ARAKAN ARMY BRINGING HARMONY BETWEEN RAKHINE AND RAOHINGYA COMMUNITY TO SEEK FOR JUSTICE, PROTECTION, AND IDENTITY

https://www.a020/09/arakan-army-bringing-harmony-between.html

Villagers from Pha Yar Poun village are sleeping on the ground after Myanmar army set fire their houses on September 3.

Background of Two Foot Soldiers

Recent development of two deserted foot soldiers from Myanmar army and reportedly appeared  in Netherlands in this week is encouraging for both Rakhine and Raohingya communities for at least International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ) may able to produce more evidences of crimes committed by Myanmar army against Rohingya Muslim in 2017.

Moreover, after Arakan Army, freedom fighting ethnic Rakhine revolutionary force emerging, two communities are brought in harmony to seek for justice, protection, and interaction in every level of grassroots in the villages, in towns, and among the key political leaderships in recent years. 

The video clips released by Arakan Army in June revealed that the two soldiers, Private Myo Win Tun, 33, and served for Light Infantry Battalion 565, and Private Zaw Naing Tun, 30, and served for Light Infantry Battalion 353 had involved in ‘clearance operations’ in 2016 and 2017 and killed a number of Rohingya after given orders from their superiors.

International news said Myo Win Tun and Zaw Naing Tun are now in the custody in Netherlands after they requested protection in Bangladesh in August. The news said Bangladesh authority contacted to ICC after the soldiers sought asylums.

Arakan Army Spokesperson Khine Thu Kha told our news agency the two former soldiers appeared in Netherlands are run-away military service men from Myanmar army but not Prisoner of War, or ‘POW’. He said AA did not detain them at all but helped them for certain extent of providing foods, cashes, and shelters for temporary basis before they went out themselves to settle private lives elsewhere.

“These two soldiers are run-awayfoot soldiers from Myanmar army. They reached to our camps. We documented what they have done and really experienced on the ground that we have already released some video clips,” he said.

Khine Thu Kha said, “In order to save valuable human life, we have cooperated with the international community because Myanmar army is killing innocent Rakhine civilians daily, randomly arresting villagers, setting fire houses, looting private properties, and stealing and slaughtering cattle for foods, in terms of rampaging all kinds of violence over the general populations that have to be stop one way or another. In Myanmar, domestic law does not protect civilians but the international law. So, we ought to cooperate with the international community in order to prevent such atrocity carried out by Myanmar military.”

“As we have made an announcement, we have provided some mass grave locations to the international community. And, we hope that the international community will somehow prevent the lawless killing over our people by enforcing the international law,” he said. 

Arakan Army announced on January 26 and stated, “While Tatmadaw (Myanmar army) is being investigated for war crimes at the International Criminal Court, they are brazenly continuing to commit like this even today. Therefore, if any organization that loves the truth and other independent organizations take steps to establish the truth, we stand ever ready to extend our hands of cooperation.”

According to AA sources, it has handed over some evidences of Rohingya mass graves and the locations to the international organization in June shortly after it made the announcement.

Local sources said there are several high ranking military officers and hundreds of deserted foot soldiers who obtain evidences and experiences in the massive atrocities done over the Rohingya community during the clearance operations in Buthedang and Maungdaw townships in 2016 and 2017.

Rakhine and Rogingya Villagers Helping Each Other

When Myanmar army declared ‘clearance operation’ in Kyautan village track in Rathedaung township on June 24, over 30,000 residents were fleeing from the villages in fear of get killed and arrested. But several Rohingya villages were remaining untouched by the military. Rakhine villagers asked the Rohingya to look after their cows, buffalos, and some properties while they were running out of the villages.

Ahr Kar Taung and Kan Sit are some Rohingya villages close to the Yet Khone Taing and Tha Mee Hla Rakhine villages where all residents have been fleeing since June. The villagers handed over hundreds of cows, buffalos, and farming-machines to the Rohingya villagers to temporarily take care of.

“Five cows and three buffalos are given to my Muslim friend in Ahr Kar Taung village to look after before I come back to my village. They are well taking care of the cattle,” said U Kyaw Thar Aung, a villager from Tha Mee Hla village.

There are many stories like these in in Rathedaung and Buthedaung townships.

