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Dozens of Rohingya killed in 5 months of renewed fighting in western Myanmar

April 2, 2024/in News

The attacks have left an already traumatized community in constant fear for their lives. Junta airstrikes and artillery bombardments in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state have killed 79 Rohingya Muslims and injured 127 more since ethnic Arakan Army rebels ended a ceasefire with the military in November, according to data compiled by RFA Burmese. Some 1 […]

Myanmar’s War-Displaced Face Health Crisis as Donor Funds Dry Up

March 26, 2024/in News

Internally displaced people (IDPs) in central Myanmar are facing malnutrition and other health problems as assistance from donors both in Myanmar and abroad dwindles, according to IDP support groups. Huge numbers of civilians in Magwe and Sagaing have been displaced. The situation became acute in 2022 when the junta and its allied militia ramped up […]

Dozens of Rohingya killed in 5 months of renewed fighting in western Myanmar

April 2, 2024/in News

Myanmar’s War-Displaced Face Health Crisis as Donor Funds Dry Up

March 26, 2024/in News

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Dozens of Rohingya killed in 5 months of renewed fighting in western Myanmar

April 2, 2024/in News

The attacks have left an already traumatized community in constant fear for their lives.

Junta airstrikes and artillery bombardments in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state have killed 79 Rohingya Muslims and injured 127 more since ethnic Arakan Army rebels ended a ceasefire with the military in November, according to data compiled by RFA Burmese.

Some 1 million Rohingya refugees have been living across the border in Bangladesh since 2017, when they were driven out of Myanmar by a military clearance operation.

Another 630,000 living within Myanmar are designated stateless by the United Nations, including those who languish in camps and are restricted from moving freely in Rakhine state.

The killings since the Nov. 13 start of the conflict in Rakhine state have further traumatized the Rohingya community and left them fearing for their lives when airplanes appear overhead, they told RFA.

An investigation by RFA found that at least 79 Rohingyas were killed and 127 injured by junta bombardment in Rakhine state as of Monday. They include 27 dead and 43 injured in Minbya township, 24 and 45 in Buthidaung, 17 and 17 in Kyauktaw, four and 17 in Mrauk-U, and seven and five in Sittwe.

At least two mass casualty incidents occurred over the same period.

On March 18, an airstrike on Minbya’s Thar Dar village killed 22 Rohingya and injured 29, according to residents. In January, junta artillery strikes on Buthidaung’s Hpon Nyo Leik village killed 12 and injured 32, sources in the region told RFA.

‘We’re just victims’

A Rohingya resident of Thar Dar village called the mass killing in March “heartbreaking” and questioned why members of his ethnic group are being caught up in the conflict.

“We [Rohingyas] don’t want to take over the country and we aren’t attacking [the military],” he said, adding that the Rohingya simply want to live their lives in peace. “We’re just victims of conflict [between two other groups].”

Thada village, Minbya township, Myanmar, following an overnight airstrike by junta forces, March 18, 2024. (AA Info Desk)

Restrictions on the Rohingya’s movement make it difficult for members of the community to earn an adequate income. Few have the means to relocate amid the fighting in Rakhine.

A Rohingya from Kyauktaw’s Let Saung Kauk village, where junta bombardment killed six people in February, called the military’s fighter jets “messengers of death” for his community.

“We live in fear that the junta will drop bombs and cry when we hear fighter jets,” he said. “We don’t know whether to flee or stay here and die.”

Attacks on civilians and forced recruitment

Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya activist, said that the junta targets civilians in response to attacks by the Arakan Army, or AA.

“The armed conflict in Rakhine state is between the AA and the army, but the junta responds not only by attacking the AA, but also civilians,” he said. “The military always commits massacres. They burn down villages. Civilians, including Rohingyas, are suffering great losses in the conflicts.”

Myanmar’s military is desperate for new recruits after suffering devastating losses on the battlefield to the AA in Rakhine state. Since November, the military has surrendered Pauktaw, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Myay Pon, Ponnagyun, Ramree and Rathedaung townships in the state, as well as Paletwa township in neighboring Chin state.

Residents say the military has forcibly recruited more than 1,000 Rohingyas in Buthidaung, Sittwe, Maungtaw and Kyauktaw townships for military service, and has forced Rohingyas to hold public protests against the AA.

