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Some 5,000 Rohingya who fled recent fighting waiting to cross to Bangladesh

August 9, 2024/in News

The minority Muslims left their homes in western Myanmar as fighting between the junta and insurgents intensified. Approximately 5,000 minority Rohingya Muslims attempting to flee from this week’s fighting in western Myanmar have been waiting for several days near the Naf River for an opportunity to cross into Bangladesh, residents said. Intense combat in Rakhine […]

Four more killed in sweeping crackdown in Myanmar’s Sagaing

August 9, 2024/in News

Junta troops have burned at least 400 houses in one Sagaing region since late July, residents said. Myanmar junta forces shelled a village in the Sagaing region killing four people, residents said, in the latest attack in an anti-insurgent campaign in which hundreds of homes have been torched and thousands of villagers have been displaced, […]

Some 5,000 Rohingya who fled recent fighting waiting to cross to Bangladesh

August 9, 2024/in News

Four more killed in sweeping crackdown in Myanmar’s Sagaing

August 9, 2024/in News

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Some 5,000 Rohingya who fled recent fighting waiting to cross to Bangladesh

August 9, 2024/in News

The minority Muslims left their homes in western Myanmar as fighting between the junta and insurgents intensified.

Approximately 5,000 minority Rohingya Muslims attempting to flee from this week’s fighting in western Myanmar have been waiting for several days near the Naf River for an opportunity to cross into Bangladesh, residents said.

Intense combat in Rakhine state’s Maungdaw township between ethnic insurgent Arakan Army and Myanmar military junta forces have caused thousands of Rohingya to leave the township’s administrative center and surrounding villages in search of safety.

More than 1,500 Rohingya have arrived in camps in Bangladesh over the last several days, a Rohingya resident of Bangladesh identified as Mahmud Hussain told Radio Free Asia.

“About 500 are detained by the Bangladesh Border Guard force,” he said. “They are kept in one place. More than 1,000 people have arrived in the camp.”

About 1 million stateless Rohingya refugees live in tightly packed border camps in Bangladesh. Most fled there in 2017 to escape violent crackdowns in Rakhine state that were blamed on the Myanmar military.

But more Rohingya have been seeking refuge in Bangladesh lately as security has deteriorated in Rakhine state.

People are being charged 800,000 kyat (US$150) to be carried across by boat from Maungdaw to Bangladesh, according to Hasan, a 25-year-old Rohingya man who spoke to RFA earlier this week.

ENG_BUR_STRANDED ROHINGYA_08092024.2.jpg — A screenshot from a video documents the Arakan Army rescuing Muslim elders, women, men and children from the Bo Hsu Village of Maungdaw Township, Aug. 8, 2024. The civilians were trapped as human shields by the military junta and Muslim militants. (AA Info Desk via Telegram)

On Monday, homemade rockets, artillery and drones were fired at Rohingya on a riverbank, leaving dozens of people dead.

Witnesses who spoke to RFA put the death toll as high as 200, although RFA was unable to verify those estimates.

Several Rohingya told Radio Free Asia that the Arakan Army, or AA, were responsible for the attack. The AA denied in a statement on Wednesday that their troops fired the weapons.

Maungdaw city flashpoints

The AA has recently made gains in its fight for control of Maungdaw township – part of a wider civil conflict that has consumed much of the country since a 2021 military coup.

Residents on Thursday told RFA that junta troops continue to fight fiercely to defend their positions.

“The AA is attacking at four or five places in Maungdaw city,” one resident said.

Thousands of civilians are trapped in the city’s junta-controlled neighborhoods. In villages near fighting taking place outside of the city, AA troops have been escorting people – most of them Rohingya – to safer areas, residents who requested anonymity for security purposes said.

Various armed groups, including the AA and some smaller groups aligned with the junta, have been using Rohingya residents as human shields in the recent fighting, according to Rohingya rights activist Mamud Kasein.

“The current situation is very terrible,” he said. “All armed groups are concerned with these crimes. International organizations must protect these civilians.”

RFA was unable to contact AA spokesperson Khaing Thu Kha, junta spokesperson Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun and Rakhine state Attorney General Hla Thein on Friday.

The Bangladesh Embassy in Yangon didn’t immediately reply to an email sent Friday asking for comment on the numbers of Rohingya attempting to cross into Bangladesh.

