Mass arrest in Myanmar’s Rakhine State ends in interrogations, beatings

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Villagers say at least three people died as a result.

Myanmar’s junta detained hundreds of villagers in Rakhine State, including children, over suspected links to ethnic minority insurgents and beat at least three people to death, residents told Radio Free Asia on Thursday.

The security sweep appeared aimed at preventing the Arakan Army insurgent force making more advances after a string of recent gains and stopping them from closing in on the state capital of Sittwe, residents said. 

“The junta soldiers ordered all villagers to gather and they’ve been detained all day since yesterday,” said one resident of Byian Phu village, which is several kilometers north of Sittwe.

“Now, the men have been taken in military vehicles. The women and children were gathered in the cemetery,” said the villager, who declined to be identified in fear of reprisals.

Another villager said three people were beaten to death while junta soldiers interrogated them

RFA could not verify the villagers’ accounts and telephone calls to Rakhine State’s junta spokesperson, Hla Thein, to seek information went unanswered. 

The Arakan Army has seized junta bases in Rakhine and Chin states since a ceasefire between the junta and one of Myanmar’s most powerful insurgent groups ended in November.

Residents have accused junta troops of carrying out indiscriminate attacks on civilians, recruiting members of the persecuted RohingyaMuslim minority and detaining  civilians hostage on suspicion of supporting groups fighting  the junta that seized power more than three years ago. 

As the Arakan Army gets closer to Sittwe, residents said the junta has increased security, arresting and interrogating more people.

About 100 junta soldiers conducted the raid on Byain Pyu  at noon on Wednesday, iand checked lists that households are meant to keep of overnight visitors, a monitoring system made stricter since the army seized power again in a 2021 coup.

Soldiers also went from house to house to search for anyone hiding from them, residents said. Some people were beaten and taken away, along with valuables discovered in their houses, residents said. 

Another villager, who also declined to be identified for safety reasons, told RFA that at least three men were beaten to death by the junta soldiers.

“Men were being interrogated near the tea shop at the market. They were beaten and interrogated one after another. One of my relatives died there,” the Byain Phyu resident said. “It is said that two or three more people died. The bodies have not been returned.” 

In northern Rakhine State, the Arakan Army captured Rathedaung and Ponnagyun townships in March and Pauktaw in January, leaving only Sittwe and Maungdaw, near the border of Bangladesh, under junta control. 

While insurgent forces in several parts of the country have made significant gains since late last year, seizing numerous junta camps, villages and towns, no group has captured a state capital.

The junta has arrested 425 civilians in Rakhine State  since November, the Arakan Army said in a statement on Monday. Fighting in the state had killed 268 civilians and wounded 640, it said. 

RFA News

Human Rights Situation weekly update (May 15 to 21, 2024)

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Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from May 15 to 21, 2024

Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in the Sagaing Region, Chin State, Rakhine State, and Shan State from May 15th to 21st. Over 200 men from Magway Region, Yangon Region, and Shan State were arrested for 2nd batch of Military Service and blackmailed. Military Junta Troop and staff who work for the Military collected money from the cars and passengers and also were getting money for making NRC cards (National Registration Citizenship).

Over 20 civilians died, and over 50 were injured by the Military’s heavy and light artillery attacks within a week. 8 underaged people died and 5 were injured when the Military committed Human rights abuses. A civilian also died by the landmines of the Military Junta.

CRISIS IN RAKHINE: UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL MUST CONVENE URGENT SPECIAL SESSION ON MYANMAR

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19 May 2024: The Rohingya people in western Myanmar are again at risk of genocide. The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council must address this risk and the worsening human rights emergency in Myanmar generally, by convening an urgent special session, says the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M).

This weekend, Rohingya remaining in Buthidaung township, northern Rakhine state, have reported being targeted with coordinated killings, large-scale arson attacks and shelling, beginning on Friday 17 May. 200,000 people are reported to be displaced with unconfirmed numbers of casualties. Credible sources cite Arakan Army soldiers as committing the attacks. The Arakan Army claimed on 18 May that its forces had seized the last remaining Myanmar military junta bases in Buthidaung township, which borders Bangladesh. The Human Rights Council must convene an urgent special session to address the crisis.

The Arakan Army has been one of the most effective armed groups opposing the vicious Myanmar military following the attempted coup in February 2021. Since last October it has succeeded in defeating the military throughout much of northern Rakhine state and southern Chin state in western Myanmar. It has also joined other resistance forces in freeing large areas of north-east Myanmar. Now, however, it seems to be turning its guns on the defenceless Rohingya people to complete the genocide undertaken by the same military it has opposed. The Arakan Army is bound by obligations under international humanitarian law and is required to investigate possible violations of international humanitarian law by troops under its command.

