Armed conflict in Rakhine (Arakan) State

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Description: "A landmine explosion. Clashes. Homes destroyed. This is an all too familiar story in Myanmar, where many have lost their homes during clashes. Some have been unable to return to their villages for years. "We faced many challenges before we came back to our village," says Aung Saw Tun from his home in Rakhine State in Myanmar. "Being displaced, I am worried about where we will run for safety, as the risk of fighting remains." Aung Saw Tun was among hundreds who were forced to flee their homes as clashes led to crackdowns and the destruction of civilian houses across central Myanmar in 2020. Now, he and his family have returned to their village. But starting life from scratch brings with it new challenges, how to earn a living being one among many. Being forcibly displaced can mean relying on the goodwill of relatives, other families or humanitarian assistance. But such assistance rarely provides long-term solutions. For those who want to return home, to rebuild or restart their lives, the decision is often tied to whether they will be able to support themselves financially. "At the moment, we receive a subsidy and we run our own business," says Aung Saw Tun. "If possible, I would like to open a small shop at home while raising chickens." Aung Saw Tun and his family are part of an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) project that helps displaced communities returning home to support themselves by creating livelihood opportunities. The project engages with communities to identify the ways in which they can support themselves and then provides them with financial assistance through cash grants to get them started. With the money he received through the project, Aung Saw Tun started a business making and selling traditional bamboo hats, and is now looking to expand into selling chickens. About 90 families, or more than 400 people, across Pha Yar Paung and Taung Pauk villages of Rakhine's Kyauktaw Township were supported through the project in late 2021 and early 2022. "I ran a pig farm in the past," says Hla Saw Khaing, who was also part of the cash grant project. "Because of the conflict, I could not afford to raise pigs myself, but now it is possible." As the primary carer for her mother, Hla Saw Khaing needs to work from home and has started raising pigs again from her yard. Hla Saw Khaing was forced to live in a displacement camp with her mother after her house was set on fire amidst clashes. "When I came back home from the camp, I was very sad because there was nothing left in my house," she says. "There was no food to eat. It was not good for our health. This was no place to live. I didn't even have 50 kyats left. It was very sad to lose everything." Not everyone who is forcibly displaced ends up staying in a temporary camp for shelter. Some stay with friends, or in monasteries or churches. Others, like Aye Yoin Thar, find shelter with relatives. When Aye Yoin Thar first returned to her village a year ago, emergency assistance from aid organisations helped to some extent, but it was no substitute for a safe and sustainable source of income. "We were unable to make ends meet," she says. "So, I brought vegetables from my garden and sold them for four or five months, but I haven't been able to do that since I have been sick." With the help of the ICRC, Aye Yoin Thar has been able to open a small grocery store, and already has plans to expand the family business. "Before the fire, our family made dough and ran a tea shop," she says. "We are thinking of doing the same again." In Rakhine, following the waves of displacement caused by clashes in 2012, 2017 and 2019, some families who were displaced are slowly starting to return home. Often facing ongoing safety concerns as well as the challenges of rebuilding a life and thinking of the future, the decision is a difficult one. Above all else, returning home should be a decision solely for those who are displaced. Opportunities for a safe and sustainable future, with health and dignity, need to be minimum conditions. No matter whether families stay or return after a conflict, planning for the future is vital..."
Source/publisher: International Committee of the Red Cross (Geneva) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
2022-05-09
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-09
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Description: "While heavy fighting has been raging in Myanmar’s ethnic minority areas, and clashes between local resistance groups called People’s Defense Forces and the Myanmar military have occurred almost daily since last year’s coup, Rakhine State in the west of the country has been largely peaceful. The Arakan Army (AA), the state’s main rebel force, entered into an informal ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar military several months before the February 1 coup and, so far, the truce seems to be holding. But much to the military’s chagrin the AA, or more specifically its political wing, the United League of Arakan (ULA), has used the peace to build up a separate administration in the state with its own judicial bodies, revenue department, public security branches and other governmental institutions. The military, on the other hand, is stretched on many fronts across Myanmar and can hardly afford to send the number of troops that would be required to re-establish control over Rakhine State. But it is a fragile ceasefire agreement and it is still a question of who would attack whom first and when. If the generals decide to open a new front in Rakhine State, they would be up against a formidable adversary. From humble beginnings in 2009, the AA has grown into one of Myanmar’s most potent rebel armies. It was originally formed by a group of youngish nationalists led by Twan Mrat Naing, then only 31, and recruits from the many ethnic Rakhine who work in the Hpakant jade mines in Kachin State. Initially trained by the Kachin Independence Army, they first saw combat in 2012 when the military launched a massive offensive against rebel bases along the Chinese border. Three years later, AA troops fought alongside soldiers from the Palaung militia, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army in the Kokang area of Shan State in 2015. From then on, the AA grew rapidly and moved most of its operations to its home state of Rakhine. Thousands of young male as well as female nationalists flocked to join the AA, and bitter battles were fought with the Myanmar military. Twan Mrat Naing, now 43 and a Major-General, was born in the Rakhine capital Sittwe and studied law at university but left without getting a degree. In a recent interview with this correspondent, he emphasized the pride that many Rakhine feel for their state and its long and often turbulent history. Rakhine, formerly known as Arakan, was an independent Buddhist kingdom until it was invaded by the Burmese in late 1784 and then, the following year, annexed into the realm ruled by King Bodawpaya of the Konbaung Dynasty. Resistance against the occupation continued until the first Anglo-Burmese War in 1824-1826. The Arakan region, along with Tenasserim [now part of Tanintharyi Region] in the southeast, became British possessions. Peace prevailed until World War II, when Myanmar was occupied by the Japanese — and that caused serious divisions within Arakan. Most Buddhist Arakanese sided with the Burma Independence Army — and hence the Japanese — while large segments of the Muslim population in northern Arakan remained loyal to Britain, the colonial power. Immense atrocities were committed by both sides, and those wounds have never completely healed. The departure of the British in 1948 led to a virtual civil war in Arakan. Muslim mujaheed guerrillas — they were then not yet called Rohingya — established bases along the border with East Pakistan and, originally wanted to join independent Pakistan. The Communist Party (Red Flag) (CP[RF]), led by Bonbauk, or “bomb thrower” Tha Gyaw, also battled government forces and so did U Sein Da, a former monk known as “the King of Arakan.” The main Communist Party of Burma (CPB) also established strongholds in Arakan, while breakaway militants from CP[RF] formed a separate Communist Party of Arakan (CPA) and wanted to establish their own people’s republic. Over the years, most of the insurgencies fizzled out. In 1961, the last 500 mujaheeds surrendered as the then U Nu government agreed to set up an autonomous area known as the Mayu Frontier Administration encompassing Maungdaw, Buthidaung and western Rathedaung townships, where Muslims are in a clear majority. General Ne Win’s coup d’etat in 1962 put an end to those efforts and some Muslims formed new groups, notably the Rohingya Independence Force which in 1975 became the Rohingya Patriotic Front. But those groups were small and their activities limited to publishing leaflets and newsletters from their offices in Chittagong, Bangladesh. “Bonbauk” Tha Gyaw had surrendered in 1955 and U Sein Da in 1958. The main CP(RF) leader Thakin Soe was captured in 1970 at his Than Chaung camp near the Arakan Yoma mountains. The CPB’s local leader Kyaw Mya left Arakan in 1979 and went to Bangladesh, where the Chinese embassy helped him to continue on to China and then down to the party’s main headquarters at Panghsang in the Wa Hills in Shan State. His successor as local leader of the CPB, Ye Tun, surrendered during a general amnesty in 1980, and so did CPA leader Kyaw Zan Rhee. On the Thai border, a small group called the Arakan Liberation Organization and Army had been formed in 1972, but it had only a handful of soldiers who were based at Kawmoorah, a Karen National Union stronghold north of Mae Sot. Peace seemed to prevail in Arakan, which was renamed Rakhine State in 1974, but then came the 1988 nationwide democracy uprising. Some of the old fighters, among them Kyaw Zan Rhee and “Bonbauk” Tha Gyaw, resurfaced, took part in the pro-democracy movement and formed an overground, legal party called the Arakan People’s United Organization. Another, and stronger, legal political party called the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) also emerged, and was led by Dr U Saw Mra Aung and the historian U Oo Tha Tun. The ALD took part in the 1990 general election but its MPs elect, like all the other elected politicians, were not allowed to take up their seats in Yangon. The elected National Assembly was never convened and instead a mainly military-appointed National Convention was convened to draft a new constitution. U Oo Tha Tun died in prison in 1991 and, in 1992, the ALD was banned. Against that backdrop — and given Arakan/Rakhine’s long history of resistance — it is hardly surprising that the new AA and the ULA have grown so fast and become what they are today. Or, as Myanmar specialist Martin Smith wrote in Arakan (Rakhine State): A Land in Conflict on Myanmar’s Western Frontier, which was published by the Netherlands-based Transnational Institute in December 2019: “Among [the many Rakhine groups] only the ULA could be considered as new. But, as its supporters point out, the ULA includes members from other organizations and is the latest in a long line of armed Rakhine movements that date back to independence in 1948. As such, the ULA has quickly become the most powerful force in Rakhine nationalism in many decades.” But the armed wing, the AA, is also facing formidable challenges. The most obvious one is logistical: how to get guns and ammunition from rebel-held areas in Kachin and Shan State — where the main source of military supplies are — to Rakhine? During the fighting before the ceasefire agreement was struck, the AA showed that it had remarkable firepower and the Myanmar military suffered heavy casualties. But if fighting resumes, how can the AA’s troops be resupplied? The other issue would be how to relate to the state’s Muslim population. In recent years, an extremely militant group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) has emerged. It launched several attacks on military and police outposts in 2016 and 2017 which, in turn, led to a massive counteroffensive and the flight of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to Bangladesh. ARSA should not be considered an indigenous group — it was formed by Ataullah abu Ammar Jununi, a second-generation Rohingya. He was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and grew up in Saudi-Arabia, where he was groomed by Islamic fundamentalists. Ataullah has unleashed his fury even on what are supposed to be his own countrymen, among them Mohib Ullah, a Rohingya moderate and human rights activist, who was killed by ARSA in a refugee camp in Bangladesh on September 29, 2021. In a recent video, a visibly angry and agitated Ataullah exhorts his followers to “burn down” the dwellings of Rakhine Buddhists and “strike hard” against them. It may be easy for the AA to distance itself from ARSA, but the Rohingya question is bound to create controversies. While the AA and other Rakhine nationalists accept the fact that Muslims have been living in the area for centuries, and that many more settled in Arakan during the colonial era, they argue that most Rakhine consider the very name ‘Rohingya’ offensive and refuse to use it. According to their line of argument, it gives the impression that the Muslims are not a religious community but a distinct ethnic group, and, as some of the Rohingya claim, that they are the original inhabitants of the land. Rather offensively, nearly all political movements among the Rohingya also have a map of the entire Rakhine State in their emblems. Rakhine nationalists also argue that the name Rohingya was not used by anyone until the 1950s. Those who argue that there is separate Rohingya identity based in history usually quote a 1799 study by Scottish physician and geographer Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, who never went to Arakan but met some Muslims in the then capital Amarapura. He mentions that they referred to themselves as “Rooinga, or natives of Arakan” and then said little more. But, as Martin Smith points out: “After annexation [in 1826], the British do not appear to have used this name again. Muslims in Arakan were instead referred to by such terms as Arakanese Mohammedan, Bengali Muslim, Chittagonian, Kaman and Zerbadi…[and] it would be difficult to imagine a situation in modern-day Europe where discussions of citizenship or identity become based around the writings of an Asian traveler two centuries ago.” Be that as it may, but there are few questions in Myanmar today which are more than contested — and often heated — than disputes over the origin of the name Rohingya, and who and what they are. Internationally, the name Rohingya and their identity as such is almost universally accepted. But it’s an entirely different story in Myanmar, and then not only among the Rakhine. On this issue, most Burmans would be on the same side as the Rakhine nationalists. This year and next may reveal what the future holds for the new nationalist movement in Rakhine State. A lot depends on what happens in the rest of the country. On the one hand, the junta has not managed to consolidate its grip on the country and its coup last year may go down in history as the most unsuccessful attempt to seize power in modern Asian history. That works to the advantage of the ULA and its parallel administration as well as the resistance elsewhere in Myanmar. But, on the other hand, future developments depend on the extent to which the country’s abundance of resistance forces can coordinate their movements — and despite some alliances being forged — there is so far little evidence of that happening..."
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Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2022-01-20
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-20
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Description: "Renewed Rakhine-Rohingya Tensions?: On 29 July 2021, the Rohingya Post first reported that hundreds of Arakan Army troops and Buddhist Rakhine had sealed off a Rohingya village in Minbya Township, since 24 July 2021. The village was running out of essential supplies and villagers were being tortured in the local mosques. Burma Campaign UK reported that the Arakan Army had occupied and laid siege to Let Ma (also known as Lumbashor by the Rohingya) Village, Minbya Township, Rakhine State, but had withdrawn in the afternoon of 2 August taking two villagers with them. Burma Campaign UK called on the Arakan Army to immediately release the two villagers and to commit to ending all abductions and hostage taking of civilians. Burma Campaign UK also reported that the Arakan Army had forced villagers to sign documents and be filmed stating that no human rights violations had taken place. The Development Media Group, a Rakhine news agency promoted for its professionalism and unbiased news, denied the report claiming that it is propaganda against the Arakan Army and its growing influence on the people of Arakan/ Rakhine State.....What Happened and Why?: Letma or Lumbashor is a big village with quite a large population. The villagers are well known for being very united and strong in protecting themselves from the excesses of successive authorities, even during the Japanese occupation. There is no Tatmadaw base near the village but there are some AA bases which means the area is likely ‘administered’ by the civilian arm of the AA – United League of Arakan. According to local sources, on 21 July before Eid ul Adha, the festival commemorating Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, AA troops demanded that every household making kurbaan (animal sacrifices) in the village pay Kyat 15,000 and provide 3 kilograms of meat (beef or mutton). Some villagers did not comply. Therefore on 24 July, AA troops arrived at Letma from three directions. Rakhine villagers from surrounding villages then surrounded the village. The family and relatives of 12 villagers who refused to pay were detained and kept imprisoned in a mosque without food for three days. During the occupation, AA soldiers apparently made the villagers cook and provide meals for them. Soldiers were reportedly also stealing cattle and goats owned by the Rohingya villagers. According to Burma Campaign UK, the AA troops were commanded by Lt. Colonel Zaw Min Htun and Major Khaing Kyaw. The AA denies the allegations and claims that they were trying to capture bandits, who are engaged in smuggling cattle. It is true that cattle smugglers are active in the area but Twan Mrat Naing, Commander-in-Chief of the AA, posted an apparent threat to Rohingyas on his Twitter account today, stating: “We promote ethnic diversity and religious tolerance but can’t afford to provide safe haven and breeding ground for the terrorists and criminal gangs. Be aware that you are just about to turn your best friend into (an) enemy by using your best tool of disinformation.” Given the rapid expansion of the AA and its ‘administrative’ areas due to the absence of local authorities following the 1 February coup, it is possible that as one observer noted, “Twan Mrat Naing, sometimes may not know what is really happening on the ground. Some of his commanders may have been misbehaving and intentionally wrongly reporting to him. It is likely that they did something that was not right. But even if Rakhines do not like what has been happening on the ground, nobody (especially Rakhine) dares or wants to criticise the AA openly even on social media.” If this is true, the AA leadership will need to redouble its efforts and make a sincere attempt to improve. Compared to fighting, governance is difficult and good governance is even more difficult. The culture of impunity so prevalent in the Tatmadaw must not be allowed to grow in the AA and ULA. Twan Mrat Naing is a good leader and he needs to face problems head-on. The goodwill of the Rakhine and Rohingya people as well as that of the Myanmar and international communities must not be squandered..."
