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Arakan Army | |
---|---|
ရက္ခိုင့်တပ်တော် | |
Leaders | Twan Mrat Naing [1] Nyo Twan Awng [2] |
Spokesperson | Khine Tu Kha |
Dates of operation | 10 April 2009 – present |
Headquarters | Laiza, Kachin State (currently) Mrauk-U, Rakhine State (planned) |
Active regions | Chin State, [3] Kachin State, Rakhine State, Shan State, Bangladesh–Myanmar border |
Ideology | Arakanese nationalism Arakanese self-determination Ethnic federalism |
Status | Fighting |
Size | ~7,000–8,000 [4] |
Allies | Northern Alliance [5] Other allies
|
Opponents | State opponents Non-state opponents |
Battles and wars | Internal conflict in Myanmar |
Designated as a terrorist group by | |
Flag | |
Website | www |
The Arakan Army (Burmese : ရက္ခိုင့်တပ်တော်; abbreviated AA) is a Rakhine armed group in Myanmar (Burma), founded on 10 April 2009. [1] It is the armed wing of the United League of Arakan (ULA), currently led by Major General Twan Mrat Naing. Myanmar's Anti-Terrorism Central Committee designates Arakan Army a terrorist group in accordance with the country's counter-terrorism law. [10] [11] According to Amnesty International, AA has perpetrated violence and abuse against civilians, including abductions and forced labour. [12]
The AA is a participant in the Kachin conflict, fighting alongside the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) against the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces). Most AA soldiers were originally trained at the KIA Military Academy; however, the AA has additional training camps in Rakhine State. According to the Myanmar Peace Monitor, the AA had more than 1,500 troops in 2014, [13] including personnel stationed in the Rakhine State near Myanmar's border with Bangladesh. [14] [15] [16] The Irrawaddy stated in September 2015 that the AA had 2,500 troops and 10,000 supporters. [17] In January 2019, the AA's numbers increased to an estimated 7,000–8,000 troops. [18] [4]
The Arakan Army purportedly advocates for self-determination for the multi-ethnic Arakanese population, the safeguarding and promotion of the national identity and cultural heritage of the Arakan people, and the "national dignity" and best interests of the Arakan people.
In an interview with The Irrawaddy , Arakan Army commander-in-chief Twan Mrat Naing replied to an interviewer's question by saying, "Whether the objective is to obtain a federal union of democracy or the more autonomous confederate status like that of Wa State, the political objective of the group is to obtain confederate status for Rakhine State, and we prefer confederate status like that of Wa State, which has a larger share of power in line with the constitution." [19] The purpose of the AA, as stated by its second-in-command Brigadier General Nyo Twan Awng, is to "protect our Arakan people, and to establish peace, justice, freedom and development." [20]
The Arakan Army (AA) was founded in 10 April 2009 along with its political wing, the United League of Arakan (ULA), in what it describes as its "temporary headquarters" in Laiza, Kachin State. [21]
Following training, the group had planned to return to Arakan State and fight for self-determination; however, with the outbreak of fighting in Kachin State in June 2011, they were unable to return. As a result, they took up arms against the Myanmar Army in support of the KIA. In 2014, the AA started a settlement in Rakhine State near the border with Bangladesh and another near the border of Thai-Myanmar with which it has become much stronger and its combat abilities have been positively impacted. [22]
In February 2015, AA fought alongside the Myanmar Nationalities Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), an ethnic armed group, and its ally the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in their conflict with the Myanmar Army. [23] Hundreds of armed men from the Myanmar troops were reportedly killed in this conflict.