The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (FFM) reported to the Human Rights Council in 2018 that war crimes, crimes against humanity and possible genocide were committed against the Rohingya in northern Rakhine by the Myanmar military in 2016 and 2017. As a result, 750,000 Rohingya refugees sought shelter in Bangladesh, where they remain today along with 300,000 other Rohingya who fled earlier military campaigns. Around 600,000 Rohingya are still in Myanmar.

The events of 2016 and 2017 are subject to a continuing investigation at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) under the Genocide Convention. In January 2020, the ICJ issued an interim ruling, finding a real and imminent risk of further irreparable harm to the right of the Rohingya in Myanmar to be protected from acts of genocide and related prohibited acts, and, pending its final decision, it indicated a series of binding provisional measures to protect those rights. Four and a half years later, Rohingya in Myanmar remain subject to persecution and denial of their rights and continue to be at serious risk of genocide.  

The ICC has been investigating the forced displacement of Rohingya to Bangladesh since 2019 but it has not yet taken any action against the leaders of the Myanmar military who were responsible then and who are responsible now for continuing atrocities. 

The situation in Myanmar is shifting significantly. The Myanmar military junta does not have effective control of the country and has a rapidly diminishing influence in Rakhine. The military junta remains by far the primary source of violence and instability and grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. This includes the military’s destruction, by burning and shelling, of entire towns seized by resistance forces since October 2023.

The Human Rights Council should use the special session to adopt a resolution calling on all parties to comply fully with the provisional measures ordered by the ICJ and to uphold international human rights and international humanitarian law in Myanmar at all times. The Council must also expedite efforts to address the accountability deficit in Myanmar and identify ways to use the extensive evidence already collected by the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, including by calling on the Security Council to refer the whole situation in Myanmar to the ICC or through the establishment of a special international criminal tribunal for Myanmar.

Download the English version of the statement: SAC-M PR HRC special session ENGLISH

About 30 Rohingya killed in clashes between Myanmar junta, insurgents

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Thousands are fleeing a township after the Arakan Army ordered them to leave.

About 30 members of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority have been killed in clashes between junta forces and ethnic minority Buddhist insurgents, residents of Rakhine State said on Saturday, raising new fears that the persecuted Muslim community is being caught in the middle of increasingly bitter fighting.

Twelve Rohingya civilians were killed in junta airstrikes targeting fighters from the Arakan Army, or AA, in Buthidaung township on Friday.  Later in the day, the Arakan Army bombed  a school where Rohingyas were sheltering with drones, killing 18 of them, residents said.

About 200 people were wounded, a Buthidaung Rohingya resident who identified himself as Khin Zaw Moe told RFA.

“People are scared. The casualties may be even higher,” he said. “The exact number is not known due to the difficulty in communicating.”

Rohingyas from about 20 villages were sheltering in the high school when it was attacked, he said. It was not clear why the Arakan Army bombed the school.

RFA tried to telephone the AA spokesman, Khaing Thukha, and the junta’s Rakhine State spokesperson, Hla Thein, but could not get through to either of them. 

The AA, who are battling the junta for self-determination of the Buddhist ethnic Arakan community in the state, said in a statement on Saturday its forces had captured all junta bases in Buthidaung. It did not mention Rohingya civilians.

Rohingya, who have been persecuted for decades in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, are getting caught up in the war between the AA and junta forces, human rights workers  say.

Both sides have pressed Rohingya into their ranks and at the same time have accused Rohingya of helping their rivals. Both the AA and junta forces subjected members of the Muslim minority to violence, residents and rights workers say.

Another Rohingya resident of Buthidaung said the AA burned down homes in eight neighborhoods of the town although he didn’t know how many of the homes had been destroyed.

Rohingya activist Nay San Lwin told RFA that tens of thousands of Rohingyas had fled from their homes after the AA ordered them to leave the town by 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Another township resident told RFA on Saturday that AA fighters had rounded up thousands of Rohingya near Buthidaung prison. 

RFA was unable to confirm any of the accounts because telephone lines and internet links were down.

More than 700,000 Rohingya fled from a Myanmar military crackdown in 2017, in response to a series of attacks on the security forces by Rohingya insurgents. Most of those refugees are sheltering in camps in southeast Bangladesh, where they joined hundreds of thousands who fled earlier abuses.

More than half a million Rohingya remain in Rakhine State, many of them in camps for the internally displaced. Rohingya activists estimate the Rohingya population of Buthidaung to be around 200,000. 