Source/publisher: Euro Burma Office
2021-08-04
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-05
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Topic: Education, Food and Nutrition, Health, Protection and Human Rights, Shelter and Non-Food Items, Water Sanitation Hygiene
Topic: Education, Food and Nutrition, Health, Protection and Human Rights, Shelter and Non-Food Items, Water Sanitation Hygiene
Description: "Since the military takeover on 1 February, insecurity and clashes continue to be reported across much of the country with arrest, detention and use of excessive force against protestors by police and security forces. Disruptions to banking services, healthcare, communications, and supply chains ensue, while tensions and confrontations in the north and southeast intensify between Tatmadaw and ethnic armed organizations. UNHCR and partners continue providing critical life-saving humanitarian assistance, while following the development of the situation closely to better understand the full potential impact on people of concern, including IDPs and stateless populations. Early warning systems, initiated by UNHCR and partners, continue to be employed to detect changes on the ground which could impact on operations and people of concern with the view to inform timely mitigating measures and responses. At the same time, in this rapidly evolving context, the ongoing COVID-19 health crisis continues to pose additional potential challenges to already strained or disrupted health services. While integrating COVID-19 prevention and response into regular programming, UNHCR will continue to monitor the impact on populations of concern given the heightened risks they may face with critical protection service and assistance increasingly restricted.....NUMBERS AT A GLANCE: 600,000 Estimated stateless Rohingya in Rakhine State, of which some 144,000 are living in 21 displacement camps as well as among the host community since 2012 285,000 Internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in Rakhine, Chin, Kachin, northern Shan, Kayin states, and Bago (east) region, including some 93,100* in 201 sites displaced due to the AAMAF conflict, and at least 58,600 due to the resumption and intensification of clashes between the Tatmadaw and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) in the north-and south-east Townships across Rakhine, Chin, Kachin and northern Shan states, and the south-east where UNHCR has consulted with communities through the Early Warning Systems 46,746 Displaced and affected people in Myanmar supported with basic non-food items and shelter material by UNHCR and partners in 2021 Financial requirements in 2021 (as of 04 May 2021) Financial requirements in 2020 (as of 05 January 2021) USD 52.7 million (14% funded).....KEY HIGHLIGHTS | March - April 2021: Kachin & northern Shan The resumption and intensification of armed clashes in the Kachin and northern Shan states between the Tatmadaw and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) since March have resulted in the displacement of over 18,000** individuals by 10 May, 14,300 of whom remain in displacement. In March and April, UNHCR and partners continued to provide support to persons with specific needs (PSNs), including persons with disabilities, elderly, single/female headed households, and those with serious medical conditions, through provision of emergency cash assistance benefitting 207 PSNs and their families. The support is aimed at addressing their most pressing needs such as medical expenses while reducing the risk of resorting to negative coping mechanisms such as borrowing money or taking on debt, or reducing expenditure on key items including water, food, education and healthcare. UNHCR continues to provide targeted non-food items (NFI) to meet the needs of displaced persons. In March and April, UNHCR distributed NFI items including blankets, mosquito nets, plastic mats, kitchen sets, tarpaulins, solar lights, soap, and jerry cans to 1,034 families (4,354 individuals) in Kachin and northern Shan states. In March, UNHCR and partners, completed a community-based project in Mogaung Township, Kachin State. A communal hall was completed with the involvement of the community and will benefit 450 individuals. Since the beginning of the year, UNHCR and partners have completed several projects benefitting over 4,000 individuals. Examples of projects, which are aimed at improving conditions in communities and strengthening social cohesion, include the construction and renovation of schools, road construction, and the construction of gravity flow water systems.....Rakhine & southern Chin: As of April 2021, there are over 93,100 persons displaced across 201 sites and in host communities in Rakhine and southern Chin states in connection with the AAMAF conflict. Support to displacement sites and IDP camps continue despite limitations imposed by the current political and COVID-19 context. In March and April, UNHCR contributed 10,560 CGI sheets and 811kg of nails for shelter reconstruction through combined efforts of Shelter Cluster partners and UNHCR direct implementation in central Rakhine, and 1,351 families (6,755 individuals) in 31 displacement sites received shelter material to prevent damage during the rainy season in April. In addition, 48 families (240 individuals) received tarpaulins and rope as well as portable solar lamps. Based on assessments carried out in northern Rakhine townships to identify persons with specific needs in both villages and displacement sites, including persons with disabilities, elderly, and single/female headed households,1,218 households (6,090 individuals) received NFI support, items included kitchen sets, mosquito nets, sleeping mats, jerry cans, blankets, tarpaulins. Field activities within the framework of creating conditions for sustainable solutions for displaced persons from Rakhine State remain ongoing. During the reporting period, a number of community-based projects have been progressing; two community water pond rehabilitation projects are near completion, as is the drilling of a borehole, while another borehole is in the early stages of work. The installation of 59 solar streetlights has been completed in three villages, and a road project and water pond project have been initiated in two village tracts. In another location, a project to improve village paths and access roads in two villages is more than halfway complete.....South-east: Sustained armed clashes in the southeast region of Myanmar between the Tatmadaw and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs), including the use of airstrikes, have led to the displacement of an estimated 44,300 people, 5,000 of whom have crossed the border into Thailand and have subsequently returned to Myanmar and remain displaced internally. The current political situation continues to result in the suspension of many activities in the southeast, both of UNHCR’s and partners’, aside from a few including those carried out by UNHCR through direct implementation. On 27 April, UNHCR distributed non-food items (NFIs) to new IDPs who fled from airstrikes in Hpa-Pun Township, benefitting 46 families (191 individuals). In coordination with the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS), UNHCR facilitated two first aid and trauma trainings targeting 35 members of the community and civil society organizations (CSOs) in Loikaw Township, Kayah State. Given the positive feedback received, two more similar trainings will be organized for May targeting 60 individuals. In March and April, the implementation of community-based projects in Kayin State progressed with an aim of improving infrastructure and supporting peaceful coexistence among communities. Several projects are in various stages of completion, including solar streetlight installation and the construction of a primary school, which are nearing completion, and the construction of a health centre including staff housing and the construction of a study hall are nearly half complete..."
Source/publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva) via Reliefweb (New York)
2021-04-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-15
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Topic: Burma/Myanmar – ethnic conflict – Bamar – Kachin – Rohingya
Topic: Burma/Myanmar – ethnic conflict – Bamar – Kachin – Rohingya
Description: "For four years since March 2011, when an entrenched military junta ceded power to a notionally civilian government headed by President Thein Sein (formerly prime minister in the outgoing junta), Myanmar has sought to make a transition to democracy. 1 One clear comparative lesson from the literature on transitions is that respect for ethnic and religious minorities is essential for the creation of a stable, consolidated democracy. Several components feed into this: protection of both individual and group rights, policies promoting inclusiveness and non-discrimination, and more generally a sense among minority groups that a level political playing field means that they too could one day have the chance to attain majority status. As part of the wider transition, the Myanmar government is sponsoring both a peace process with ethnic armed groups and, more broadly, an agenda of national reconciliation. Alongside peace talks, this has generated several disparate initiatives designed to bring people together across ethnic and religious fault lines. Nevertheless, at a time when low-grade civil conflict continues to plague both Kachin State and northern Shan State, and when sectarian violence remains potent across much of the society, long-standing divisions continue to have real social 1 In 1989, the military junta decreed a series of name changes for the country and many places within it. Burma became Myanmar, Rangoon became Yangon, Karen State became Kayin State, and so on. This article uses the old geographic terminology when focusing on the period before 1989, and the new terminology when focusing on the period after 1989. This usage is not intended to convey a political message..."
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Source/publisher: The University of Hong Kong
2015-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-15
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Sub-title: Refocussing Rakhine Nationalism
Description: "Many observers have characterised the recent events in Rakhine State in which the Arakan Army attacked Myanmar Police Posts as a further extension of ongoing ethnic armed conflicts in Myanmar. However, the underlying objectives of the Arakan Army do not correlate with the objectives of most other armed ethnic organisations that have been fighting for equality over the last sixty years. Rather, the Arakan Army’s creation and its later political position does not just seek equality and federalism but rather an autonomous Rakhine State.1 This is in itself should also be seen in the context of connections between Rakhine nationalism and the possible involvement of the Arakan Army/United League of Arakan (AA/ULA) in furthering that nationalist agenda. As AA/ULA Commander-in-Chief Major General Twan Mrat Naing notes, We prefer [a confederation of states] like Wa State, which has a larger share of power in line with the Constitution, adding that, . . . a confederation is “better” than federalism. . . And we think it [a confederation] is more appropriate to the history of Rakhine State and the hopes of the Arakanese people,2 He also continued, In a confederation, we have the authority to make decisions on our own. But there would be a common defence system. And there would be cooperation on market regulation and foreign affairs. To have control over our own destiny—selfdetermination—is the aspiration of every ethnic group. We can try,3 It remains unlikely the AA will ever see it objectives realised, seventy years of ethnic conflict suggests that the Myanmar Army, is unlikely to allow it to achieve any form of confederation. Instead the conflict is likely to continue and put further burden on an already over burdened populace. An issue the AA is acutely aware of the AA’s deputy chief, Brigadier General Dr. Nyo Twan Aung in a video message told ordinary Arakanese that if the current fighting in northern Rakhine State continues to worsen, it could spread to other places in the state. 4 In the same address he gave advice to residents in relation to an authorisation by the Rakhine State government giving permission to state police and military to carry out household checks in seven townships of northern Rakhine State, in an attempt to find..."
Source/publisher: Euro Burma Office
2019-04-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-11
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Sub-title: Portions of ethnic states remain in internet blackout as criticism grows
Description: "Myanmar citizens living in some of the country's ethnic conflict zones are facing difficulties accessing the internet due to government restrictions and the low level of communications infrastructure, despite national leader Aung San Suu Kyi's push for a digital economy in the aftermath the coronavirus pandemic. "Although access to [the] internet is a human rights issue in the digital era, there are places with no internet, slow internet and imposed internet shutdown by the government, especially in the conflict zones," Athan, an activist group supporting freedom of expression in Myanmar, said in a report critical of the government that was released on Dec. 23. In 2014, the government allowed foreign mobile operators to enter the country, which significantly reduced the mobile phone charges. The number of mobile subscriptions per 100 inhabitants increased to 113 in 2018 from just 13 in 2013, according to the International Telecommunication Union, an international organization. A number of mobile money services, enabling people to transfer money to each other using their phones, emerged from 2016. The government stressed the importance of and opportunities for digitalizing the economy, such as utilizing technology in money transfers. A speech on Dec. 20 by Aung San Suu Kyi, who carries the title of state counselor, highlighted this policy. "COVID-19 has thrown light on the significance of the digital system and the need for digital transformation to be launched with increased momentum," she said, stressing that the government is collaborating with the private sector to build digital platforms such as for trading goods and services..."
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Source/publisher: "Nikkei Asian Review" (Japan)
2021-01-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-04
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Sub-title: Three rapists were jailed for 20 years with hard labour in a case that pitted a 36-year-old mother of four against the powerful military.
Description: "Lodging a legal complaint pitted the 36-year-old mother of four against Myanmar’s most powerful institution, whose soldiers have long been accused by rights groups of using rape as a weapon of war in the country’s conflict zones. The crime was committed in June in northern Rakhine state – the site of a nearly two-year battle between the military and the Arakan Army, which is fighting for more autonomy for the ethnic Rakhine population. “Many women like me have already endured the same thing,” Thein Nu – who has been given a pseudonym to protect her identity – told the AFP news agency. “If I didn’t reveal this, it could lead to many more in Rakhine [being abused].” Her victory came after an initial denial from the military, which said she made up the allegations, and she still faces the glare of widespread social stigma, including from her husband who refuses to speak to her. Watershed moment? “I am both happy and sad,” she said, still in disbelief that the military tribunal ruled in her favour. “I don’t entirely believe this verdict will stop the rape and abuse against women in conflict areas because they (the military) are unreliable people with two faces.” In a rare acknowledgement of wrongdoing, the military on Saturday announced the verdict and sentence against the three rapists, trumpeting its own “transparent” investigation of the case. But observers warned it is too soon to judge whether Thein Nu’s victory will be a watershed moment for the armed forces – which ruled Myanmar outright until 2011 and still holds sway over many aspects of life in the country..."
Source/publisher: Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2020-12-19
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-04
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Description: "Police in Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu Township have opened cases against three local women under the Counterterrorism Law for allegedly funding the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic rebel group actively fighting the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw. “As the Myanmar military has filed lawsuits against them, we have opened cases. The plaintiff is the Myanmar military,” Police Captain Kyaw Zaw of the Kyaukphyu Township Police Station told The Irrawaddy. According to a statement on Tuesday from the Myanmar military’s Tatmadaw True News Information Team, Myanmar military troops arrested alleged AA supporter U Nyi Nyi Tun, a resident of Yenan Tun Village, on July 18. After the military troops interrogated him, they then arrested three women from the same village on July 22. In its statement on Tuesday, the military claimed that troops seized a camouflaged uniform without a badge and two police uniforms with insignias and badges from the house of one of the women, Daw Khin Myo Swe. The military has accused her of soliciting support for the AA in the township. The military accused two other women, Daw Hla Than Khin and Daw Pyar Ma, of collecting “protection money” and food for the AA from local residents. “We have said time and again that we will take actions under the Counterterrorism Law,” military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy. In March, the Myanmar government and the military designated the AA as a terrorist organization under the Counterterrorism Law and an “unlawful association” under section 15 (2) of the colonial-era Unlawful Associations Act. The three women face charges under Section 50 (j) of the Counterterrorism Law, which prohibits “financing terrorism”, as well as Section 52 (a), which prohibits activities that “knowingly involve a terrorist group.” They face up to seven years in prison if convicted..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2020-07-30
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The 44-year-old appears to be in stable condition at the Mrauk U hospital
Description: "A mother of four was shot in the back while fleeing fighting near her home in northern Rakhine state on Monday. Ma Tin Kyi, 44, is currently being treated at Mrauk U hospital. She was shot as she fled fighting in Pha Pyo, an ethnically Chin village in Rakhine's Minbya township that was hit by fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) on July 20. “She heard gunshots and fled her house but was shot in the back when she went outside,” Shwe Kyaw Tin, the victim’s brother-in-law, told Myanmar Now. “Bullets hit every house in the village but no one was hurt except my sister-in-law,” he added. “Everyone else hid.” Ma Tin Kyi is the mother of three teenagers and one 20-year-old. She was first taken to Minbya hospital then later transferred to Mrauk U, where she is currently being treated. Relatives told Myanmar Now she is conscious and responsive but that the bullet is still lodged inside of her. A military convoy traveling through Minbya to Kan Ni village via the Yangon-Sittwe highway was ambushed by AA troops about six miles from Pha Pyo that night, according to a statement released by the military on Tuesday. Battalions arrived to support the convoy, the military said, and several Tatmadaw soldiers were injured in the ensuing clash. Minbya township MP Hla Thein Aung told Myanmar Now shots had been fired from the nearby Kyein Taung hill, and that fighting near Pha Pyo is still ongoing. “They are still firing artillery shells,” he said Tuesday. Most of the more than 400 families in Pha Pyo, including Ma Tin Kyi's, are ethnically Chin. They have largely chosen to remain in the village for now, but they told Myanmar Now they are worried for their safety. The AA has been fighting the Myanmar military for greater autonomy in Rakhine state since at least 2018. The military and central government have labelled the AA as terrorists. On April 20, a WHO driver carrying Covid-19 swab samples to testing sites was killed in Minbya when his vehicle caught in fighting. On July 16 the Tatmadaw announced a new “anti-terrorism” operation against AA insurgents in nearby Rathedaung township. Two days later - after about a month of relative quiet - fighting in Minbya resumed. An alliance of ethnic armed groups including the AA said in a July 21 statement that labeling the AA an “unlawful, terrorist” organisation only hinders the stalled peace process between the military and the several ethnic groups fighting for autonomy..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2020-07-22
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The rebel Arakan Army has set up civil administrations in parts of western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, collecting taxes and arresting illegal drug users — making good on a pledge to provide governance to underpin the ethnic Rakhine autonomy the armed group has been fighting for. The predominantly Buddhist ethnic army has been at war with Myanmar forces in northern Rakhine state and in Paletwa township of neighboring Chin state for 19 months. It is the newest of many conflicts the national army has been waging with ethnic armies since the former Burma became independent from Britain in 1948. The AA set up shop in 2009 in Laiza, northern Myanmar’s Kachin state, and five years later declared its long-term intention of returning to its Rakhine homeland and establishing its own government in the state. In December 2019, AA leaders announced the formation of a Rakhine People’s Authority to levy taxes on businesses to fund its operations and that of its political wing, the United League of Arakan, as well as administer areas under its control in Rakhine state. The AA is estimated to have 9,000 fighters. At the time, AA spokesman Khine Thukha told RFA that the formation of the authority was legitimate because it would initiate a new form of government in a bid to reestablish the historic Arakan nation that existed centuries earlier. “This body has an obvious revenue-generation function, but its creation is probably more important as a demonstration of the group’s de facto authority and territorial control and assertion of its legitimacy,” said a report on armed conflict and politics in Rakhine state issued in June by the International Crisis Group. “Armed groups in other major conflicts in Myanmar over the decades have taken similar steps,” the report said. Branded an illegal organization and terrorist group by the Myanmar government in March, the AA demanded on May 29 that all government administrative offices and the military immediately leave northern Rakhine state..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2020-07-20
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Amnesty International has collected new evidence showing that indiscriminate airstrikes by the Myanmar military have killed civilians, including children, amid worsening armed conflict in the country’s Rakhine and Chin States. These attacks and other serious human rights violations by the Myanmar military, also known as the Tatmadaw, are taking place in townships where internet has been cut off for more than a year. Residents have been in the dark over the threat from COVID-19 and deprived of information about humanitarian assistance. Rakhine State has been largely spared a major COVID-19 outbreak, although cases were on the rise in June. “While Myanmar authorities were urging people to stay at home to help stop COVID-19, in Rakhine and Chin states its military was burning down homes and killing civilians in indiscriminate attacks that amount to war crimes,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director. “Despite mounting international pressure on the military’s operations in the area, including at the International Court of Justice, the shocking testimonies we have collected show just how deep impunity continues to run within Myanmar military ranks.” In May and June 2020, Amnesty International remotely interviewed more than two dozen ethnic Rakhine and Chin people affected by military operations, including airstrikes and shelling; analyzed fresh satellite imagery of burned down villages; and verified video footage showing violations carried out by the Myanmar military..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2020-07-08
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Amnesty says Myanmar military carried out 'indiscriminate' air strikes in Rakhine, calls for war crimes investigation.
