RAKHINE CRISIS ( August-December 2024 )

Crisis in Rakhine State : August-December 2024
The following reports provide background to the present precarious state of affairs, in which the Arakan Army seem poised to wrest administrative and political control from the SAC military junta throughout Rakhine State.

• Activities of Islamic Jihadist Groups in Northern Arakan - 25 November 2024-Global Arakan Network Special Report
• Investigation: What happened at Buthidaung Town in Rakhine State - 8 October 2024-Rajeev Bhattacharyya - The Diplomat

AA C-in-C Twan Mrat Naing Interviews

•  Part 1 - 5 Sep 2024 and
• Part 2 - 10 Sep 2024 and
• Part 3 - 12 Sep 2024-The Irrawaddy:

• YouTube version Part 1 - 5 Sep 2024 and
• YouTube version Part 2 - 10 Sep 2024

• AA C-in-C Twan Mrat Naing on the Future of Rakhine State - 6 September 2024-Rajeev Bhattacharyya - The Diplomat
• Was wissen wir über die Massaker an den Rohingya? - 6 September 2024 (German)
• What we know about the recent Rohingya killings - 9 September 2024 -(English)Rodion Ebbighausen - Deutsche Welle
• Breaking Away: The Battle for Rakhine State - 27 August 2024-International Crisis Group
• ICC - Investigate AA Massacre of Civilians - 27 August 2024-Fortify Rights
• Myanmar: New Atrocities against Rohingya - 22 August 2024-Human Rights Watch
• 'Rashomon Effect' obscures Rakhine War Atrocities in Myanmar - 21 August 2024-David Scott Mathieson: Asia Times
• Preliminary Fact-Checking and Incident Analysis of Attacks - 17 August 2024-United League of Arakan: ResearchTeam
• Regime Collapse in Myanmar's Rakhine - 11 July 2014-David Scott Mathieson: Lowy Interpreter
• From Rebels to Rulers in Rakhine State - 3 July 2024-Centre for Arakan Studies

Arakan Army Commander-in-Chief Twan Mrat Naing on the Future of Rakhine State

THE | DIPLOMAT
By Rajeev Bhattacharyya
September 06, 2024

“We are always in favor of repatriation [of Rohingya Muslims] in principle, and there should be voluntary, dignified, and safe repatriation under conducive conditions.” 

The Arakan Army (AA) has emerged as one of the most successful ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) in Myanmar in the war against the military junta’s State Administration Council (SAC). With meticulous planning and alliances with other similar groups across the country, the AA has registered massive success in its operations against the military, which began intensifying on November 13 of last year. Currently, it has established control over 11 out of 18 townships spread across southern Chin State and Rakhine State in Myanmar. A fierce battle is currently on in Maungdaw and other regions, where allegations have surfaced of the AA committing atrocities against the Rohingya, a largely Muslim ethnic group.

A Myanmar Rebel Group Is Accused of Persecuting Rohingya

The New York Times
By Verena Hölzl
June 3, 2024,

Allegations against the Arakan Army, a key force in the fight against the junta, threaten to revive old horrors of sectarian atrocities. 

People rebuilding homes after fighting between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army in Rakhine State last month.Credit...Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

International courts are still investigating the Myanmar military’s slaughter of the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority in 2017 that the United States has called a genocide. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh and those who stayed faced persecution from the junta. Now a new threat to the group is looming, this time at the hands of a powerful rebel force.

Rakhine's tangled web worsens Rohingya plight

Dhaka Tribune
Tribune Desk
Publish : 30 Apr 2024,  

• Sensationalized narratives sideline Rohingya struggles
• Urgent advocacy is needed for their rights and peace
  

File Photo: The remains of a burned Rohingya village is seen in this aerial photograph near Maungdaw, north of Rakhine State, Myanmar on September 27, 2017. Photo: Reuters

 

The ongoing conflict in Myanmar's Rakhine state reveals a concerning reality: as the Arakan Army (AA) and the Military Junta engage in their respective battle, the Rohingya people are caught in the crossfire, often overlooked amidst sensationalized narratives and shifting alliances in the region.

Moving Towards Understanding and Reconciliation in Myanmar’s Rakhine State

THE I DIPLOMAT
By Christopher Win
April 18, 2024

Recent comments by the commander of the Arakan Army have prompted a heated debate about history, language, and ethnic identity. 

The Sakya Man Aung pagoda in Mrauk-U, the ancient capital of Arakan, in Rakhine State, Myanmar.

In discussions of Myanmar’s intricate ethnic tapestry, the discourse around identity, particularly the term “Rohingya,” remains highly charged and complex. The controversy was reawakened last month, when the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA), an ethnic Rakhine insurgent group fighting for autonomy from the central state, used the term “Bengali” in an official statement in lieu of the term “Rohingya.” This was then echoed in social media posts by Twan Mrat Naing, the leader of ULA/AA, sparking significant controversy among both domestic and international observers.

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.

The Rohingya in the shadow of the Arakan army

Dhaka Tribune
Shafiur Rahman
Publish : 02 Mar 2024, 

“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).”

Rebel yell: Arakan Army leader speaks to Asia Times

ASIA TIMES
By BERTIL LINTNER

JANUARY 18, 2022

Rebel commander says military junta could explode ‘like a supernova’ and claims AA’s parallel administration is restoring stability to RakhineTwan Mrat Naing, commander-in-chief of the Arakan Army, attends a meeting of leaders of Myanmar's ethnic armed groups at the United Wa State Army headquarters in Myanmar's northern Shan state, May 6, 2015. Photo: Twitter

CHIANG MAI – At just 43, Major General Twan Mrat Naing may be the youngest and most successful rebel commanders in Myanmar. The force he leads, the Arakan Army (AA), has grown from a handful of recruits when it was first established in April 2009 into one of the war-torn nation’s most powerful and potent ethnic armies.

AA first waged war against the Myanmar military in 2012 in northern Kachin state arm-in-arm with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). It later fought alongside the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in northeastern Shan state before launching an insurgency in its home state of Rakhine, also known as Arakan, where thousands have flocked to join its ranks.

'We recognise the human rights and citizen rights of the Rohingyas'

Prothum Alo ------ 
Altaf Parvez,Ashfaq Rony,Shafiqul Alam
Published: 02 Jan 2022, 13:11

Interview
Interview: Arakan army chief Twan Mrat Naing

General Twan Mrat NaingReuters file photo

The Arakan or the Rakhine state of Myanmar is a close neighbour of Bangladesh and has been so in the past. With the influx of the Rohingyas, this state has placed Bangladesh in a worrisome predicament. The Arakan Army is a significant political and military factor there. General Twan Mrat Naing is the commander in chief of the Arakan Army. On 19 December, he spoke over Zoom from the Chin state to three journalists and researchers of Bangladesh on the situation in Arakan and Myanmar.