On 30 May 2020 the Arakan Army released a statement demanding the immediate withdrawal of Burmese Government administration and Burmese armed forces from Arakan. [24]
In April 2015, the AA clashed with the Myanmar Army in Kyauktaw Township of Rakhine State and Paletwa Township of Chin State. [25] On 27 August 2015, there was a clash between the AA and the Bangladesh border guard forces, with both sides opening fire near the Boro Modak area of Thanci in the Bandarban district, near the shared Burma-Bangladesh border. [26]
On 20 August 2015, the Arakan Army clashed with a Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) after patroling ten of their horses had been confiscated by the BGB earlier that day. [27]
In December 2015, the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army engaged in several days of fighting, around 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Sittwe at the border between Kyauktaw and Mrauk U townships. An unknown number of military personnel were killed in the fighting. [28] Several Tatmadaw personnel, including one commanding officer, were killed in sniper attacks. Many others were injured. [29]
Following clashes between Rohingya insurgents and Burmese security forces in northern Rakhine State in October 2016, the Arakan Army released a press statement, calling the perpetrators (the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) "savage Bengali Muslim terrorists" and the violence a "rampage of the Bengali Islamic fundamentalist militants in northern Arakan." [6]
According to the BBC, there is popular support for the Arakan Army in Mrauk U and a number of men from the town have recently joined the group. [30]
In November 2017, the group was involved in heavy clashes with the Tatmadaw in Chin State, in which 11 Tatmadaw soldiers were killed. [31]
On 21 December 2018, the Myanmar Army declared a four-month unilateral ceasefire in five conflict areas, saying it would hold talks with non-signatories of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) during the ceasefire period. However, the Western Command (stationed in Chin State and Rakhine State) was notably excluded from the unilateral ceasefire announcement and an increase in clashes between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army was reported. [32] [33]
On 4 January 2019, around 300 members of the Arakan Army launched pre-dawn attacks on four border police outposts—Kyaung Taung, Nga Myin Taw, Ka Htee La and Kone Myint—in northern Buthidaung Township. [34] Thirteen members of the Border Guard Police (BGP) were killed and nine others were injured, [35] [36] [37] whilst 40 firearms and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition were looted. The Arakan Army later stated that it had captured nine BGP personnel and five civilians, and that three of its fighters were also killed in the attacks. [38] [39] Following the attacks, the Office of the President of Myanmar held a high-level meeting on national security in the capital Naypyidaw on 7 January 2019, and instructed the Defense Ministry to increase troop deployments in the areas that were attacked and to use aircraft if necessary. [40]
Myanmar Army soldiers from the 22nd Light Infantry Division, elements of the 66th and 99th Light Infantry Divisions, and battalions from the Western Command of the Tatmadaw were reportedly involved in the subsequent military offensive against the Arakan Army. Clashes were reported in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Kyauktaw, Rathedaung and Ponnagyun Townships, located in the northern and central parts of Rakhine State. The Rakhine State government issued a notice blocking non-governmental organisations and UN agencies, except for the International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Food Programme, from travelling to rural areas in these townships affected by the conflict. The fighting prompted 5,000 civilians to flee from their homes and to take shelter in monasteries and communal areas across the region, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. [41] Civilian casualties, [42] arbitrary detention of ethnic Rakhine villagers, [43] and military blockage of food aid and medical relief were also reported. [44]
On 9 March 2019, around 60 AA insurgents launched an evening attack on Yoe-ta-yoke Police Station. According to a leaked combat report, nine policemen were killed, two were injured, and a dozen weapons, including 10 BA-63 assault rifles, were stolen by the attackers. [45] On the same day, AA insurgents managed to conquer the front line commanding post of Rakhine State's Gwa Township-based No. 563 Light Infantry Battalion under the supervision of Light Infantry Division No. 5. According to a press release by the Arakan Army, 11 personnel, including four military engineers, were captured and 16 backhoe excavators, one Toyota car, a dump truck, and 60 mm and 80 mm mortars were confiscated. [46]
On 9 April 2019, around 200 AA insurgents attacked the No. 31 Police Security Unit at 10 pm. The Tatmadaw retaliated with fighter jets, bombing AA positions until 6 am the next day. [47]
In July 2019, Myanmar Police by cooperating with Singapore Government arrested AA Chief's younger brother, Aung Mrat Kyaw with other members who was accused that they supported AA financially and in September his younger sister and brother-in-law were detained by Myanmar Police on the way of returning from Thailand. [48]