Description: "Myanmar's military has killed civilians, including children, in indiscriminate air attacks amid worsening conflict in the country's western Rakhine and Chin states, a prominent rights group has said, urging the United Nations Security Council to launch a war crimes investigation. In a new report on Wednesday, Amnesty International said it collected new evidence showing Myanmar's military - also known as the Tatmadaw - bombed several villages in Chin state in March and April, killing more than a dozen people. One witness who was interviewed remotely told the group that an air raid in Paletwa Township on March 14 and 15 killed his uncle, his brother and his brother's 16-year-old friend. Two people from another family in the same village cluster said nine people, including a seven-year-old boy, were also killed in the bombardment. "Our family is destroyed," the boy's father told Amnesty. In another round of aerial raids in Paletwa on April 7, seven people were killed and eight wounded, the report said, citing testimony from a farmer. The indiscriminate attacks, which Amnesty said amounted to war crimes due to civilian deaths, came amid a surge in fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA), an armed group seeking greater autonomy for the Buddhist Rakhine people who make up most of the state's population. Rakhine is also home to the mostly Muslim Rohingya, and borders Chin state, whose people are mostly Christian. The conflict escalated in January last year following an AA attack on police posts and worsened in March after Myanmar's government officially labelled the group a terrorist organisation. The AA posed "a danger to law and order, peace and stability of the country and public peace," it said..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2020-07-08
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Evacuees are straining shelters in the state’s north, where more than 150,000 had already been displaced
Description: "Nearly two weeks after the military announced new “clearance operations” in northern Rakhine state, villagers continue to flee their homes. The operation has focused on Kyauktan village, in Rathedaung township, but has also spilled into villages in nearby Ann township. Border affairs and security minister colonel Min Than, who announced the operation, told Myanmar Now on Monday that the military had clashed with Arakan Army (AA) troops outside of Kyauktan over the weekend and into the week. The AA, an armed ethnic Rakhine group, is fighting for greater state autonomy. The government earlier this year declared them a terrorist organisation. “We can’t just let the AA occupy this area and not attack them,” he said. Htay Aung, who fled Kyauktan just after the operation was announced, on June 23, told Myanmar Now earlier this week that he can still hear the artillery fire from the town of Rathedaung, where he is now sheltering. He said the military was targeting Kyauktan and nearby Aung Thar Si village. Rathedaung MP Khin Maung Latt told Myanmar Now military troops entered the area on June 28 and 29 and that the clashes are still ongoing. “We haven’t heard gunfire today but the markets and shops are still closed,” he said on Monday. At about 7pm on June 26, artillery shelling killed two villagers in Nat Maw village, thirty miles northwest of the city of Ann..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2020-07-03
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar’s military is conducting offensives against the Arakan Army in Rakhine state’s Rathedaung township, according to villagers who have taken refuge in the state capital Sittwe as talk of a gathering army campaign drove 20,000 from their homes over the past week. Among some 300 displaced Rakhine villagers from the Mu-sae Kan area of southern Rathedaung who made it to Sittwe, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of the conflict zone, were men and women who said they heard gunfire as they fled their communities and feared possible arrest and torture by government troops. They were part of a mass flight of an estimated 40,000 internal refugees that began during the last week of June when the military told the state government that it would conduct “clearance operations” to ferret out AA soldiers said to be near the Kyauktan village tract of northern Rathedaung township. Rathedaung and other townships in Rakhine have been at the center of the fighting in a 19-month-old conflict between government forces and the AA that has killed about 260 civilians and now displaced nearly 200,000 others in the state. Refugees from several villages in southern Rathedaung township said government troops were firing around settlements as they fled. “As we were on our way here, we heard gunfire coming from nearby Kanpyin village, [and] we had to hide beside the road,” a woman from the Mu-sae Kan area told RFA on Wednesday. She said her family made their way village by village to Sittwe, encountering abandoned communities on the way..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2020-07-03
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The remarks from the Myanmar Armed forces head was made while he was in Russia to attend the 75th anniversary of the country’s Victory Day. Myanmar armed forces maintain close links with Russian armed forces and purchases equipment from Russia.
Description: "Myanmar Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has called for international cooperation in fighting and claimed that terrorist groups exist because of the “strong forces that support them”. While he did not name forces but observers indicated that he referred to Chinese support for some insurgent groups in Myanmar. The remarks from the Myanmar Armed forces head was made while he was in Russia to attend the 75th anniversary of the country’s Victory Day. Myanmar armed forces maintain close links with Russian armed forces and purchases equipment from Russia. During the visit Gen Min Aung Hlaing held talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on how to promote ties between their countries’ armed forces, border security and counter-insurgency operations along the border. When asked by Russian state-run ZVEZDA News Agency about terrorism in Myanmar, the military chief said, “A country may be able to suppress terrorist organizations on its soil. But in cases when there are strong forces behind that terrorist organization, the country alone may not be able to handle it.” The senior general stressed the need for cooperation between partners and countries that oppose terrorism, saying that it is otherwise difficult to combat terrorist organizations. The comments made on the Russian territory were significant..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Economic Times" (India)
2020-07-01
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Myanmar suspects that China was trying to use terror groups as a bargaining chip for smooth implementation of Belt and Road Initiative projects.
Description: "Myanmar, China’s closest ally in southeast Asia, has pointed fingers at Beijing for arming insurgent groups with sophisticated weapons and sought international cooperation to suppress rebel groups. In a recent interview to Russian state-run TV channel Zvezda, Myanmar’s Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said terrorist organisations active in Myanmar are backed by ‘strong forces’ and sought international cooperation to suppress rebel groups. The reference to ‘strong forces’ was widely seen to be a reference to Myanmar’s neighbour in the north, China. Myanmar military spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun later elaborated on the comment made by the Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar’s armed forces. The spokesperson said the army chief was referring to Arakan Army (AA) and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), terrorist organisations active in the Rakhine State in western Myanmar that borders China. A ‘foreign country’ is behind the Arakan Army (AA), he said, citing China-made weapons that terror group used in mine attacks on the military in 2019. It is unusual for the Myanmar leadership to point fingers at China. But this isn’t the first time that Naypyitaw had alluded to the Chinese connection. When the Myanmar military busted a huge cache of weapons including surface-to-air missiles - each costing between USD 70,000 and 90,000 - from the banned Ta’ang National Liberation Army in November 2019, the military had underlined the Chinese connection to the weapons. Most of the weapons seized by the force are “Chinese weapons,” military spokesperson Major General Tun Tun Nyi had declared..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Hindustan Times " (India)
2020-07-02
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "On 25 June, the security situation deteriorated in the Kyauk Tan area of Rathedaung Township, following an announcement of a “clearance operation” by the Myanmar Armed Forces. While instruction for the operation was revoked by the Rakhine State Government on 26 June, local sources report that incidents continued in the area at the time of reporting. According to local reports, as a result of an intensification of fighting, an increased presence of security forces both army and navy followed, with reports of shooting as well as shelling across several villages of the Kyauk Tan village tract. The scope and impact of clashes in the area are not fully known at this time, at least in part due to the limited access to the area by humanitarian workers. On 28 June, the United Nations issued a statement expressing concern over the humanitarian impact of the conflict, and called on all parties to respect International Humanitarian Law, protect civilians and infrastructure and allow for humanitarian access. Similar concerns were echoed by the diplomatic missions and the INGOs..."
Source/publisher: OCHA UNHCR via "Reliefweb" (New York)
2020-06-30
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-01
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Sub-title: Myanmar has accused a “foreign country” of arming the nation’s rebel groups, including the Arkan Army (AA). Hinting at China’s active role, Myanmar has alleged that Beijing is supplying sophisticated military weapons to create insurgency in the nation.
Description: "It is reported that Brig Gen Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson for Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) has stated that a “foreign country” is behind the Arkan Army, which is a declared terrorist organisation. He reasons his claim by citing an incident from 2019 where modern technologies were utilised by Arkan Army, in mine attacks on the military in Rakhine state. It was also revealed by U Min Zaw Oo, the executive director of Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security that a majority of the weapons used by Myanmar ethnic armed groups operating near the Chinese border are made in China..."
Source/publisher: "The Eur Asian Times"
2020-06-30
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: According to a news report published in Myanmar recently, Brig Gen Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson for Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) has said that a foreign country is behind the Arakan Army (AA), citing modern technologies that AA has allegedly used in mine attacks on the military in Rakhine state in 2019. The AA is a declared terrorist organization in Myanmar.
Description: "India’s immediate neighbour in SE Asia Myanmar has alleged that ‘one foreign country’ is arming the Arkan Army, a rebel group, with sophisticated military technology indicating China's active role in arming insurgent groups. According to a news report published in Myanmar recently, Brig Gen Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson for Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) has said that a foreign country is behind the Arakan Army (AA), citing modern technologies that AA has allegedly used in mine attacks on the military in Rakhine state in 2019. The AA is a declared terrorist organization in Myanmar. China's aggressive posturing in SE Asia is facing a pushback with ASEAN states recently emphasising on UNCLOS to address disputes in the South China Sea region where China has created artificial islands and military bases. U Min Zaw Oo, executive director of Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security, has said that while China has a policy of non-intervention in the affairs of other countries, most of the weapons used by the Myanmar ethnic armed groups operating near Chinese border are made in China.
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Economic Times" (India)
2020-06-29
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Thousands of villagers have fled their homes as the Tatmadaw (military) launched an offensive against the Arakan Army (AA) in five villages in Rathedaung township in Rakhine State, a local legislator said on June 28.
Description: "The Tatmadaw launched the offensive last week based on information that the five villages harboured AA fighters, said U Khin Maung Latt, MP for Rakhine in the Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House). "There is no one left in the villages now," he added. He identified the villages as Kyauk Tan, Aung Thar Si, Maung Phyu, Yeah Poat, and Kyaw Yan Thar Si. Colonel Min Than, Rakhine’s minister for Security and Border Affairs, had warned local officials that the Tatmadaw planned a “clearance operation” in Kyauk Tan and nearby areas on June 25. The government had ordered the Tatmadaw not to use the term "clearance operation," as the villagers could misunderstand it to be an all-out attack, so Colonel Min Than revoked his order on June 26. The offensive was launched days after three border police and their civilian drivers were killed in an ambush by the AA in Koetenkauk village on June 23. Another four police officers and a civilian were injured.
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
2020-06-29
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Thousands of villagers have fled their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state after a local administrator warned dozens of village leaders that the army planned “clearance operations” against insurgents, a lawmaker and a humanitarian group said. But a government spokesman said late on Saturday (Jun 27) an evacuation order issued by border-affairs officials had been revoked. Border affairs acknowledged issuing the order through the local administrator but said it affected fewer villages. The warning to the village leaders came in a letter written on Wednesday, which was seen by Reuters and verified by a state government minister, Colonel Min Than. The letter, signed by the administrator of Rathedaung township, Aung Myint Thein, told village leaders he had been informed the operations were planned in the township's Kyauktan village and nearby areas suspected of harbouring insurgents. The letter does not specify where the order came from, but Min Than, Rakhine state’s border affairs and security minister, told Reuters it was an instruction from his border affairs ministry, one of three Myanmar government ministries controlled by the army..."
Source/publisher: "CNA" ( Singapore)
2020-06-28
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Hundreds of thousands of people trapped near fierce fighting in Myanmar's far west may know nothing of Covid-19 thanks to a yearlong internet shutdown, according to rights groups. Last June, the Myanmar government, led by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, cut internet access to nine townships in the area due to concerns that it was being used to inflame clashes between the Myanmar military and insurgents. One township its service restored in May, but eight others, with a total population of about 800,000 people, remain in an information blackout. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International say the extended shutdown is putting lives at risk, not only because it's preventing people from reporting possible human rights abuses -- but because it has cut off them off from public health campaigns about the coronavirus pandemic. "With armed conflict between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army in Rakhine State amid a pandemic, it's critical for civilians to get the information needed to stay safe," Linda Lakhdhir, Asia legal adviser at Human Rights Watch said in a statement..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "CNN" (USA)
2020-06-24
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Locals and campaigners appeal for an end to the blackout as coronavirus fears grip the region.
Description: "The internet shutdown in Myanmar's conflict-ridden northwest, described by rights groups as the world's longest, has entered a second year. Locals and campaigners are appealing for an end to the blackout as coronavirus fears grip the region. More: UN's Guterres asks Bangladesh to move Rohingya to refugee camps First coronavirus case found in Bangladesh Rohingya refugee camps Bangladesh quarantines hundreds of Rohingya rescued from sea The Myanmar military has been embroiled in a bloody civil war since January 2019 against the Arakan Army (AA), a rebel group fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists. The government shut down mobile data in several townships across Rakhine state and neighbouring Chin state on June 21 last year, causing panic among residents desperate for information about the unrest. On Friday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) called for an immediate end to "the world's longest government-enforced internet shutdown". "It's critical for civilians to get the information needed to stay safe" during a global pandemic, said HRW's Linda Lakhdhir. The country has so far recorded 287 coronavirus cases, including six deaths, but experts fear the low numbers are due to a lack of testing..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2020-06-21
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Violence against children increased sixfold in first three months of 2020 compared with the last three months of 2019.
Description: "The escalation in fighting between Myanmar's military and ethnic Rakhine rebels in recent months has triggered a surge in violence against children and left some villagers facing starvation. The humanitarian group, Save the Children, said in a report on Tuesday that the conflict in the far west of Myanmar has left children increasingly exposed. "The widespread use of mines and improvised explosive devices poses a specific threat to children," Duncan Harvey, Save the Children's top official in Myanmar, said in a statement. "The numbers paint a stark picture," Harvey said, pointing to the report, which verified dozens of incidents of children being killed or maimed. Between January and March this year in the central part of Rakhine State alone, 18 children were killed and 71 children were physically injured or maimed, according to the report. In comparison, there were three recorded cases of children being killed and 12 others injured between October-December 2019..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2020-06-23
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Security personnel are suspected of helping to transport people who recently entered northern Arakan State illegally from Bangladesh, according to presidential spokesperson U Zaw Htay. “Frankly speaking, human traffickers smuggle returnees and drugs into the Maungdaw region in cooperation with security personnel,” U Zaw Htay said during a press conference held at the Presidential Palace in Nay Pyi Taw on June 19. He added that action under Myanmar immigration law would be taken against the illegal returnees and those responsible for facilitating their return. Although a fence is built along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, complete control of border crossings is not possible, he contended, saying it is believed that the trafficking routes include difficult-to-patrol stretches such as small creeks used by locals for fishing. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Myanmar government has suspended the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of refugees living across the border in Bangladesh camps. But since the suspension, the number of illegal returnees has reached 81, according to a source from the Maungdaw deputy commissioner’s office. Among the unlawful entrants, four from Maungdaw Township and three from Buthidaung Township have tested positive for coronavirus..."
