: AFP)

The Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the rest of the international community must provide humanitarian assistance through the COVID-19 Task Force set up by the Ministry of Health under interim government of Myanmar – the National Unity Government (NUG) – and Ethnic Health Organisations, as well as through cross-border channels, local humanitarian networks, ethnic service providers, and community-based organisations, said Progressive Voice and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) in a joint statement on Wednesday (4 Aug).

Inside the Myanmar mountain camp where rebels train to fight for freedom from the junta

CNN
Exclusive by Sam Kiley,
July 8, 2021

Camp Victoria, Myanmar (CNN)Full-throated they belt out songs of victory, their boots adding the drumbeat as ranks of new recruits jog in formation through their jungle training camp.

There's no doubting the shining eyes of these young people united by an ideal -- freedom from the junta that's smothered democracy in Myanmar.

Nor, perhaps, hiding from the dark tragedy that may await them.

The junta overthrew the government they represented. What happens next for Myanmar's diplomats in limbo?

CNN
Caitlin Hu, Julia Hollingsworth, Eliza Mackintosh and Helen Regan,
June 29, 2021

New York (CNN)In a beige stone townhouse on a leafy New York street, a political coup thousands of miles away has split an office in two.

Downstairs in the dimly lit building, staffers at Myanmar's Permanent Mission to the United Nations receive orders from the military junta, which overthrew the country's elected government on February 1.

Upstairs, charismatic ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun is leading what is effectively an underground diplomatic corps, part of an attempt to wrestle back control of the country. His conference room is decorated with portraits of a long line of his military-aligned predecessors, reminders of what he's up against.

Myanmar Junta Chief Extols Russia Ties, Says US Relations ‘Not Intimate’

The Irrawaddy

26 June 2021

A TV screengrab of Myanmar coup leader Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing (right) after receiving the title of “honorary professor” from the Defense Ministry of Russia on Wednesday.

Myanmar coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing lauded Russia as Myanmar’s “friend forever” while stating that the US is “not very intimate” compared with neighboring China and India due to its “far distance”, in an interview with Russian media during his visit to Moscow.

“The USA is also Myanmar’s friend but it is in some far distance. But, our neighboring China and India are our close friends,” he told Fedor Lukyanov, anchorperson of the “International Review” program on Russia 24, on Tuesday, adding that “we have to take relations with the neighboring countries seriously.”

Australian Parliamentary Committee Urges Harder Line on Myanmar Junta

THE I DIPLOMAT

By Sebastian Strangio

June 25, 2021

The cross-party committee called for the government to consider harsher sanctions, and a pathway to residency for Myanmar citizens in Australia.

Australian lawmakers have pressed their government to step up its pressure against Myanmar’s military government, by considering the imposition of fresh sanctions on leading commanders and military enterprises.

The report by the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade, which includes members of Australia’s two major parties, also called on the government to explore how it could offer permanent residency to Myanmar citizens living in Australia who fear returning home.

Myanmar Junta Reorganizes Legal Team for ICJ Rohingya Genocide Case

The Irrawaddy
24 June 2021

Regime Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin

The Myanmar military regime has organized a new legal team led by its foreign minister, U Wunna Maung Lwin, to present the defense in the Rohingya genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

The regime’s order restructuring the committee, which was previously led by detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was announced in a bulletin published by the Myanmar Gazette on Thursday.

The panel has eight members. Among them are two former military officers—U Wunna Maung Lwin, who will serve as chairman; and the regime’s planning, finance and industry minister, U Win Shein—and two serving lieutenant generals: Yar Pyae and Adjutant General Myo Zaw Thein.

Confident in Its Impunity, the Myanmar Junta Ignores Diplomacy

The New York Times
By Richard C. Paddock and Rick Gladstone
June 24, 2021

The generals who seized power five months ago have shown no inclination to heed international pleas to reverse themselves, even as Myanmar slides into a failed state.

Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the commander of Myanmar’s military, during a parade on Armed Forces Day in Naypyidaw, the capital, in March.Credit...EPA, via Shutterstock

Western powers have imposed sanctions. Neighboring countries have implored the military to restore democracy. More than 200 human rights groups have called for an arms embargo. And last week, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a blunt rebuke aimed at isolating the generals.

The diplomatic pressure has done little to change the situation in Myanmar.

U.N. General Assembly Demands Myanmar Junta End Coup and Stop the Killings

The New York Times
By Rick Gladstone
June 18, 2021

A resolution adopted Friday by the General Assembly is the most widespread condemnation yet of the Feb. 1 coup, a sharp diplomatic slap that contradicted the junta’s claim it has not been isolated.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on Friday rebuking the Myanmar military and demanding an end to its five-month-old coup.CreditCredit...The New York Times

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on Friday rebuking the Myanmar military and demanding an end to its five-month-old coup.

“A system built on brutality and bloodshed will not survive. It’s not too late for the military to reverse the negative trajectory on the ground, exercise restraint, and respect the will of its own people. We must raise our voices for those who have been silenced, detained, injured or killed. We must be ardent advocates for the protection of all fundamental human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, access to information and of peaceful assembly, which have been repeatedly infringed upon by the military-led authorities.” “Time is of the essence. The opportunity to reverse the military takeover is narrowing and regional threat increasing. Attempts to discredit democratically elected leaders and eliminate a party which has won sweeping majority in two consecutive general elections, silencing of free-made media and arrests of journalists, national and foreign, as well as the blocking of access to information fundamentally point a departure from democratic space. Any sustainable peace must be reflective of the will of the people. Any transition out of this crisis will present an opportunity to reshape Myanmar society free from ethnic divisions and a more inclusive constitutional and legal framework that places the military under civilian control.