On 22 September 2019, fighting broke out near Taunggyi Village in Myebon Township, as the ceasefire expired. [49]
On 26 October 2019, rebel soldiers from riverbank near Mayu River abducted a ferry from Sittwe to Buthidaung Township carrying identify government soldiers and polices later inspected by the Arakan Army. After military helicopters attacks with rockets and machine guns as rescue, sank two boats and nearly killed off its own men and few soldiers from Arakan Army have died there according to statement issued by the United League of Arakan. In Naypyidaw, news press conference by Tatmadaw saying that they helicopters attacks are necessary to wipe the insurgents on their duty said by military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun. News medias claimed that all 3 boats with total of 165 passengers and 50 government personnel with 58 people being abducted and 14 were rescued later one helicopter was suffered some damages from gun fires left one wounded. [50]
On 6 February 2020, the Arakan Army began attacking the Meechaung outpost of the Tatmadaw, which is located at the bank of Kaladan River, Paletwa Township, Chin State, in order to take control of the command post. Clashes continued afterwards and peaked in the second week of March when the Arakan Army claimed it captured 36 soldiers, including the Battalion Commander, from the Light Infantry Battalion (7) under the command of the 77th Light Infantry Division. It was reported that LIB (7) was heli dropped near the Meechaung Outpost as reinforcements for the encircled outpost, on 11 March. [51] On 19 March 2020, the Tatmadaw made a statement claiming that its forces could break the Arakan Army's siege of the outpost. [52]
On 23 June 2020, Thai authorities raided a house in the border town of Mae Sot (next to Kayin State), seizing a large stash of newly manufactured weapons originating from China. Local insurgents on the Burmese side of the border told The Irrawaddy that the weapons were likely being smuggled for the Arakan Army because "they pay good prices". [53]
The Rohingya people are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Before the displacement crisis in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an estimated 1,4 million Rohingya lived in Myanmar. Described by journalists and news outlets as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, the Rohingya population is denied citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar nationality law. They are also restricted from freedom of movement, state education and civil service jobs. The legal conditions faced by the Rohingya in Myanmar have been compared to apartheid by some academics, analysts and political figures, including Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu, a South African anti-apartheid activist. The most recent mass displacement of Rohingya in 2017 led to an authorized investigation into alleged crimes under the jurisdiction of the ICC including crimes against humanity and to an application of the Republic of The Gambia against the Republic of the Union of Myanmar at the ICJ concerning alleged violations of "the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide".
In Myanmar, terrorism is defined by the country's counter-terrorism law and its subsections, which is interpreted by the Anti-Terrorism Central Committee and enforced by the government of Myanmar. Two groups are currently listed as terrorist organisations in accordance with Myanmar's counter-terrorism law; the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which was added on 25 August 2017, and the Arakan Army, which was added on 18 January 2019. The SPDC military government called the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW) "terrorists" after their role in the 1999 Myanmar Embassy siege, but the group was never legally declared as such.
The Kachin Independence Army is a non-state armed group and the military wing of the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), a political group of ethnic Kachins in Northern Myanmar. The Kachins are a coalition of six tribes whose homeland encompasses territory in Yunnan, China, Northeast India and Kachin State in Myanmar.
The internal conflict in Myanmar is a series of insurgencies in Myanmar that began shortly after the country, then known as Burma, gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1948. The conflict has largely been ethnic-based, with several ethnic armed groups fighting Myanmar's armed forces, the Tatmadaw, for self-determination. Despite numerous ceasefires and the creation of autonomous self-administered zones in 2008, many groups continue to call for independence, increased autonomy, or the federalisation of the country. The conflict is also the world's longest ongoing civil war, having spanned more than seven decades.
The Kokang incident was a violent series of skirmishes that broke out in August 2009 in Kokang in Myanmar's northern Shan State. Several clashes between the Burmese military junta forces and ethnic minorities took place. As a result of the conflict, the MNDAA lost control of the area and as many as 30,000 refugees fled to Yunnan province in neighbouring China.