Source/publisher: "Eurasia Review"
2020-06-21
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The three are among hundreds detained by soldiers and police in Rakhine state since late 2018
Description: "The father of a seriously injured man who was taken from his home in Rakhine’s Mrauk-U township by Tatmadaw soldiers without explanation has said he is innocent and called for his release. Than Myint Htay, 31, was bedbound at home in Leik Sin Pyin village recovering from a stomach wound after a tractor accident last week when soldiers showed up to detain him. His father, San Tun Phyu, has been unable to see him since and the military has refused to say why they took him. “My son did nothing wrong,” he told Myanmar Now. “I just want them to release him as soon as possible.” Family members travelled to Tein Nyo village, where he was held temporarily on his way to another detention center, to plead for his release. They told soldiers his stomach wound was serious, San Tun Phyu said, but an officer said Than Myint Htay could not be released because he needed to be interrogated. Than Myint Htay is one of at least 800 people the Tatmadaw and police have detained in Rakhine since clashes started in late 2018, according to figures compiled by the Thazin Legal Aid Network. The group said this number only includes people who have appeared in court to face charges..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2020-06-19
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Conflict, violence, persecution forces 11 million to flee in 2019, as coronavirus pandemic worsens plight of refugees.
Description: "Nearly 80 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide by the end of last year as a result of conflict, violence, persecution and human rights violations, according to the United Nations. Ahead of World Refugee Day on June 20, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, released its annual report on displacement on Thursday, which showed an estimated 11 million more people fled their homes in 2019, almost doubling the total figure over the past More: The Syrian refugee on the UK's coronavirus front lines Nine of 10 most neglected displacement crises in Africa How Afghan refugees are helping Turkey fight coronavirus Among the overall 79.5 million displaced people globally, 26 million were refugees, 4.2 million asylum seekers and 45.7 million internally displaced people (IDPs) - those who fled to other parts of their own country, the report said. "Forced displacement is vastly more widespread and common today. The world's biggest conflicts are driving this and they must be brought to an end," Selin Unal, UNHCR Turkey spokesperson, told Al Jazeera. The UNHCR said the annual increase was a result of a "worrying new displacement" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Sahel region, war-torn Yemen and Syria - which alone accounted for a sixth of the world's displaced..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2020-06-18
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Lift Restrictions in Embattled Rakhine, Chin States
Description: "The Myanmar government should immediately lift all internet restrictions in eight townships in Rakhine and Chin States, Human Rights Watch said today. The mobile internet shutdown, which began on June 21, 2019, is affecting more than a million people living in a conflict zone. The internet shutdown, along with restrictions on access by aid agencies, has meant that people in some villages are unaware of the Covid-19 outbreak, humanitarian workers told Human Rights Watch. Local groups report that the shutdown has made it difficult to coordinate the distribution of aid to conflict-affected communities, and to communicate with their field teams to ensure staff safety. A local editor said the shutdown greatly impedes media coverage of the fighting between the Myanmar military and the ethnic Arakan Army, making it hard for villagers to get up-to-date information. “Myanmar should immediately end what is now the world’s longest government-enforced internet shutdown,” said Linda Lakhdhir, Asia legal adviser at Human Rights Watch. “With armed conflict between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army in Rakhine State amid a pandemic, it’s critical for civilians to get the information needed to stay safe.” The government first imposed restrictions on mobile internet communications in the townships of Buthidaung, Kyauktaw, Maungdaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Myebon, Ponnagyun, and Rathedaung in Rakhine State and Paletwa township in Chin State. The government temporarily lifted restrictions in five townships from September 2019 until February 2020, when they were reinstated. On May 2, the authorities lifted the restrictions in Maungdaw..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
2020-06-19
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Seventy-three village and ward administrators have resigned in Myebon township in Rakhine State after three colleagues were arrested and charged with associating with the Arakan Army, a Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) MP said on June 17.
Description: "U Pe Than, MP for Myebon township, said the local leaders quit last week after police charged three of their colleagues under the anti-terrorism law with aiding AA fighters. "They resigned out of concern that they could be arrested too," he said. The three village administrators charged in a Myebon court in early June were identified as U Maung Zaw of Ange Thit village, U Kyaw Myint of Ywar Thit Kay village, and U Aung Than of Myauk Kyein village. They face up to seven years in prison if found guilty. Fighting between the Tatmadaw (military) and AA erupted in November 2018, when the ethnic armed group tried to establish a base in Mrauk-U township. The fighting grew throughout 2019, and the AA has killed and captured soldiers and police at remote government outposts in several attacks. Paletwa township in nearby Chin State was also the scene of intense fighting, which cut all transportation routes to the township for four months, sparking a severe food shortage. The government and United Nations’ World Food Programme finally succeeded in delivering food to Paletwa in April and early May. The fighting has forced more than 140,000 people to flee their homes in Rakhine and Chin. U Tin Myint, deputy minister of the Union Government Office, said the government has warned village administrators not to aid the AA, which it declared a terrorist group on March 23. "Police are now charging village administrators under the anti-terrorism law with supporting a terrorist group," he said. "If the police suspect us of supporting the AA, we will be arrested," a village administrator, who refused to be named for safety reasons, said on June 16. “So we are resigning." Thazin, a Rakhine-based aid group, said the government has prosecuted about 700 civilians, including village administrators, under the anti-terrorism law..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
2020-06-18
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The Arakan Army (AA) has released an interview with a captive Tatmadaw (military) officer who claimed to have killed three Muslim men suspected of belonging to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) during the Tatmadaw’s massive crackdown in northern Rakhine State in 2017.
Description: "ARSA launched deadly attacks on more than 30 military outposts in northern Rakhine in August 2017, sparking the crackdown and the exodus of more than 740,000 Muslims across the border to Bangladesh, where they continue to live in crowded refugee camps. International organisations accused the Tatmadaw of killing thousands of Muslims and committing mass rape and other human rights abuses during the crackdown, and Gambia, acting on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, filed a genocide lawsuit against Myanmar in the International Court of Justice last November. In the interview, the Tatmadaw officer, identified as Captain Nyi Nyi Zaw, said Tatmadaw troops shot dead three Muslim men suspected of belonging to ARSA near Zin Pai Nyar village in Maungdaw townsCapt Nyi Nyi Zaw, of the 345th Light Infantry Battalion under the 15th Military Operation Command in Buthidaung township, was among several people the AA seized aboard a passenger ferry in October 2019. AA spokesperson Khaing Thu Kha denied that the AA forced the officer to make the accusations.hip in September 2017. Tatmadaw spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun denied the claims and accused the AA of forcing the officer to make the confession..." “He has been held captive for months, so he will have to do as the AA tells him,” he said. “It’s untrue. We carry out all our missions according to military rules.”
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
2020-06-18
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Fighting in Myanmar’s Rakhine State is taking a rising toll. It will hinder any effort to contain COVID-19 or resolve the Rohingya crisis. Rather than trying to defeat the Arakan Army, Naypyitaw should negotiate with ethnic Rakhine, endeavouring to convince them of electoral democracy’s benefits.
Description: "The armed conflict being waged between government forces and the ethnic Rakhine Arakan Army in western Myanmar is currently the most serious by far of the country’s multiple, decades-old internal wars, with some of the most sustained and intense fighting seen in many years. After the conflict escalated significantly in early 2019, the government ordered a tough military response and on 23 March designated the Arakan Army as a terrorist organisation. These measures have exacerbated the grievances underlying the conflict and made a negotiated end to the fighting more difficult to attain. At the same time, neither side will be able to achieve their military objectives. The government needs a political strategy, now missing, to negotiate with Rakhine leaders, address their community’s grievances, and demonstrate that electoral democracy and political negotiation offer a realistic and effective path to realising their aspirations. The trajectory of the armed conflict is alarming, complicating problems in a state already traumatised by the separate crisis that resulted in the violent expulsion of more than 700,000 minority Rohingya to neighbouring Bangladesh in 2016-2017. Over the last eighteen months, clashes have increased in regularity and intensity, their geographical scope has expanded and the civilian toll has grown. Despite the significant loss of life on both sides, nothing suggests that Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, is wearing down the Arakan Army or degrading its ability to operate. But nor is there reason to believe that the Arakan Army can achieve its aim of greater political autonomy on the battlefield. Civilians are paying a heavy price, caught in the crossfire or targeted as Arakan Army partisans or for harbouring fighters in their villages. Schools and medical facilities have been hit with alarming regularity, with each side usually blaming the other. It is difficult to see how general elections, which were provisionally slated for November, could be held in many parts of Rakhine State, the conflict’s locus..."
Source/publisher: "International Crisis Group (ICG)" (Belgium)
2020-06-09
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "As conflict escalates in western Myanmar amid the rise of coronavirus cases in the country, there is growing concern of a deepening humanitarian crisis. As of May 26, Myanmar has recorded 206 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 6 deaths. Clashes between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA), an armed group seeking greater autonomy for ethnic Rohingya people, have displaced hundred thousand people since conflicts started over a year ago. Recent spike in conflicts since late March have left 32 deaths, 71 injuries and forced more people to flee their homes. Last month, former UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar Yanghee Lee accused the Myanmar army of new atrocities and called for investigation into “war crimes and crimes against humanity” in the country’s Rakhine and Chin states. Developments in the past month suggest that the situation in conflict-affected areas may further deteriorate and put vulnerable people at risk during the pandemic. On May 10, the Myanmar military announced a unilateral “ceasefire” with the objective it claimed was to help contain and prevent the spread of the global pandemic. However, the ceasefire left out Rakhine state and Paletwa township of Chin state, where clashes between the AA and the Myanmar military have been intensifying in recent weeks. Earlier in March, the Myanmar government designated the AA as a terrorist group. The Myanmar military’s decision to keep Rakhine and Chin states out of the ceasefire seems to be driven by its calculation that the pandemic provides an opportunity for it to focus on the AA, as the ceasefire allow it to keep the peace with other ethnic armed organizations in different parts of the country and even explore ways to work together in the fight against the pandemic. A recent reshuffle of the Myanmar military’s top brass, a report suggests, was primarily aimed at concentrating on the Rakhine conflict. Citing “insiders”, the report claims that “moderate” officers have been replaced in key positions with direct implications on the Rakhine conflict. The visit of Myanmar commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to Shan state and his meetings with leaders of ethnic armed groups such as the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) are also believed to have links with the development in Rakhine state..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Observer Research Foundation (ORF)" (India)
2020-05-30
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: " Two alleged Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) fighters died in a clash with security forces on Thursday evening on the Bangladesh border, according to Myanmar’s military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun. “Troops undertaking border security duties clashed with around 30 ARSA troops at around 4 pm on Thursday. We found two bodies and two guns with them,” said Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun. Border police on patrol engaged with alleged ARSA personnel near Mee Dike Village between border posts 34 and 35. After 30 minutes of fighting, the ARSA personnel retreated to the southeast, according to Myanmar’s military. Two ARSA fighters in uniforms were found dead along with firearms and ammunition. Some police were injured, said Myanmar’s military. Several clashes have been reported by government troops in recent years with ARSA in northern Rakhine State near the Bangladesh border. Myanmar’s military is also engaged in ongoing, heavy fighting with the Arakan Army in northern Rakhine State. Two policemen were wounded in an alleged ARSA ambush on a Border Guard Police patrol on the border in early May. According to the military, ARSA – which the government has labeled a terrorist organization – launched a series of attacks on security outposts in northern Rakhine on Aug. 25, 2017, killing 12 personnel. The attacks prompted Myanmar’s military to carry out clearance operations that have driven around 730,000 Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh. The Gambia, a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, filed a case accusing Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya at the International Court of Justice. The UN court in January ordered Myanmar to comply with four provisional measures as requested by The Gambia..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2020-06-05
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The Ministry of Education is having problems getting schools ready to reopen because some are being used as COVID-19 quarantine facilities or temporary shelters for villagers fleeing fighting between the Arakan Army (AA) and Tatmadaw (military).
Description: "In Shan State, 13 basic education schools serving as quarantine centres have still not been returned to the authorities, said U Win Maung, Shan State’s education officer. He said the schools are being used to quarantine migrant workers who have returned from China or Thailand. “It’s the government’s responsibility to arrange for suitable alternative quarantine sites,” he said. “Township education officers will inform them about it on June 15. There should not be any delay.” U Sai Phoe Phyat, a state legislator for Muse, said schools in his township are being used as quarantine facilities. In Rakhine State, which has only one confirmed COVID-19 case, several schools are being used as temporary shelters for villagers displaced by fighting between the AA and Tatmadaw. Most of the 7000 displaced villagers in Kyauktaw township are staying in nine schools, said U Maung Than Sein, a Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) MP for Kyauktaw. “We can’t just tell them to move,” he said. “The authorities should find them suitable accommodation elsewhere.” On May 26, the government announced that high school classes would resume first, followed by primary and middle schools two weeks later. But there is a strong possibility that some schools in Rakhine would not be able to reopen due to the fighting. On May 13, the Union Government Office ordered the return of 6021 school buildings being used as quarantine centres or temporary refugee camps by June 15 so that the Ministry of Education could prepare them for the reopening of classes..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
2020-06-05
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Myanmar military has rejected a proposal by three ethnic armies to begin cease-fire talks in a bid to kick-start the country’s stalled peace process, instead vowing further retaliation for armed offensives and ambushes, a military spokesman said Tuesday. The Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armies — the Arakan Army (AA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) — extended the invitation to begin peace talks in a statement issued Monday. De facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s four-year-old government has long sought to end Myanmar’s multiple ethnic wars with historic peace talks. But those talks have sputtered, while only 10 of the country’s 20-some ethnic armies have signed a 2015 nationwide cease-fire pact that is seen as the foundation of peace talks. The Brotherhood Alliance trio, which has not signed the agreement, also announced Monday that it was extending a current unilateral cease-fire from June 1 to Aug. 31, and issued an appeal for both sides to protect civilians, end the civil war, and assist with coronavirus prevention activities. The announcement came three days after the AA launched a retaliatory attack on a border guard outpost in Rakhine state, killing four policemen and capturing six others. The AA also seized three family members of the officers, but later released them. The AA ambushed the outpost to strike back at government soldiers for an attack on the AA in Paletwa township of abutting Chin state, which the AA also claims as its territory. In March, the Myanmar government declared the AA, a predominantly Buddhist force that seeks greater autonomy for ethnic Rakhine people in the state, an illegal association and terrorist group — raising the stakes in a conflict that begin with AA attacks on government border posts in late 2018 and early 2019..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
2020-06-02
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Residents fled Lekkar village last April, when fighting between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army came to town
Description: "More than 190 homes in an abandoned village in northern Rakhine state were set ablaze Saturday, locals told Myanmar Now. Villagers fled Lekkar village, in Mrauk-U township, for nearby monasteries and displaced persons camps more than a year ago, when fighting between the military and the Arakan Army (AA) intensified there. Residents in Pi Pin Yin village, about a mile and a half from Lekkar, heard gunshots and an explosion around 2pm Saturday, then saw smoke rising from the village, a local monk who requested anonymity told Myanmar Now. The monk is a native of Lekkar but is currently living in Pi Pin Yin. He said his relatives’ homes were lost in the fire. The residents of nearby villages, including Pi Pin Yin and Bu Ywat Ma Nyo, told Myanmar Now they saw Tatmadaw troops entering the village around the time the fires began and the monk in Pi Pin Yin said he saw the same troops leaving around 5pm. Nearby villagers also told the Sittwe-based Development Media Group they saw about 50 Tatmadaw soldiers enter the village just before the gunshots and fires began. The military’s commander-in-chief said in a statement released on Sunday that Tatmadaw troops entered the village Saturday afternoon while patrolling the area and were attacked by the AA. When Tatmadaw troops fired back, it said, AA soldiers began setting the homes on fire before retreating into the mountains east of the village..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2020-05-18
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: NLD members are in hiding and Rakhine nationalists from the ANP have gone off the radar after being released on bail as rivalries turn ugly in Taungup
Description: "In 2012, 12 Muslim men were dragged off a bus and murdered by a mob while travelling through Taungup in southern Rakhine. It was the start of a bout of sectarian riots that helped plunge the state into the chaos it faces today. But despite this grim mob killing, the township has since been largely peaceful and stable compared to other parts of Rakhine. The armed conflict and hostile nationalist politics that have scarred the north - where the Arakan Army (AA) is battling the Myanmar military for greater autonomy - have mostly spared the state’s south. But events in recent weeks suggest this is changing. It started on May 5 when 53-year-old Than Shwe, who worked closely with the NLD and served his village’s Covid-19 prevention committee, was abducted in the early hours of the morning. A military statement later that afternoon claimed that he had been snatched by “knife-wielding” AA members as he slept in his home in Bu Shwe Maw village. Two days after the abduction, the Sittwe-based Development Media Group reported that several NLD members in Taungup had gone into hiding after a group of people posing as police officers tried to arrest them. “Who else will have to run?” asked former Rakhine municipal affairs minister Min Aung, who lives in Taungup and is an NLD member, in a Facebook post. “They’ve abducted U Than Shwe and he’s just a normal civilian in Bu Shwe Maw. We don’t know if he’s been killed or not.”..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2020-05-29
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Military says it will “take action” against soldiers who beat civilians in videos that went viral on Sunday
Description: "The Myanmar military has admitted its soldiers beat a group of civilian detainees in Rakhine state after videos of the incident went viral on social media this weekend. Five Rakhine villagers, all in their early 20s, were arrested in their hometown of Ponnagyun and charged under anti-terrorism laws in late April. They’ve been in Tatmadaw and police custody since. In three separate videos that went viral on Sunday, Tatmadaw soldiers are seen repeatedly beating the blindfolded and handcuffed young men on a boat on the way to Sittwe, the state capital, on April 27. “Some members of the security forces performed unlawful interrogations against them,” the military said in a statement on Tuesday evening. In the video, a man in a Tatmadaw hat shouts “we’ll kill all of you” as he steps on the detainees’ faces and stomps on their chests. After their initial arrest, a Tatmadaw spokesperson told reporters the men were arrested on suspicion of harboring ties to the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic Rakhine armed group the government has deemed a terrorist organisation..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2020-05-12
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Myanmar's military admits troops had entered Let Kar village but blamed the arson attack on Arakan Army rebels.