Attempts to contact junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun for comment on RFA’s findings went unanswered Monday.

RFA’s investigation also found that junta artillery fire, airstrikes, landmines and small weapons fire killed some 187 civilians and injured 531 others in the four months since the start of the conflict in Rakhine state.

RFA News

Myanmar’s War-Displaced Face Health Crisis as Donor Funds Dry Up

March 26, 2024/in News

Internally displaced people (IDPs) in central Myanmar are facing malnutrition and other health problems as assistance from donors both in Myanmar and abroad dwindles, according to IDP support groups.

Huge numbers of civilians in Magwe and Sagaing have been displaced. The situation became acute in 2022 when the junta and its allied militia ramped up arson attacks and airstrikes on villages in these regions, which are anti-regime resistance strongholds. Myanmar junta troops and allied Pyu Saw Htee militia frequently conduct raids in the regions, torching villages and killing civilians. Furthermore, whenever the soldiers face shortages of food, they loot civilians’ property. Therefore, the villagers do not dare return home and have been sheltering in forests and along riverbanks, or fleeing to towns in safer areas, according to the volunteers.

Ko Nay Min Khant, a representative of the Shwebo Township support group, said IDPs in Wetlet Township needed food and medicine. The group is a charity organization supporting IDPs in some townships in Sagaing and Mandalay regions.

The group provided medical treatment to IDPs in four villages in Wetlet Township, Inn Daung, Thae Boat Gyi, Yoar Thit and Shane Makar villages on March 8 and 9. Around 400 civilians were treated by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) health workers but the mission had to be halted due a shortage of medicines, Ko Nay Min Khant said.

An elderly villager in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region receives treatment from the Shwebo Township Support Group in March 2024. / Shwebo Township Support Group

“We agreed to provide field treatment in other villages but we have run out of medicine,” Ko Nay Min Khant told The Irrawaddy.

As it’s now summer in Myanmar, villagers are suffering illnesses due to the severe hot weather, as the region is in the country’s dry zone and living conditions are poor. They live in small huts covered by tarpaulin and straw. The health condition of children and elderly IDPs in Wetlet Township has deteriorated since last year, he said.

Makeshift settlements for villagers displaced in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region / Shwebo Township Support Group

“The number of malnourished people is increasing,” Ko Nay Min Khant told The Irrawaddy.

In Wetlet Township, more than 2,000 people have been displaced in the last seven months. Last year, the group distributed food to the IDPs as well as such necessities as bamboo, tarpaulin and clothes, but they haven’t been able to deliver such items this year due to a lack of donations.

“Some elderly people asked us for food when we went there to provide field treatment. They are living in small huts in hot weather in a situation where there is not enough food,” Ko Nay Min Khant said of the IDPs in Wetlet Township.

A Buddhist monk in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region receives treatment from the Shwebo Township Support Group in March 2024. / Shwebo Township Support Group

In Sagaing, over 1.1 million people have been displaced by fighting and junta military activity including clearance operations, airstrikes, arson and ambush attacks, and many townships are under attack for months at a time, according to a report issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in March. In Sagaing, food and other essential relief items are needed for more than 55,000 IDPs in numerous townships including Indaw, Katha, Mawleik, Myaung, Tamu, Tigyaing, Ye-U and Yinmarbin, UNOCHA reported.

However, the volunteers said that thousands of IDPs in other townships also need assistance, adding that they are totally reliant on donations from people at home and abroad.

The People’s Administration bodies of the National Unity Government support IDPs but are not able to cover all their needs, said a representative of Pale Township People’s Administration.

Elderly villagers in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region receive treatment from the Shwebo Township Support Group in March 2024. / Shwebo Township Support Group

“The IDPs are facing a shortage of food, and their health is deteriorating after sheltering in the forest for a long time,” he told The Irrawaddy.

The volunteers are also struggling to cope with a situation in which the number of IDPs is increasing while donors are decreasing, said a representative of the volunteer group We Love Myaing of Magwe Region. The Myanmar military and Pyu Saw Htee militia members frequently raid villages in Myaing Township.

A representative of We Love Myaing told The Irrawaddy the group is often overwhelmed by the sheer number of civilians fleeing junta raids.

“We sometimes have to borrow money from friends to help them,” the volunteer said.

Irrawaddy News

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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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