The 2010–2012 Myanmar border clashes were a series of skirmishes between the Tatmadaw on one side, and the DKBA-5 and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) on the other. The clashes erupted along the border with Thailand shortly after Myanmar's general election on 7 November 2010. An estimated 10,000 refugees have fled into nearby neighbouring Thailand to escape the violent conflict. There is concern that due to discontent with the elections, and speculations of electoral fraud, that the conflict could escalate into a civil war.
The Rohingya conflict is an ongoing conflict in the northern part of Myanmar's Rakhine State, characterised by sectarian violence between the Rohingya Muslim and Rakhine Buddhist communities, a military crackdown on Rohingya civilians by Myanmar's security forces, and militant attacks by Rohingya insurgents in Buthidaung, Maungdaw, and Rathedaung Townships, which border Bangladesh.
The Kachin conflict or Kachin War is one of the multiple conflicts collectively referred to as the internal conflict in Myanmar. Kachin insurgents have been fighting government soldiers since 1961, with only one ceasefire being brokered between them, which lasted for 17 years from 1994 to 2011.
The Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) is a Rohingya political organisation founded in 1982, following a large scale military operation conducted by the Tatmadaw. The group was formerly a militant organisation, but have been militarily defunct since their armed branch merged into the Rohingya National Army (RNA) in 1998.
The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), also known as the Kokang Army, is a communist-inspired armed insurgent group in the Kokang region, Myanmar (Burma). The army has existed since 1989, having been the first one to sign a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government. The ceasefire lasted for about two decades.
The 2015 Kokang offensive was a series of military operations launched by the Myanmar Army in 2015 in Kokang in northern Shan State, Myanmar (Burma). Several clashes between the Myanmar Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army had taken place from February to May 2015.
Major General Twan Mrat Naing, also spelled Tun Myat Naing, is the commander in chief of the Arakan Army, an insurgent group based in Kachin State, Myanmar (Burma).
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), also known by its former name Harakah al-Yaqin, is a Rohingya insurgent group active in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. According to a December 2016 report by the International Crisis Group, it is led by Ataullah abu Ammar Jununi, a Rohingya man who was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and grew up in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Other members of its leadership include a committee of Rohingya émigrés in Saudi Arabia.
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The following lists events in the year 2017 in Myanmar.
Violent clashes have been ongoing in the northern part of Myanmar's Rakhine State since October 2016. Insurgent attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) have led to sectarian violence perpetrated by Myanmar's military and the local Buddhist population against predominantly Muslim Rohingya civilians. The conflict has sparked international outcry and was described as an ethnic cleansing by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In August 2017, the situation worsened and hundreds of thousands of refugees fled Myanmar into Bangladesh, with an estimated 500,000 refugees having arrived by 27 September 2017. In January 2019, Arakan Army insurgents raided border police posts in Buthidaung Township, joining the conflict and beginning their military campaign in northern Rakhine State against the Burmese military.
The Northern Alliance is a military coalition in Myanmar composed of four ethnic insurgent groups: the Arakan Army (AA), the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). Since December 2016, the Northern Alliance has been in fierce military confrontations with the Tatmadaw in the towns of Muse, Mong Ko, Pang Hseng, Namhkam and Kutkai in Shan State.
The Border Guard Police are a department of Myanmar's police force specialising in border security. The BGP operate in northern Rakhine State and are especially active along the Bangladesh–Myanmar border, due to the ongoing exodus of Rohingya people fleeing sectarian violence in Myanmar. In addition to border security, the BGP are also responsible for manning checkpoints and documenting the movement of Rohingyas within Rakhine State.
The Muse offensive, also known as the Mong Ko offensive, was a joint military operation by members of the Northern Alliance, which consists of the Arakan Army (AA), the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA). The groups targeted towns and border posts along the China–Myanmar border in Muse Township, Myanmar.
Brig. Gen. Nyo Twan Awng is the deputy leader of the United League of Arakan and the Vice Commander-in-Chief of the Arakan Army.