Description: "Satellite imagery shows that about 200 homes and other buildings were destroyed by fire in recent weeks in an ethnic Rakhine village in Myanmar's western Rakhine state, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said - the latest in a series of brutalities allegedly committed by soldiers against civilians of different ethnic backgrounds. "The burning of Let Kar village has all the hallmarks of Myanmar military arson on Rohingya villages in recent years," Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at HRW said in a statement on Tuesday. More: UN envoy calls for investigation into 'possible war crimes' in Myanmar Eight killed in Myanmar's troubled western state of Rakhine Myanmar military steps up attacks under cover of coronavirus "A credible and impartial investigation is urgently needed to find out what happened, punish those responsible, and provide compensation to villagers harmed." Earlier this month, Myanmar's military was also forced to acknowledge that its troops abused ethnic Rakhine prisoners, after a video of soldiers battering blindfolded detainees spread on social media. Myanmar's armed forces have been battling the Arakan Army (AA), a rebel group seeking greater autonomy for the western region, for more than a year. Clashes in Rakhine and neighbouring Chin states have escalated in recent weeks, leaving dozens dead and thousands displaced..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2020-05-27
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Less than two weeks after video of five men being beaten by Tatmadaw soldiers went viral online, the victims of the “unlawful interrogations” appeared before the Sittwe District Court on May 22 and were arraigned on terrorism charges, lawyer U Kyaw Nyunt Maung told DMG. The five men from Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township were among 38 people interrogated by the military on April 19. But while the other 33 were reportedly released the next day, Ko Nyi Nyi Aung, Ko Aung Myo Lin and Ko Maung Chay from Kyaukseik village; Ko Min Soe from Ponnagyun town; and Ko Kyaw Win Hein from Zeebingyi village were charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law days later, accused of having ties to the Arakan Army. Videos showing the men being repeatedly punched and kicked by soldiers aboard a Tatmadaw watercraft surfaced online on May 10, and two days later the military admitted that “some members of the security forces performed unlawful interrogations against them.” Ko Kyaw Win Hein emerged from the “interrogation” experiencing chest pain and was being provided medical treatment for the injuries he sustained at the hands of the security forces, his mother said..."
Source/publisher: "Eurasia Review"
2020-05-26
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Explosive Weapons in Civilian Areas Refugees and Migrants Crisis and Conflict Religious Freedom Refugee Rights Asylum Seekers Internally Displaced People
Sub-title: Independent Inquiry Needed in Embattled Rakhine State
Topic: Explosive Weapons in Civilian Areas Refugees and Migrants Crisis and Conflict Religious Freedom Refugee Rights Asylum Seekers Internally Displaced People
Description: "Satellite imagery shows that about 200 homes and other buildings were destroyed by fire on May 16, 2020, in Myanmar’s embattled Rakhine State, Human Rights Watch said today. An impartial investigation is urgently needed to determine responsibility for this mass destruction of residential property in the predominantly ethnic Rakhine village of Let Kar, Mrauk-U township. Since January 2019, fighting between the Myanmar military and the ethnic Rakhine Arakan Army has resulted in numerous civilian casualties and destruction of civilian property. The imagery of Let Kar bears a close resemblance to patterns of fires and widespread arson attacks by the Myanmar military on ethnic Rohingya villages in Rakhine State in 2012, 2016, and 2017, Human Rights Watch said. “The burning of Let Kar village has all the hallmarks of Myanmar military arson on Rohingya villages in recent years,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. “A credible and impartial investigation is urgently needed to find out what happened, punish those responsible, and provide compensation to villagers harmed.” Satellite imagery recorded on May 16, 2020 at 10:30 a.m. shows no signs of damage in Let Kar. But at 2:12 p.m., an environmental satellite detected extensive fires burning there. The Human Rights Watch damage analysis of 200 buildings burned is most likely an underestimate as internal damage to buildings is not visible..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
2020-05-26
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Kyaw Thu* waited until night fell before taking his family to the bank of a river not far from their village. While millions across the world were told to remain at home to stay safe from the coronavirus pandemic, he and his neighbours were forced to flee. That night in March, he recalls, residents from Tin Ma village, in Rakhine state, clambered anxiously into boats, crossed the river, then trekked through foothills to seek refuge in the relative safety of a nearby town. No one switched on a torch or even lit a cigarette for fear of drawing the attention of Myanmar’s army. It is less than three years since the Myanmar military’s violent crackdown on Rohingya Muslim communities in Rakhine state, a campaign of violence that has since led to a genocide case in the UN’s highest court. Now the army is once again accused of committing war crimes against its own people. The tactics are familiar, but the primary targets this time are Rakhine Buddhists such as Kyaw Thu, as well as Rohingya, Mro, Daignet and Chin communities. Despite sharing a faith with Myanmar’s rulers, Rakhine Buddhists have long complained of persecution, and say the development of their state has been stifled by the central government. Repression has now, they say, escalated into violent atrocities. For more than a year, a long-simmering conflict has escalated between the military and the Arakan army, a rebel group drawn from Rakhine state’s Buddhist majority, that says it is fighting for greater autonomy..."
Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
2020-05-25
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Ahead of the 23 May deadline for Myanmar to report on its compliance with the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) order to take “provisional measures” to protect the Rohingya, Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for Asia, said: “Despite the International Court’s order nothing has changed for the estimated 600,000 Rohingya who live in Rakhine State in dire conditions, including around 126,000 whom the authorities are holding indefinitely in camps.” “The Rohingya in Rakhine State are still denied their rights to nationality, freedom of movement and access to services, including healthcare. They are also caught in an escalating armed conflict between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army. “Internet blackouts have kept the Rohingya and other minorities in Rakhine and Chin States deprived of potentially life-saving information and impeded monitoring of the humanitarian situation on the ground. This information blackout puts people at greater at risk, especially in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. “While Myanmar’s recent presidential directives ordering government personnel not to commit genocide or destroy evidence appear in line with the International Court order, the reality remains that no meaningful steps to end atrocities - including the crime of apartheid - have been taken. “An additional directive ordering officials to halt ‘hate speech’ is long overdue, but lacks sufficient guarantees that it cannot be used to further curtail freedom of expression. Without meaningful follow-up and transparency around Myanmar’s compliance with the ICJ order, these measures can only be seen as window dressing..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2020-05-22
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Conflicts have paused in much of Myanmar, opening a window for the government, military and ethnic armed groups to pursue a holistic response to the coronavirus. The parties should also work together in Rakhine State, where fighting persists, to limit the disease’s spread.
Description: "What’s new?...Amid a lull in fighting in much of the country, the Myanmar government and ethnic armed groups appear willing to put aside politics and work together to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The exception is Rakhine State, where conflict is escalating, putting medical workers at risk and exacerbating a potential health disaster. Why does it matter?...Conflict-affected areas of the country are highly vulnerable to COVID-19 but often outside state control. A successful response to the pandemic will require close coordination among the government, the military and ethnic armed groups, many of which have long run their own health systems. What should be done? The government, military and ethnic armed groups should work together to combat the virus through prevention, surveillance, testing and referrals. In Rakhine, they should ensure the safety of health workers, enable access to displaced populations and strengthen COVID-19 prevention messaging...Overview A major COVID-19 outbreak could have devastating consequences in a country as conflict-affected as Myanmar, where health spending is limited, governance is weak, hundreds of thousands of people are displaced by fighting, and the government cannot reach many areas held by ethnic armed groups. Reducing transmission as much as possible so that the health system can better cope will require cooperation with these groups, many of which run their own health systems. Promising discussions that have already begun between the government and various ethnic armed groups should continue in earnest to enable a holistic response in areas of the country where conflict is presently limited. The exception is Rakhine State, where fighting continues to escalate between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army, undermining prevention efforts and putting the lives of health workers at risk. Here, all sides should ensure the safety of medical personnel, allow humanitarian access to displaced and other vulnerable populations, and work to improve public adherence to mitigation measures..."
Source/publisher: "International Crisis Group (ICG)" (Belgium)
2020-05-19
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Arakan Army's winning insurgency is foiling India's grand plan to counter China's strong and rising influence in Myanmar and beyond
Description: "Against the ominous question mark hanging over Myanmar’s remarkable encounter with COVID 19 – no recorded cases to date — it’s easy to view the country’s ethnic conflicts as mere off-stage business-as-usual. In western Myanmar, an area that brings India and China’s strategic interests face-to-face, that would be a serious mistake. Whatever the toll of the virus in the coming months, the sharp deterioration of the military situation in Rakhine and neighboring areas of Chin state will shape in a far more profound sense both Myanmar’s political future and India’s plans to push back against growing Chinese influence. The gravity of the crisis was plain to see on March 10 and 11 when the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, suffered its most stinging reverse to date at the hands of the Arakan Army (AA), the most aggressive of a range of ethnic forces demanding autonomy after seven decades of centralized Bamar-dominated misrule..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2020-03-20
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "A leading United Nations human rights expert claims the Myanmar military is carrying out "war crimes" against ethnic minorities, emboldened by special extended powers intended to help control the spread of the coronavirus. Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, accused the military of targeting ethnic Rakhine Buddhist civilians during recent clashes with the Arakan Army (AA), a separatist militant group in the western Rakhine State. Lee told CNN that houses had been burned, a monastery was attacked and people had been arrested and tortured. "And then we find bodies that have been decapitated, these are Rakhine people," Lee said Tuesday, as she prepared to conclude her six-year tenure as special rapporteur. "I am calling the situation crimes against humanity and war crimes. These are the highest, the most heinous and gravest crimes of international law," she added. CNN has reached out to the Myanmar government regarding Lee's comments but has not yet received a response. Lee said the Myanmar military has been given a "significant" political role in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, which has so far infected 150 people in Myanmar, including six who died, ​according to data published by John​s Hopkins University. Key military generals and military-controlled ministries were appointed to a new coronavirus committee in March, increasing the remit of the military under its delicate power-sharing agreement with the country's civilian-led government..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "CNN" (USA)
2020-04-30
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: " A Myanmar government spokesperson on Friday (May 1) dismissed allegations by the departing United Nations rights envoy that the military was committing fresh war crimes in Rakhine state as "biased", blaming rebels for violations. "We found that her investigation has no balance and was biased," government spokesman Zaw Htay told a press conference on Friday. Yanghee Lee, special rapporteur for human rights in Myanmar, said in her final statement on Wednesday the army was engaged in activities against rebels that may amount to “war crimes and crimes against humanity” in Rakhine and Chin states. She said the basis for her conclusion was that the armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, have ramped up attacks against civilians in recent weeks with air and artillery strikes. Dozens have died and tens of thousands been displaced in the region in recent weeks..."
Source/publisher: "CNA" ( Singapore)
2020-05-01
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Yanghee Lee says the army is ‘maximising suffering’ on Rohingya and other people in attacks reminiscent of the 2017 assault in Rakhine state
Description: "Myanmar’s military may once again be committing crimes against humanity in Rakhine state, the UN special rapporteur on human rights has warned, urging the international community to prevent further atrocities. In a damning statement issued on Wednesday, Yanghee Lee said the military was inflicting immense suffering on communities living in conflict-affected states, and called for increased efforts to “ensure that there is not another systemic failure like in 2017”. The military had also expanded its campaign against minorities from Rakhine to neighbouring Chin state, she said. Myanmar is already facing allegations of genocide over a brutal military crackdown that began in August 2017, and which forced more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee over the border to Bangladesh. Earlier this year, Myanmar was instructed by the UN’s highest court to take action to prevent genocidal violence against Rohingya citizens and to report back on its progress..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
2020-04-29
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The five-point statement released by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi on April 21 has infuriated and surprised many, as it is a testimony that she has transformed herself from being an alliance partner of the ethnic political parties (EPPs); mediator between the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and the Military or Tatmadaw; to an adversary of both the EPPs and EAOs. The third point statement writes: “When the whole country’s government (servants), people, voluntaries are trying utmost to prevent, control and cure coronavirus disease (COVID-19), due to the terrorist group United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) implementing destructive actions in Arakan State and Chin State, the Tatmadaw soldiers and officials, risking their lives and bravely discharging their duties, to protect the lives, homes and wealth of the people, are duly acknowledged and praised with honor.”(Unofficial translation by the writer.) Let us now look at the different phases of Suu Kyi in her relationship with the EPPs, EAOs and in general with the ethnic nationalities. It goes without saying that National League for Democracy (NLD) is identified with Suu Kyi and the party is in no way seen as an institution, as it relies overwhelmingly on the her popularity and charismatic leadership..."