RFA News

Four more killed in sweeping crackdown in Myanmar’s Sagaing

August 9, 2024/in News

Junta troops have burned at least 400 houses in one Sagaing region since late July, residents said.

Myanmar junta forces shelled a village in the Sagaing region killing four people, residents said, in the latest attack in an anti-insurgent campaign in which hundreds of homes have been torched and thousands of villagers have been displaced, residents said on Friday.

The central Sagaining region, largely populated by members of the majority Burman community, has seen some of the worst of the violence that has engulfed Myanmar since the military overthrew an elected government in early 2021.

Outraged by the coup and a subsequent crackdown that shattered hopes for reform, pro-democracy activists from towns and cities, and central rural areas that had been largely peaceful for decades, have taken up arms to fight to end military rule.

Sagaing has become a hotbed of dissent and junta forces have responded with full force, including airstrikes and shelling that have killed hundreds of civilians and raids in which villages have beenlargely destroyed and residents detained and tortured.

Residents of the arid heartland region told Radio Free Asia that junta forces shelled Yinmarbin township’s Htan Taw Gyi village, about 125 kilometers (77 miles) west of the city of Mandalay, on Wednesday night for no apparent reason, killing four civilians and wounding six.

The fire from the junta camp about eight kilometers (five miles) away hit the eastern part of the village, said one resident, who declined to be identified for security reasons.

“Three people died on the spot. Seven people were wounded but one of them died in the morning, so four people have died in total. There was no battle at that time,” said the resident.

RFA telephoned the Sagaing region’s junta spokesperson, Nyunt Win Aung, for comme but he did not answer the phone.

Residents identified the four people killed as Myint Than Aung, Phyo Zaya, Pho Thet Wai and Hlwan Moe, all aged between 20 and 40.

The injured were receiving medical care, residents said, without giving details.

Junta spokesmen have denied targeting civilians but insurgents say the military has for decades cared little about civilian casualties as it tries to cut rebel forces off from civilian populations that sympathize with the rebels’ cause.

Homes burned

Independent verification of accounts related by residents is almost impossible but the evidence suggests junta operations in Sagaing have resulted in widespread dislocation of civilian populations and destruction.

Residents of Kanbalu township, to the north of Yinmarbin, estimated that a junta operation there had forced about 30,000 people from their homes since a July 24 attack by a pro-democracy militia on a junta force post in Kyi Kone village.

Fighters armed with homemade or looted weapons in what are known as People’s Defense Forces, or PDFs, regularly raid outposts and ambush forces throughout the country.

The July raid by the Kanbalu-based PDF sparked a junta sweep of some 20 villages in which an estimated 400 homes have been torched, residents said.

About 70 soldiers stationed in Bo Te Kone and Min Kone villages had torched numerous homes, said one villager who fled the crackdown. The displaced were struggling to make do outdoors in the rainy season, too fearful to venture back to their villages to see what remained, he said.

“The weather is not good so our health is affected. We had no time to carry food or drinks with us when we ran, so we’re having a hard time,” said the villager, who also declined to be identified.

Junta forces have burned 95,450 civilian homes across Myanmar since the coup, according to the independent research group Data for Myanmar.

Spring Revolution

Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 1 to 7, 2024)September 13, 2024 - 5:08 pm
Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Sep 1 to 7, 2024 Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in the Sagaing Region, Mandalay Region, Magway Region, and Shan State from September 1st to 7th. The Military Junta threatened that they would launch airstrikes on the townships which they lost. The […]
Human Rights Situation weekly update (Aug 22 to 31, 2024)September 7, 2024 - 4:09 pm
Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Aug 22 to 31, 2024 Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in the Sagaing Region, Magway Region, Bago Region, Mandalay Region, Tanintharyi Region, and Shan State from August 22nd to 31st. Head of Prison which works under Military Junta, tortured and blackmailed the […]
Human Rights Situation weekly update (Aug 15 to 21, 2024)August 26, 2024 - 9:11 am
Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Aug 15 to 21, 2024 Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in Sagaing Region, Magway Region, Mandalay Region, Tanintharyi Region, Rakhine State, and Shan State from August 15th to 21st. The Military Junta arrested the civilians for military service in the Bago Region, […]

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ND Burma

ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.

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