RFA News

Human Rights Situation weekly update (May 8 to 14, 2024)

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Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from May 8 to 14, 2024

Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in the Sagaing Region, Magway Region, Tanintharyi Region, Rakhine State, Kachin State, Shan State, and Kayin State from May 8th to 14th. 20 civilians died and over 50 were injured by the airstrike and dropping bombs in Saw Township, Magway Region, and Tabayin Township, Sagaing Region. Military Junta committed a massacre which involved shooting and killing over 30 local civilians from Lathtuttaw Village in Myinmu Township, Sagaing Region. Military Junta Troop arrested men from Magway Region, Ayeyarwady Region, and Bago Region for 2nd Batch of Military Service and also arrested 7 youths who denied Military Service and their relatives as hostages.

Over 80 civilians died, and over 120 were injured by the Military’s heavy and light artillery attacks within a week. A civilian also died by the landmines of the Military Junta.

Myanmar junta forces kill 15 villagers after clashes with Rakhine State insurgents

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Aerial bombings and gunfire on three villages destroyed homes and cars, and critically wounded many.

Myanmar junta forces battling ethnic minority insurgents in three townships in the west have killed 15 people in strikes on villages, residents told Radio Free Asia Wednesday.

The junta artillery fire and airstrikes on Tuesday also wounded 16 people in Rakhine State’s Thandwe, Kyauktaw and Maungdaw townships, they said.  Junta troops frequently retaliate against civilians across Rakhine State following offensives by the Arakan Army ethnic minority insurgent group, witnesses  say.

Residents told Radio Free Asia that 12 people were killed in an attack and another person was critically wounded when troops shelled Thandwe township’s Lin Thi village on Tuesday evening. Seven people were killed in the artillery strikes while five died in the hospital, according to Lin Thi residents.

Three people were killed in junta airstrikes further to the north on Tuesday, near the border with Bangladesh, residents there said.

RFA telephoned Rakhine State’s junta spokesperson, Hla Thein, but he did not respond. The military junta and the Arakan Army have been fighting in Rakhine State since a year-long ceasefire ended in November.

More than 200 civilians have been killed and nearly 600 have been wounded by air raids, land mines and small and heavy weapons in the six months since November, according to data compiled by RFA from accounts from residents and the Arakan Army.

The junta-controlled Myanma Alinn Daily newspaper reported on Monday that 60 civilians had been killed and 113 wounded by artillery fired into villages by the Arakan Army.

A witness who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals told RFA that junta forces fired heavy weapons from a junta camp strategically positioned on a hill on Tuesday.

“When fighting erupted with the Arakan Army, junta troops in the Bardan Hill camp shelled the village,” he said. “A family of five died in the first round, two more were killed in the second and the rest of the injured were brought to the hospital by boat. Three more died in the hospital last night and two died this morning.”

Most villagers fled to safety, but shelling could still be heard on Wednesday morning, he added.

Ngapali beach, a tourist town in Thandwe, has faced increasing economic difficulties as the conflict has escalated in the region, scaring off visitors.

Junta targeting hospital and school

To Thandwe’s north, Arakan Army troops captured Kyauktaw township’s regional junta headquarters in February. The military has responded with targeted attacks on civilians, residents say. The junta’s air force bombed a hospital and school on Tuesday in Wea Gyi Daunt village, injuring as many as 20 patients and healthcare workers. 

A villager who declined to be identified for security reasons told RFA that unlike in Thandwe, where fighting instigated the attack, three bombs were dropped apparently for no reason, hitting only civilians.

“They dropped a bomb last night. The hospital was also destroyed. Two health workers were injured initially, then seven more were injured,” he said. 

The Arakan Army reported that as many as 20 patients and healthcare workers were wounded, five of them critically. Some victims had died from their wounds, the insurgents said, but did not say how many.

Junta troops also bombed the Kyauktaw-based Infantry Battalion 374 base, which the Arakan Army recently captured, residents said.

Junta airtrikes further north, near Myanmar’s border with Bangladesh, killed three civilians and wounded six in Kin Chaung village in Maungdaw township, residents said. One man who witnessed the attack said two jets bombed the area even though there had been no clashes.

“Two elderly women and a man died. Six people were injured. Six or seven cars were destroyed,” said the man, who declined to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the information. “A religious building in a monastery compound collapsed and two houses burned down.”

Rakhine State is one of several Mynamar regions where fighters trying to end military rule have made advances recently against the junta that seized power from an elected government in early 2021.

RFA News