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Source/publisher: "Shan Herald Agency for News" (Myanmar)
2020-04-27
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Op-ed by UN Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator on the conflict in Rakhine and Chin and elsewhere in Myanmar and need for a ceasefire amidst COVID-19 On Monday April 20 my colleague Ko Pyae Sone Win Maung lost his life as he was conducting a humanitarian mission. On Monday April 20 my colleague Ko Pyae Sone Win Maung lost his life as he was conducting a humanitarian mission, and the marked United Nations (UN) vehicle he was driving came under fire in Minbya township in Rakhine State. His passenger, an official from the Ministry of Health and Sports, was seriously wounded and we wish him a speedy and full recovery. We have been touched by the outpouring of sympathy expressed by the government, member states of the UN, development and humanitarian partners in Myanmar, and beyond. Secretary-General António Guterres in a statement has condemned the attack and called for those responsible to be brought to justice. Sadly, Ko Pyae Sone Win Maung will not be the last to die in the conflict that is ravaging Rakhine and southern Chin states. Nor is he even the most recent. According to local sources, hundreds of civilians, including large numbers of children, have been killed or injured since the beginning of the year. The conflict also continues to damage and destroy civilian structures. The government reports that more than 76,000 people have been internally displaced by the current fighting - on top of the more than 130,000 internally displaced persons in camps since 2012 and the estimated one million others who have fled from Rakhine State for other reasons. Unfortunately, conflict persists in many parts of Myanmar. On any day, it brings misery to the people who live in the affected areas. It cuts the most vulnerable off from life-saving humanitarian assistance. It robs them, many of whom are the furthest behind in access to services, from development opportunities and pathways out of poverty. And now, like all in Myanmar, they are faced with a new threat, the novel coronavirus disease, or COVID-19 for the year when it was first detected, that is affecting the world around us and has also arrived in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva) via Reliefweb (New York)
2020-04-27
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-27
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Description: "A surge in fighting between the Myanmar military and insurgents has killed at least 32 civilians, mostly women and children, in the restive Rakhine and Chin states, the U.N. human rights office said on Friday, adding the military had destroyed homes and schools. Myanmar’s military denies targeting civilians and a spokesman on Friday declined to respond to the allegations. The Arakan Army, an insurgent group seeking greater autonomy for the region, has been battling government troops for more than a year. “Myanmar’s military has been carrying out almost daily air strikes and shelling in populated areas resulting in at least 32 deaths and 71 injuries since 23 March, the majority women and children, and they have also been destroying and burning schools and homes,” U.N. human rights office spokesman Rupert Colville told a Geneva news briefing. He later said that the 32 were civilians..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2020-04-17
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-27
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Description: "...THE AA armed group carried out landmine and arson attacks on vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and military columns in Rakhine State, according to the reports of Office of Commander- in-Chief of Defence Services. On 13 March, two military columns, which are taking security operations during the matriculation exam in MraukU and Kyauktaw townships, were attacked by remote-controlled mines at 5,000 meter southeast of MraukU Township on Yangon-Sittway Union highway. The AA group also attacked with five remote-controlled mine near Teinnyo Village and TaungU Village. They scattered triangular blade nails to block traffic on the Union highway..."
Source/publisher: The Global New Light of Myanmar, 2020
2020-03-17
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-25
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Description: "The government in Myanmar’s war-torn Rakhine state has paid to rebuild more than 500 houses that were burned in attacks by aircraft and artillery or torched by soldiers last month, disaster officials said Friday, in a revelation that appeared to undercut the national military’s denial that the attacks took place. The state government in Rakhine, where a 16-month-old conflict between Myanmar forces and the rebel Arakan Army has killed scores of civilians, paid more than 90,000,000 kyats ($65,000) on Tuesday to replace the houses burned in Tin Ma village in Kyauktaw township on March 22, said Win Zaw Htay, the director of Rakhine State Natural Disaster Management Department. “A total of 528 houses were burned down in Tin Ma village, Tin Ma village tract, in Kyauktaw Township,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “We have provided 79,400,000 kyats ($56,000) for construction materials for 397 houses and 13,100,000 kyats ($9,200) for another 131 houses. We have given a total of 92,500,000 kyats ($65,000) via Mrauk-U Township disaster management department on April 22,” he added. On March 30, villagers from Tin Ma told a news conference that artillery fire and aerial bombardments by Myanmar forces had killed three civilians and burned scores of houses in their communities between March 12-22, amid fighting between Myanmar forces and the Arakan Army..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2020-04-24
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "...THE Crime Investigation and Litigation Group held their second meeting at the Office of the Union Attorney-General in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday. First, Group Chairman Union Attorney-General U Tun Tun Oo said ARSA attacked police outposts, police stations and Tatmadaw troops in Northern Rakhine on 25 August 2017, and this was followed by clashes between ARSA and security forces..."
Source/publisher: The Global New Light of Myanmar, 2020
2020-03-24
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar’s State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has issued a statement saying she is happy rice is being shipped to Paletwa in Chin State, which has been isolated for a couple of months amid fighting between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army (AA). The government has development plans to boost livelihoods when stability is restored to the township, her statement said. It also condemned the AA as a “terrorist” group for committing subversive acts in Rakhine and Chin states while the government, residents and volunteers worked together to fight COVID-19. The State Counselor’s statement praised the Tatmadaw or military for protecting residents’ lives and property. She pledged support for civilians affected by the fighting and to continue to strive for peace. Her statement drew mixed reactions. The Irrawaddy’s reporters Min Aung Khine and Zin Lin Htet asked political analysts, state government ministers and members of ethnic armed organizations for their reactions..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2020-04-24
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar Army soldiers gunned down a villager as he returned home from fishing in war-ravaged Rakhine state, the latest in a series of civilian killings, with troops saying the man failed to follow instructions at a security checkpoint, the victim’s father said Wednesday. Tuesday’s shooting occurred a day after a local World Health Organization employee died from wounds sustained when gunmen fired on him and another health worker Monday as they drove through the same township. An employee of a pest control company also died after being shot in the head in a separate incident on Tuesday. Kyaw Win Chey, who was in his early thirties, was returning home to May Lwan village in Minbya township after fishing in a river near his community when Myanmar soldiers shot him dead, his father Kyaw Hla Oo told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “Yesterday my son went to the Kangpaing Chaung area to go fishing,” he said. “He was coming home when we heard the gunshots. He must have met the soldiers as he entered the village [because] the soldiers shot him at the edge of the village. His mother witnessed it.” Following the incident, Myanmar’s military commander-in-chief’s office issued a statement saying that security forces fired warning shots after Kyaw Win Chey failed to stop his motorbike and kept going through the checkpoint. Soldiers who inspected Kyaw Win Chey’s body found a Chinese made grenade and a knife in a toolbox on the motorbike, according to the office’s statement..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2020-04-22
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Tatmadaw steps up attacks in Rakhine despite epidemic, killing more than 40 people in April alone, say rights group.
Description: "As deaths from the new coronavirus mounted in South Korea, Iran and Italy in early March, Myanmar's military called off grand plans to mark the 75th anniversary of its World War II revolt against Japanese forces. Instead, the Tatmadaw, as the military is known, deployed soldiers to disinfect hospitals and announced it would set up quarantine facilities to treat infected patients. But rights groups say the Tatmadaw is doing little where it counts - ending the long-running ethnic conflicts in Myanmar's border states, where some armed groups have called for a ceasefire to focus on the battle against the coronavirus. More: Eight killed in Myanmar's troubled western state of Rakhine Persecution of critics 'continues in Aung San Suu Kyi's Myanmar' Myanmar charges journalist under terrorism law, blocks news site "While the country is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the military is escalating its offensives against ethnic armed groups in Rakhine, Chin, Karen and northern Shan state," said Naw Hser Hser, general-secretary of the Women's League of Burma..."
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Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2020-04-16
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "...The conflict between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar is a multilayered problem with various interlinked causes. The disputes have spread outside the local area and become a regional problem that also involves other countries. This problem cannot be solved in the near future, not as long as the majority of Burmese citizens share the same mindset of hatred toward the Rohingya. It is impossible to fix or change the bitter history between Burmese people and Rohingya. To solve the conflict, the perspective of the Burmese toward the Rohingya must be changed – not only from the Burmese side, as the perspective of the Rohingya towards the Burmese is also hostile. The most important thing is for the Burmese government to treat the conflict seriously and sincerely. The government must find a solution to handle the situation with emphasis on humanity and human rights. I have found that the perspective and perception of the Burmese towards Rohingya depend on the education level of Burmese people. Among the well-educated, even if they believe that the Rohingya are a Bengalese migrants, they still agree that as human beings, the Rohingya should get a chance to enjoy basic human rights. The Rohingya issue is no longer just a Myanmar problem, as it already affects the international community..."
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2014-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2020-04-18
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Sub-title: Activists and journalists say decision to limit internet access in some parts of Rakhine is a violation of basic rights.
Description: " Continued fighting between Myanmar's military and the Arakan Army armed group has left several people dead in recent days as the government continues a clampdown on the western region. Activists and journalists have decried the internet blackout the government has imposed as part of the clampdown as a violation of human rights. More: Myanmar violence: Thousands displaced by fresh fighting Students injured in shelling at school in Myanmar's Rakhine state UN urged to suspend Myanmar return plan for Chin amid unrest Reports on Tuesday said at least 11 civilians, including five Muslim Rohingya, had been killed after being caught in the hostilities in Rakhine, a western state that is home to more than three million people. In a statement, four United Nations human rights experts also said "credible reports" showed that more than 1,000 people had been displaced in the 10 days up to February 18. The Myanmar Times also quoted the Rakhine Ethnic Congress as saying that more than 120,000 have evacuated beginning in November 2018..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2020-03-05
Date of entry/update: 2020-03-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Government forces are fighting the Arakan Army in the state.
Description: "Government soldiers are in Rakhine state again, more than two-and-a-half years after a military offensive killed thousands of Rohingya and drove out more than 700,000 others. This time, they are fighting the Arakan Army, an armed group founded in 2009 that says it is fighting for the rights of the ethnic, mainly Buddhist, Rakhine minority. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that conditions on the ground and an internet shutdown has made reaching people or gathering information increasingly difficult..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2020-03-05
Date of entry/update: 2020-03-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Internet Shutdown, Aid Blockage Worsens Humanitarian Crisis in Rakhine State
Description: "A surge in fighting in Myanmar’s Rakhine State during February 2020 has killed and injured numerous civilians, adding to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the conflict-riven region, Human Rights Watch said today. The Myanmar military and the insurgent Arakan Army should safeguard civilians from the fighting, abide by the laws of war, and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. On February 29, five civilians were killed and at least eight others were injured in clashes between Myanmar forces and the Arakan Army near Mrauk-U town, according to media reports. An ethnic Rakhine nongovernmental organization estimated that at least 18 civilians were killed and 71 were injured during fighting in February, though the actual casualties could be higher because the government’s mobile internet blackout has slowed information-gathering. “The Myanmar military and the Arakan Army need to take immediate steps to minimize harm to civilians during the fighting and allow aid to reach all villages and communities in need,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. “The government should immediately restore full internet access so that abuses can be reported, and aid agencies can do their jobs.” Since January 2019, fighting between the Myanmar military, called the Tatmadaw, and the Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine armed group, has resulted in numerous civilian casualties and destruction of civilian property. At least 21 children were injured on February 13, when artillery fire reportedly hit a school in Khamwe Chaung village, Buthidaung township..."
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
2020-03-04
Date of entry/update: 2020-03-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Arakan Army's highly mobile and lethal tactics have made a mockery of government's peace process
Description: "As Myanmar’s government sues for peace, its autonomous military, the Tatmadaw, faces a new type of insurgency it seems increasingly ill-prepared to counter and combat. Myanmar’s “new” insurgents are highly mobile and, unlike the country’s older generation rebel groups, maintain few fixed positions, using instead hit-and-run attacks that have rendered the Tatmadaw’s traditional frontal assaults increasingly ineffective. The situation is in many ways similar to the one the United States faced in the Vietnam War: an invisible enemy which strikes from the shadows, making counterattacks more likely to hit civilians than enemy combatants. That’s all conspiring to undermine the Tatmadaw’s leverage and clout against ethnic armed groups that rely on local population support to sustain their insurgent fights. Previously, Myanmar’s myriad rebel groups aimed to control large swathes of territory protected by fixed and often well-armed installations. The Karen National Union (KNU), long firmly entrenched on the Thai border, maintained several bases along the Moei river and a well-fortified headquarters with permanent buildings housing its civilian administration and military command units..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2020-02-24
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "A military helicopter carrying a Myanmar Union minister and the Rakhine State chief minister came under fire in Buthidaung Township in northern Rakhine State on Wednesday morning, according to the military. Both ministers survived the attack without injury. Dr. Win Myat Aye, Union Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, and Rakhine State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu were flying to Buthidaung Township when their chopper was attacked near Nyaung Chuang Village. They were on their way to visit refugees who have been displaced by fighting between the Myanmar army and ethnic armed group the Arakan Army (AA) in the area. “It happened on their way from [the state capital of ] Sittwe to Buthidaung around 10:45 a.m Wednesday. The body of the chopper was shot twice. They are safe and the vehicle is now back in Sittwe,” military spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told The Irrawaddy. The spokesperson blamed the AA for the attack. “The AA tends to fire at choppers from villages. They don’t care if it reaches [the target] or not,” he said. Khaing Thukha, spokesperson for the AA, told The Irrawaddy that he hadn’t heard about the incident. However, he said that if the helicopter flew over an area where there was a battle, it would likely be shot down because the AA has been targeted by airstrikes nearly every day..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2020-02-19
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Myanmar has applied for UNESCO to recognise Mrauk-U in Rakhine State as a World Heritage Site despite continuing clashes between the Tatmadaw (military) and Arakan Army (AA).
Description: "Mrauk-U, which was the capital of the powerful Arakanese Kingdom from the 15th to 17th centuries, currently restricts visitors for security reasons. The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture said it submitted its application for Mrauk-U to UNESCO in January. U Thura Aung, secretary of Myanmar Archaeology Research, expressed hope that peace would soon return to the area. Experts were a bit concerned about the damage caused by an artillery shell that hit a gate near the ancient Htukkan Thein temple and the west side of the ancient Mye Hte pagoda during fighting between the Tatmadaw and AA last year. The Myanmar Archaeology Association urged the two sides to declare a truce in the area because it is being considered as a World Heritage Site Archaeologists have called on the local government and people to mediate an end to the fighting. They are confident that Mrauk-U’s 80,000 pagodas and forts qualify it to be named a World Heritage Site. UNESCO is expected to decide on Mrauk-U’s application by April, and send experts to conduct a site inspection between September and January next year. Nationalists march against amendment effort Hundreds of nationalists marched through downtown Yangon on January 9 to oppose amendments to the 2008 Constitution, especially its ban on citizens who marry foreigners from becoming president or vice president. The activists accused some groups of working with foreign powers to subvert the Buddhist religion and Myanmar’s sovereignty..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
2020-02-14
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "At least 19 children were wounded when a primary school was hit by shelling in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, a lawmaker and a military spokesman said on Thursday. Clashes between government troops and ethnic insurgents have intensified in Rakhine, from where tens of thousands of people have been displaced since clashes began in December 2018, bringing new chaos to the region from which more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled a military crackdown in 2017. The Arakan Army, which recruits from the mostly Buddhist majority, has been fighting for greater autonomy for the western region from the central government. Artillery fire hit the school in Khamwe Chaung village in Buthidaung township on Thursday morning, Tun Aung Thein, a local member of parliament, told Reuters by telephone. He said he did not know who was responsible. “According to the health department, 19 students are injured and one is seriously injured,” the lawmaker said. A military spokesman put the number of wounded at 20, and blamed the insurgents for the attack..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2020-02-13
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-14
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Description: "At least seven civilians, including four Rohingya Muslims, died and 30 residents were injured in the past 11 days in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state, a local aid worker said Wednesday, as the number of noncombatant deaths grows amid fighting between government forces and the rebel Arakan Army. Nyi Pu, chairman of the Phyusin Metta Social Aid Group from Kyauktaw town, said his organization helped at least 10 injured civilians in the last week. “In just seven days, a Rakhine woman from Myauktaung village and three people from a Muslim village were injured, and a Muslim woman died,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “In another village, one of the five injured children died when a mortar dropped near them,” he said. “Yesterday, four more people were injured when another mortar shell dropped on Myauktaung village.” The civilian death toll in northern Rakhine reached more than 100, while the number of injured was over 250 as of December 2018 when hostilities between the two armies escalated, according to the Rakhine Ethnic Congress, a local relief group. The growing numbers come despite claims by both the Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA) that their soldiers have been ordered to abide by the rules to avoid injuring villagers..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2020-02-12
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: A legislator from strife-torn Rakhine State urged the government to come up with a plan to educate children living in camps for people displaced by conflict (IDPs).
Description: "Daw Khin Saw Hla, MP for Rathedaung township, said the government must not neglect the education of the children in the camps. “Our internal conflicts were born during our struggle for independence over 70 years ago,” she said. “No one knows when they will end. The education of the children in war-torn areas should not be neglected.” She called on officials of the National Education Policy Commission (NEPC) to visit the IDP camps so it can formulate a policy on educating them. Daw Khin Saw Hla said thousands of children were among the over 100,000 people who have had to flee their homes since fighting between the Tatmadaw (military) and Arakan Army erupted in 2018. These children do not attend school, she said. In one of the clashes, a high school was closed because the Tatmadaw turned it into a temporary headquarters. “This school has more than 1,000 students from 24 nearby villages, including Kyauktan village. Now they are having difficulty learning. The Tatmadaw should not station troops in schools,” she said. She also said the programme of the Department of Alternative Education and Myanmar Literacy Resource Centre to give a second chance to children aged 10 to 12 years old who drop out of school should be extended to Rakhine..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
2020-02-11
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "More than 1,100 residents from 20 villages in Myanmar’s war-torn northern Rakhine state have fled a surge in fighting between government troops and the rebel Arakan Army, a local administrator and a lawmaker said Monday. The new wave of internally displaced persons (IDPs) comes amid the daily shelling of communities and the restoration of an internet service ban in five townships where the armed conflict has intensified during the past year and the population of displaced has swelled past 100,000 people. “So far, we’ve got over 1,100 IDPs,” said Nyi, administrator of Buthidaung’s Thaykan Kwasone village, adding that the fleeing villagers arrived on Feb. 5-9, a day after the Myanmar Army, Navy, and Air Force launched clearance operations in the area. “The Social Welfare Ministry is providing assistance for 600 IDPs, though we have requested more,” he said. “The [displaced] have been divided up between the monastery and in a village. We’re building temporary camps for those who exceed the capacity of the monastery.” The IDPs are from Konedan, Kularchaung, Zeyarmyaing, Oophauk, Thameehla Ywathit, Thameehla Ywa Haung, and Ohnchaung villages in Rathedaung township and from Kyaukpyin Seik and Seikkhu villages in Buthidaung township..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2020-02-10
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Restore Telecommunications, Allow Aid to Conflict Areas
Description: "Myanmar authorities have issued a surprise order reinstating the shutdown of mobile internet traffic in five townships in Myanmar’s northwestern Rakhine and Chin States. Added to four other Rakhine State townships where mobile internet service has been blocked since June 2019, this leaves nine townships unable to get online, causing an information blackout that affects approximately one million people. The Ministry of Transport and Communications’ directive to internet and telecommunications providers cited security requirements and public interest as the reasons for re-imposing the shutdown, which had been lifted in the five townships in September. The Norwegian Telenor Group issued a statement to inform the public of the directive, and said it was seeking further clarification from the ministry. This communications shutdown places civilians at risk as the fighting between the ethnic-Rakhine Arakan Army and Myanmar’s military intensifies. About 106,000 civilians have been displaced by the conflict. Blocking local communities’ ability to communicate makes it harder for civilians to obtain help when needed, and significantly more difficult for humanitarian agencies to assist vulnerable populations. The Rakhine State government has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis by imposing restrictions on aid access in eight townships..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Human Rights Watch" (USA)
2020-02-05
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Two women, one pregnant, were killed and seven other people were wounded when shells hit a Rohingya village in Myanmar's Rakhine state. The army rejected accusations from a local lawmaker, a villager and the Arakan Army (AA), a rebel group, that the Myanmar military was responsible for the shelling at Kin Taung, two days after the United Nations' highest court ordered Myanmar to protect the Rohingya. Maung Kyaw Zan, a member of the national parliament for Buthidaung township in northern Rakhine state, said shells fired from a nearby battalion hit Kin Taung village in the middle of the night. "There was no fighting, they just shot artillery to a village without a battle," he told Reuters by phone, adding it was the second time this year that civilians had been killed. Soe Tun Oo, a Rohingya villager living a mile from the village, told Reuters by phone that two houses were destroyed. A military statement confirmed the deaths, but blamed the AA, a Rakhine ethnic rebel group which has been fighting for greater autonomy in the state for more than a year. Two military spokesmen did not answer calls seeking comment. "AA terrorists committed firing at Bengali villages with the use of heavy weapons and planting mines," the statement said. The Arakan Army said in a statement on its website that there was "ample evidence" that the army committed the killings without giving specific details. It accused Myanmar's forces of "deliberate, false and misleading lies" aimed at discrediting the group. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the details of the incident. At a press conference on Feb 3, the army objected to the story about the deaths that Reuters had published on Jan 25, saying the account was biased. It referred specifically to the headline on the story, which blamed the army for the deaths, citing the member of parliament. It said it had filed a complaint to the Myanmar Press Council (MPC), which adjudicates disputes between authorities and news media..."
Source/publisher: "CNA" ( Singapore)
2020-02-04
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Nation’s most volatile and fast shifting armed conflict complicates China’s Belt and Road ambitions
Description: "Historically ethnic conflict in modern Myanmar has been a glacially slow-moving disaster, debilitating the nation’s politics while shifting only incrementally from one decade to the next. In 2019, the eruption, spread and intensification of nationalist revolt in Rakhine state abruptly upended that familiar landscape with sobering implications for an already fragmented and floundering peace process and domestic security more broadly. The new war in Rakhine state, pitting the military against the local Arakan Army (AA), a widely popular force led by a young and ideologically committed leadership, is also increasingly impacting Myanmar’s regional standing at a range of levels. China’s push for economic connectivity to the Bay of Bengal, stage-center during President Xi Jinping’s recent state visit to Myanmar, will now need to navigate the hostilities already lapping close to the projected deep-sea port and special economic zone at Kyaukphyu, a crucial component of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. Poor prospects for any repatriation of the Muslim Rohingya refugee population camped in neighboring Bangladesh, estimated as high as one million, are now further receding, while additional migrant flows out of the state towards Southeast Asia are slowly gathering pace..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2020-01-29
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA) have denied responsibility for the deaths of three civilians killed last week in Chin State’s Paletwa Township. According to local residents, a teacher from Se Phalaung Village and two civilians from Kyet U Wa Village in Paletwa were abducted by a group of men last Tuesday and the three were found dead on Friday with their hands tied and knife wounds in a forest a little over 3 kilometers from urban Paletwa. The Khumi Affairs Coordination Council (KACC), a local civil society organization, said in a statement on Friday that the three were abducted by AA fighters. Two days later, the AA released a statement denying responsibility for their deaths and accusing the Myanmar military of being responsible for the killings. The same day, the Myanmar military responded that the three were killed by the AA. “All the villagers know [that the three were abducted by the AA]. The AA’s accusation is baseless. They arrested the three while they were sitting in their house around 8 p.m. on Jan. 7. Everyone knows it was the AA,” said military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2020-01-14
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: violent conflict, conflict,crisis, rakhine state
Topic: violent conflict, conflict,crisis, rakhine state
Description: "Rakhine state is descending into growing turmoil. Globally long associated primarily with the brutal oppression of the Rohingya, the much wider dimensions of Rakhine's troubles are now visible, including their international implications. Given their complexity, a broader perspective is badly needed to help bring about stability, development and prosperity for all Rakhine's people. Governments around the world, but especially in the region, have a legitimate role to play in helping to find solutions. Rakhine lies at the crossroads of Asia and its stability, ethnic harmony and economic promise are important for both South Asia and Southeast Asia. As a matter of course, that includes Asean. Moreover, its membership reflects a diversity similar to that of Rakhine state. It is to be hoped that in-depth discussions on this issue will be held at the Asean foreign ministers retreat in Vietnam this week..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Bangkok Post" (Thailand)
2020-01-15
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Myanmar’s anti-money laundering authority alleged the Yangon eateries were used as fronts to fund the Arakan Army
Description: "The Central Body on Anti-Money Laundering ordered two Rakhine restaurants in Yangon to shut down last week, alleging the businesses were being used to launder funds to the Arakan Army (AA), an armed ethnic group warring with the Myanmar military in Rakhine state. One of the restaurants is co-owned by Aung Myat Kyaw, the brother of AA chief Twan Mrat Naing. The other is owned by well-known Rakhine singer Win Ko Khaing. Both restaurants specialise in Rakhine cuisine, known for its seafood and spice. Aung Myat Kyaw’s Tamwe township restaurant, Phoenix, opened in 2015. Win Ko Khaing opened Maha Nwe in South Okkalapa township in October. Aung Myat Kyaw has been on trial since being deported from Singapore last July for allegedly funding the AA, which the Tatmadaw has accused of terrorism. He was deported with five other Rakhine natives then living in Singapore; they currently face prison sentences of 10 years to life. Singapore’s home ministry accused the six of using the city-state “as a platform to organize support for armed violence” in Myanmar. Aung Myat Kyaw and several of the deportees were members of the Arakan Association Singapore, an organisation that held social and cultural events for Rakhine migrants living in Singapore. Association chair Hein Zaw was among them..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2020-
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Child protection, Armed conflict, Myanmar
Topic: Child protection, Armed conflict, Myanmar
Description: "UNICEF Myanmar expresses deep sorrow over the death offour children on Monday when an explosive device went off while they were collecting fire wood in the forest near Htike Htoo Pauk village of Buthedaung Township in Rakhine State. Five more children were injured in the incident. Our thoughts go to the families of the victims, to those injured and to all children caught up in conflict. UNICEF is deeply concerned about the continued reports of killings and injuries of children, as a result of intensified fighting between the Myanmar Army and the Arakan Army in the conflict-affected areas of Rakhine State. In 2019 alone, 16 children lost their life and 36 have been severely injured in conflict affect areas of Myanmar as a result of incidents caused by landmines and Explosive Remnants of War (ERWs). UNICEF urges all parties to the conflict to stop laying mines and to clear existing mines and unexploded ordinances to ensure the safety of children caught up in conflict, and to uphold their right to protection. UNICEF also urges the Government to facilitate access for the provision of emergency Mine Risk Education activities so children, teachers and other community members receive psychosocial support and mine risk education in schools and communities in all conflict-affected areas of Myanmar..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar) via Reliefweb (New York)
2020-01-12
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Rakhine, Arakan Army, Tatmadaw, 2020 election
Sub-title: As Myanmar marked Independence Day on January 4 with formal ceremonies, a national holiday and street games, a very different anniversary passed almost without mention in the country’s west.
Topic: Rakhine, Arakan Army, Tatmadaw, 2020 election
Description: "Exactly a year earlier, Arakan Army soldiers had staged coordinated attacks on four police stations in northern Rakhine State, killing 13 officers. The attacks have precipitated bloody clashes, mass displacement and human rights violations in Rakhine and neighbouring Chin State. More than 100 civilians have been killed and many more injured as a result of small arms fire, artillery barrages and landmines. The Rakhine Ethnics Committee, a local civil society group, estimates that around 100,000 people have been displaced. Official figures are less than half that, but even if the true figure is somewhere in the middle, it represents a significant and tragic toll. Rakhine was already reeling from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacks in 2016-17 and the military’s subsequent crackdowns that sent almost 750,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh. But the conflict with the Arakan Army has plunged the state into new depths of violence and chaos. The outlook is bleak. Despite early predictions that the Arakan Army would be unable to sustain its operations, it has proven remarkably resilient and the fighting continues to spread. Most recently, on Christmas Day, clashes were reported in Ann Township, a Tatmadaw stronghold and home of its Western Command. The AA appears to have no shortage of recruits, and continues to find ways to arm and supply its forces. Its success is built largely on strong popular support. The government and military have sought to undermine this through a range of harsh measures, including detaining those suspected of links to the AA, cutting supplies to camps for the internally displaced, shutting down mobile internet access and restricting the activities of civil society groups. Predictably, these seem to have had the opposite effect, by further antagonising civilians..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar"
2020-01-10
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Myanmar government has ordered its employees in war-stricken Rakhine state to obtain official permission before they travel by land or water amid an uptick in abductions of civilian officers by the rebel Arakan Army as it fights national forces for greater autonomy in the state, the border affairs minister said Friday. The Ministry of Border Affairs issued the directive in December, Colonel Min Than, who oversees the ministry, told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “The Union government has issued a directive for government staff,” he said. “If they travel, they need to obtain permission from the corresponding department chief and must report to security forces in the travel area through the state government.” “They should make prior arrangements before they travel,” he said. “If government employees travel on their own, something could happen.” “If they report beforehand, the authorities will make arrangements for them, such as reserving a spot for them on military-operated ferries or transporting them via helicopter,” Min Than said. “Depending on their route, the authorities can make arrangements.” Aung Lin, the officer in charge of Rakhine state’s branch of the Inland Water Transport Department, said ferry tickets will be sold to government workers only if they have proof of permission to travel..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
2020-01-03
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Violence flared a year ago when the Arakan Army attacked Myanmar police, forcing thousands from their homes.
Description: "A year ago, four police stations in the conflict-ridden western Rakhine State of Myanmar came under attack from the Arakan Army (AA) leaving an estimated 13 officers dead and nine injured. The response was swift. Myanmar's military (also known as the Tatmadaw) promised to "crush the terrorists", marking the beginning of the latest bloody chapter in the country's never-ending conflicts, waged primarily between the Tatmadaw and various ethnic rebel groups. Rakhine has become notorious as the location of the military's brutal campaign against the mostly Muslim Rohingya, which led to the exodus of 740,000 people and accusations of genocide. What the military called "clearance operations" were partially justified by claims that the Muslims posed a threat to Rakhine Buddhists and their way of life, but the AA, founded in 2009 is an ethnic Rakhine, religiously Buddhist armed group..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2020-01-07
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "A unilateral cease-fire extended into the New Year by the “Three Brotherhood Alliance” of ethnic armies battling Myanmar’s armed forces appeared to make little difference as residents across the conflict zone in Rakhine state reported fighting this week. Local lawmakers and villagers said Thursday that the armed conflicts have continued despite the cease-fire announcement by the Arakan Army (AA) and its allies the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). They had announced Wednesday that they were extending a temporary unilateral cease-fire against Myanmar forces until Feb. 29 to allow more time to implement negotiations with the Myanmar military — the second extension since September. The three ethnic armies, which along with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) form the Northern Alliance, have been meeting with government peace negotiators to discuss bilateral truces, but have made little headway. The parties have agreed to meet again in January. The AA said armed conflicts are continuing because the military has used excessive force to intrude into its territory..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
2020-01-02
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Rebels in Myanmar's Rakhine region said a captured official from Aung San Suu Kyi's ruling party has died, two weeks after being taken for organizing protests against genocide accusations faced by Myanmar at the World Court. The Arakan Army rebels said Buthidaung National League for Democracy (NLD) Chairman Ye Thein, the most senior civilian official to die in the growing insurgency, was killed Monday in an attack on the rebels by Myanmar's army. There was no independent confirmation. The incident underscored the increasing loss of government control in a region that came to world attention when 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh to escape an army crackdown on a different rebel group in 2017. The Arakan Army said its positions had come under attack from Myanmar's army. "Due to big explosions, some detainees died and some were wounded. The NLD chairman from Buthidaung, Ye Thein, died on scene," the Arakan Army said in the statement. It said he had been taken prisoner on December 11..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK) via "VOA" (USA)
2019-12-25
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "On 6 December, yet another child lost his precious life in a horrific manner. The nine-year-old student, who was reportedly still wearing his school uniform and fleeing his school with other students because they heard sounds of armed clashes, was struck by several bullets and died on the spot on the road in front of his school, Basic Education Primary School – Pike The, in Kyauktaw, Rakhine State. We are shocked and saddened at such tragic loss of a child’s life. UNICEF is deeply concerned about the alarming increase of reports of killings and injuries of children, as a result of intensified fighting between the Myanmar Army and the Arakan Army in the conflict-affected areas of Rakhine State. UNICEF calls on all parties to the conflict to ensure the full respect of the civilian character of schools, and to prevent any interference of armed actors with education infrastructures, personnel and students in line with national legal frameworks such as the Child Rights Law and the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement as well as obligations under international law. The presence of armed actors in or around schools increases the risk of schools being targeted and students and school personnel may be harmed, and school facilities damaged. It prevents children from accessing education, and associates schools with violent and traumatic events. We owe it to children to keep them safe at school and we urge all parties to the conflict, to exercise maximum restraint and to protect children at all times. UNICEF further calls on the Government of Myanmar to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration and to adopt the Guidelines for Protecting Schools and Universities from Military Use during Armed Conflict, into domestic policy and operational frameworks..."
Source/publisher: UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar)
2019-12-12
Date of entry/update: 2019-12-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar’s human rights commission will not investigate alleged abuses committed against civilian detainees in war-ravaged northern Rakhine state, including deaths in custody of the government military, unless the army first finds soldiers guilty of such abuse, two lawmakers who requested probes told RFA’s Myanmar Service on Monday. Oo Tun Win and Myint Naing, two lawmakers from Rakhine’s Kyauktaw township, submitted a formal letter to Myanmar’s parliament on June 21 through the Committee for Compliant and Appeals, urging an investigation into incidents in which suspects died in military detention, and calling for legal action against violators. On Monday, nearly six months after submitting the letter, the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) replied that it would take legal action only if current investigations by a Ministry of Defense tribunal found soldiers guilty. Oo Tun Win said the commission’s response is unsatisfactory. “I would like to hear the human rights commission’s conclusion on the case,” he told RFA. “It has the authority to investigate and expose the losses of citizens’ rights and present the findings to the relevant ministries.”..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
2019-12-02
Date of entry/update: 2019-12-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "More than 92,500 civilians have been displaced by armed conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where hostilities between Myanmar forces and the rebel Arakan Army have raged for a year, according to a tally issued Wednesday by a nonprofit organization that promotes ethnic rights. Zaw Zaw Tun, secretary of the Rakhine Ethnics Congress (REC) and a relief volunteer in the region, said his organization has been surveying the number of ethnic Rakhine civilians who have fled their homes because of armed clashes. “We are trying to survey the IDPs [internally displaced persons] as accurately as possible,” he told RFA’s Myanmar Service. “So far, we’ve recorded more than 92,500 IDPs.” But he added that a true estimate would be difficult to state because of a shortage of people on the ground to count the numbers of IDPs. After fighting intensified in northern Rakhine state in late November, thousands of residents from villages in Rathedaung, Buthidaung, and Myebon townships left their communities to seek safety elsewhere Rathedaung township, where the greatest number of clashes has occurred, has the greatest number of IDPs at about 30,000, as estimated by local lawmakers..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
2019-11-27
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Since the end of 2018, there has been a significant upsurge in violence in Rakhine State after armed conflict broke out between the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar Military. The violence escalated following attacks by the AA against military sites in January 2019 and subsequent counter-attacks by the Myanmar Military. The conflict has led to civilian casualties and the destruction of property that has spread to nine townships of Rakhine State (Buthidaung, Kyauktaw, Maungdaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Myebon, Pauktaw, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung) and Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State. Ann and Kyaukphyu townships have been affected at certain points. The conflict has led to a significant displacement of people, some for extended amounts of time and some for short periods, with people fleeing violence subsequently returning to their homes within a few days or weeks. While fighting has occurred largely in rural areas and remote locations, key transport routes and urban and semi-urban areas have also been impacted. Tens of thousands of civilians living in villages have been caught in the middle of intense armed conflict..."
Source/publisher: OCHA (New York), UNHCH (Geneva) via Reliefweb (USA)
2019-11-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "A Myanmar military battalion commander and six other soldiers were killed in a mine attack launched by the Arakan Army (AA) in Rakhine State’s Kyauktaw Township on Wednesday, according to AA information officer Khaing Thukha. The AA attacked the military troops using remote-detonated mines around noon on Wednesday near the village of Thayet Tapin. “We intercepted military troops at a bridge over Tha Yee Creek near Thayet Tapin Village around 12 p.m. yesterday,” Khaing Thuka told The Irrawaddy on Thursday. “Seven soldiers, including Light Infantry Battalion 374 commander Lieutenant-Colonel Yan Naung Win, were killed and some were injured,” he said. The bridge is located near the Yangon-Sittwe road. “Yesterday, we heard an explosion beyond the bridge. Nobody dared to go outside after hearing the explosion,” a resident of Thayet Tapin Village told The Irrawaddy. “All the shop owners by the road have closed their shops and stayed in their houses since then. Soldiers are still staying at those shops.” The road was temporarily closed after the incident and was reopened around 2 p.m. on Wednesday, according to local residents. However, Myanmar military Western Command spokesperson Colonel Win Zaw Oo denied there was any mine explosion or that any soldiers were killed near Thayet Tapin Village on Wednesday..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2019-11-15
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Ongoing hostilities between Myanmar forces and the rebel Arakan Army in Rakhine state forced about 1,700 civilians to flee villages in three townships this week, amid fears that they would be detained and possible tortured by national soldiers conducting “clearance operations” in their communities, locals said. Troops have already detained five area villagers to interrogate to determine if they have ties to the Arakan Army (AA), while others who were freed said Myanmar soldiers tortured them during questioning, leaving them with physical injuries. More than 1,000 residents of Ywatharya village have fled their homes in the past few days after Myanmar soldiers entered the community to search for anyone with ties to the AA, villagers said. “Clearance operations” is a term used by the military that strikes fear in local residents after numerous incidents in which soldiers have shot at or abused civilians in Rakhine state..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
2019-11-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Arakan Army on Wednesday released 18 firefighters detained in October in western Myanmar’s war-torn Rakhine state, saying that its soldiers are holding no others civilians except for a local lawmaker taken three days ago. A statement issued by the Arakan Army (AA), which is fighting government forces in a quest for greater autonomy in Rakhine state, lists the names and personal information of the 18 men on a statement it issued about their release. The statement also said that the ethnic army is holding legislator Hwai Tin for security reasons, but did not elaborate. AA soldiers detained 18 firefighter recruits and the deputy station chief of the state Fire Services Department on Oct. 11 as they traveled on a bus from central Myanmar’s Mandalay region to Rakhine’s capital Sittwe after completing basic firefighting training in the town of Pyin Oo Lwin. The AA troops believed that the firemen were auxiliary soldiers of the national army. On Oct. 28, the AA released a dozen other bus passengers it had detained, including construction workers, after determining that they were civilians and had no connection to the Myanmar military..."
Source/publisher: "Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
2019-11-06
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The two Indian nationals were taken into captivity by an insurgent group called the Arakan Army in Myanmar while they were travelling there to work on a road project.
Description: "Two Indian nationals who were captured by the Arakan Army released in Myanmar. Arrangements are being made to bring the two back to India. "The Indian nationals have been released and the Consular General of Sittwe is coordinating their movement from Kyauktaw," sources said here. The two Indian nationals were taken into captivity by an insurgent group called the Arakan Army in Myanmar while they were travelling there to work on a road project. The two were captured when they were on their way from Paletwa to Sittwe. According to sources, an MP from Myanmar was also captured by the group. The Indian team is working on a road project connecting Mizoram to Sittwe Port in Rakhine state in Myanmar, sources said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "India Today" (India)
2019-11-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "A number of hostages seized by ethnic Rakhine rebels in a raid on a ferry packed with scores of Myanmar security forces have been killed, the insurgents and army said late Sunday, blaming each other for the deaths. On Saturday rebels from the Arakan Army (AA), who are fighting for greater autonomy for Rakhine Buddhists from the state, forced a ferry to the shore taking around 50 people hostage including 14 soldiers and 29 police officers. The army said it deployed attack helicopters in pursuit of the rebels who tried to escape with the detainees loaded onto three boats. Both sides confirmed some of the hostages were killed in a melee, but did not give a number for the dead and traded blame for who was responsible. The AA released a statement late Sunday saying military attack helicopters armed with machine guns and rockets hit the group as they were being “taken for questioning to a safe place in boats.” “Some detainees we took for questioning were killed, two boats were completely destroyed.” The army refuted the allegation saying the AA “killed them before the fighting took place” with security forces..."
Source/publisher: Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "The Guardian" (UK)
2019-10-27
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "In Myanmar, several hundred young people kick up dirt as they run early one morning along a dusty path. They are preparing to join groups such as the Arakan Army (AA), which operates training camps in the northern state of Kachin. The area also is home to the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), another armed group. The AA was formed in 2009 and now claims to have 7,000 troops. It is fighting in Rakhine State against troops loyal to the government of Myanmar, also called Burma. The Arakan Army says it is fighting for more self-rule and control over their territory. “The reason I joined the Arakan Army and train as a female soldier is because I don’t want to see the Myanmar army oppress and kill Rakhine people anymore,” says Soe Soe. The young woman carried an AK-74 rifle on her shoulder as she spoke to a VOA reporter. “The Myanmar army bullies and treats us badly in every way they can. I can’t take it so I made a decision to serve my nationality and army,” Soe Soe added. The AA is just one group belonging to the Northern Alliance. Others include the KIA, the Ta-ang Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA)..."
Source/publisher: "VOA Learning English" (USA)
2019-10-27
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "When the ferry pushed off from a dilapidated pier in western Myanmar, few of the passengers could have predicted how dangerous the journey would turn out. Later on Saturday, along a riverbank dotted with mangroves, a rebel group abducted dozens of soldiers and government workers from the ferry at gunpoint. That drew a risky rescue attempt by army helicopters, which swooped in to try to free the hostages as their captors then spirited them away in three separate boats. Gunfire erupted on both sides, and the army later said it had rescued 14 of the 58 hostages. The rebels said some were killed by helicopter fire, and they were keeping the survivors for “further investigation.” The drama unfolded in a rural section of Rakhine State, a strip of land on the country’s west coast where Myanmar’s army, known as the Tatmadaw, staged a brutal ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in 2017. Sign up for The Interpreter Subscribe for original insights, commentary and discussions on the major news stories of the week, from columnists Max Fisher and Amanda Taub. SIGN UP The scale of the abduction suggests that the rebel group, The Arakan Army — a guerrilla force from the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group that makes up most of the state’s population — is using increasingly brazen tactics to press its demand for independence..."
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Source/publisher: "The New York Times" (USA)
2019-10-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Arakan Army rebel group says three military helicopters attacked three boats carrying kidnapped troops and two sank.
Description: "An ethnic rebel army in Myanmar said some of the several dozen soldiers, police and civilian officials it abducted from a ferry were killed in a subsequent attack by government helicopters. A statement posted on Sunday on the website of the Arakan Army (AA), a rebel group in the western state of Rakhine, said three helicopters attacked three boats carrying the captured personnel after they were seized on Saturday, sinking two..."
Source/publisher: "Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
2019-10-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Gunmen stopped the vehicle on a highway outside the town of Mrauk U and seized 31 people, most of them firefighters, the authorities said.
Description: "Gunmen dressed in soccer uniforms halted an express bus on a main highway in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine State and kidnapped 31 people, most of them firefighters, the authorities said on Sunday. The abduction happened Friday morning, and began when a man stepped onto the highway in the bus’s path outside the ancient town of Mrauk U and forced it to stop, according to a military spokesman, Col. Win Zaw Oo. More than 10 armed men in soccer uniforms, identified as members of a rebel group called the Arakan Army, then emerged from the jungle and boarded the bus, he said. They ordered the passengers to take their belongings and marched them away...."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The New York Times" (USA)
2019-10-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "On the edge of a mountainside in Northern Myanmar’s Kachin state, several hundred young army recruits kick up the dust as they jog down a trail during early morning military drills. New recruits are joining groups such as the Arakan Army which has set up training camps in Kachin state, home to fellow Northern Alliance member, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). The Arakan Army (AA) formed in 2009 and is currently fighting in Rakhine State against government forces in ongoing skirmishes that have escalated in recent months, amid faltering cease-fire talks. The AA is the armed wing of the United League of Arakan, headquartered in Laiza. Laiza is the capital of KIA - controlled Kachin State, bordering China. The Arakan Army say that they have a current force of 7,000 troops. Like most of the ethnic armed groups within the country who haven’t signed peace agreements, the Arakan army say they are fighting for more self-autonomy and control over their territory..."
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Source/publisher: Voice of America (VOA)
2019-10-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: " Suspected ethnic Rakhine rebels disguised as a sports team stormed a bus in rural Myanmar and took 31 hostages - mostly off-duty firefighters and construction workers - authorities said Sunday (Oct 13). The state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar said the bus - travelling to the Rakhine state capital of Sittwe - was flagged down by a man dressed in civilian attire before 18 rebels in sportswear emerged from the forest and ordered the passengers off at gunpoint. "We are still following them," Colonel Win Zaw Oo told AFP, adding the insurgents may have mistaken the firemen for members of the armed forces. The Arakan Army, which is fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, could not immediately be reached for comment. Myanmar's army has deployed thousands of troops to the state to try to crush the rebels. Rights groups say Myanmar's military has abducted civilians and tortured detainees, but the army points to targeted shootings, roadside bombings and kidnapping by insurgents. Rakhine state was also the site of a deadly crackdown that in August 2017 drove some 740,000 minority Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher: "The Straits Times" (Singapore)
2019-10-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "SITTWE, Rakhine State—Ma Aye Myint, 24, has a bullet wound on her right arm from when Myanmar military troops were shooting near Mahamuni Village in Rakhine State’s Kyauktaw Township on July 31. When reporters from The Irrawaddy met her, she was sitting outside the rented guesthouse room where she lives. A baby, almost two months old, was lying next to her. In the Rakhine language, she told what happened to her. Ma Aye Myint was hit when Myanmar military troops shot at a motorbike driver who refused to stop after the soldiers ordered him to, according to her husband Ko Zaw Zaw. The couple’s home sits next to the Yangon-Sittwe highway, diagonally opposite from the village’s Mahamuni Pagoda, where Myanmar military troops were stationed until recently. The soldiers shot the motorbike driver out on the highway and people in the surrounding houses hid when they heard the sound of gunfire. All of Ma Aye Myint’s family members ran to hide inside the trench under the barn, or lay down, but she was pregnant and couldn’t hide as quickly. After she was hit, she was taken to Sittwe Hospital where she was treated for 21 days. On Aug. 16, while still in the hospital, Ma Aye Myint gave birth to a girl, but because of her injuries, she still can’t hold her daughter. Someone else has to help her breastfeed, bathe the baby and change the baby’s clothes. When The Irrawaddy asked the Myanmar military’s Western Command spokesperson Colonel Win Zaw Oo about the incident, he said at the time that there was no fighting near Mahamuni..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2019-10-11
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Two civilians were shot dead Tuesday in a village in Rathedaung township during a fierce clash between Myanmar forces and the Arakan Army (AA), RFA reported quoting local residents and military officials. A 17-year-old mentally disabled man and a 70-year-old woman died during the armed conflict, they said, and their bodies were left with caretakers who remained behind after most others fled to safety. The arrival of a Myanmar military unit in Hteeswe village, close to Kyauktan village, earlier this week prompted most of the residents from both communities to flee their homes, residents said..."
Source/publisher: "Mizzima" (Myanmar)
2019-10-10
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Armed clashes between Myanmar security forces (Tatmadaw) and ArakanArmy (AA) members broke out in two northern townships of Arakan on 29 September, where three civilians received injuries. Residents of Miwa village under Kyauk Taw township namely U Tha Tun Oo (63), Maung Naing Lin Soe (22) and Thaung Htay sustained injuries as the encounter took place near to their village adjacent to Kaladan river. Father of Maung Naing Lin Soe informed that they were working in their farmland for seasonal crops at 8 am on Sunday and suddenly heard the sound of firings from the riverside. “We all tried to hide under a big mango tree and then a bullet hit my son. But fortunately, the injury is not much serious,” added the local farmer. However, another villager named U Tha Tun Oo received serious injuries and he was sent to Sittwe general hospital for necessary treatments. “The bullet hit on his back and the shell was already taken out by the operation. His condition is improving now, but may have to continue treatments for some days,” he revealed. According to the local sources, AA members attacked a ferry ship operated by the security forces on the Kaladan river near to Miwa village in the morning hours. The soldiers retaliated with several gunshots towards the mountain range. Those artillery shells are suspected to wound those three locals..."
Source/publisher: "Narinjara" via "BNI Multimedia Group" (Myanmar)
2019-10-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Arakan Army, Landmines, Rakhine State, Tatmadaw
Topic: Arakan Army, Landmines, Rakhine State, Tatmadaw
Description: "Myanmar military spokesperson Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun has said the Arakan Army (AA) presents a major threat because the ethnic armed group now uses modern technologies in the violent conflict in Rakhine State. The military spokesperson said the military needs to take extra security precautions as the AA has been using remote-detonated explosive devices in their attacks. “Bombings can be carried out via mobile phones and walkie-talkies, so we need to pay greater attention to security,” said Brig-Gen Zaw Min Tun. He made the comments in response to a recent report by Indian intelligence agencies that the AA is using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technologies to trigger landmines targeting the Myanmar army. The Indian government is concerned about the threat the AA poses to the Kaladan Project, a multimodal transport project now under development that will link the Indian port of Kolkata with the port in Sittwe, Rakhine State’s capital and a key gateway for India to access Southeast Asia..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy"
2019-09-13
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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