Ko Ann Thar Gyi, a charity volunteer, assisted and transported several wounded Rohungya to the hospital in Minbya township in June. The video clip of assisting the Rohingya patients appeared on social media. He told the local media, Rakhine people ought to help the Rohungya patients because they are suffered the same as Rahkhine people are facing today by the Myanmar military randomly attacking and firing motor shells.

Arakan Army Set a Tax Free Zone for Rohingya Villages

Rohingya villagers reported the village chairman collected tax of 20,000 Kyat (About 18 US dollar) to per cow before the Muslim Eid day celebration in Than Htuang and Ya Ba villages in Kyauktaw township. They reported the village chairman, Mro ethnic, was collecting taxes for Arakan Army.

After AA got that report and investigated the tax collection, it found out the local Rohingya villagers had to pay taxes to the local authorities for many years. The village chairman had collected the taxes to pass the authority and police. But the police and the authority could not come to those villages at all because AA has been controlling that region since last summer.

Then, the AA leader in the local base instructed the village chairman to give back the tax money to the Rohingya villagers, and ordered from now on, these villagers do not have to pay any tax to the local authorities. Now, the Rohingya villagers are saving a lot of money.

Similar case took place in Buthedaung township when 10 stolen buffaloes were captured by AA administrator in May.

Traders were heading to the Bangladesh border with 10 buffaloes in the morning of May. AA administrator was reported that those buffaloes were stolen from Zay Taung village. Then AA stopped the traders on the border and investigated it.

AA found out the buffaloes belonged to the Rohingya. AA gave back the cattle to the owners. 

One of the key AA leaders said some Rakhine came and claimed those buffaloes belonged to them. But it was not true. He said justice has to be fairness and does not matter they are Rakhine or Muslim, the properties must be given to the rightful owners. 

High Level Leaderships Interaction

Some high level of liberal Rakhine and Rohingya leaderships are discussing their view point how to cooperate and build unity among themselves in order to have bargaining power when negotiating with the central government and how their future will be look like in term of achieving freedom and equality.

The discussions are going on local and diaspora leaderships level. They discuss they would like to have a common agreement between Rakhine and Rohingya community in basic terms of freedom of movements, right to citizenships, right to equality, and right to voluntary return of refugees. They believe these kinds of common agreement may empower themselves to negotiate with the central government and implement the recommendations of late UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

In different point of views among the diaspora leaderships, they even discuss radicalized approach in cooperation between the two communities and prosecute individual Myanmar generals at the ICC, and even lead to further discussion of forming a political and military collation to fight together for total independence from the Myanmar authority and create a new nation where everyone can enjoy equal rights and equal opportunity whereas AA has manifested 'Way of Rahita.'

For the leaderships and organizations that are involving in the political discussions, Arakan News is requested to off publishing on media due to their security concern. .

A Fight For Legitimacy Amid Arakan's Changing Political Landscape

July 25, 2020 / DMG

Arakan, a tiny coastal land fenced in by the Arakan Yoma mountain range to the east and neighboured by Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal to the west, is on fragile political ground due to conflict between the Myanmar armed forces and the  Arakan Army. As of between December 1, 2019 and April 15, 2020, prominent side effects of the hostilities include more than 160,000 people displaced (IDPs), 406 injured and 336 deaths in Arakan and Chin states, according to the local NGO Burma Monitor. Other tangible consequences include a lingering internet shutdown, restrictions on domestic and international media and humanitarian assistance, governance breakdowns and travel limitations, while intangible repercussions are numerous, from the growth of hatred and distrust toward the government and military to feelings of insecurity, and uncertain futures politically, economically, and societally.

Arakan has long lived under different tyrannical regimes, since the 1962 military coup by General Ne Win and arguably through President U Thein Sein’s military-backed administration (2011-16). Successive governments wielded despotic powers unheeding of the rule of law, and procedural and substantive accountability. Today both State and non-State actors (the latter being primarily the Arakan Army) compete for power over populations and territories in Arakan State, particularly in the northern half of the region.

The Functions of State

In his 2004 book “State-Building,” the prominent political scientist Francis Fukuyama breaks down the two dimensions of the State, calling them ‘Strength of the State’ and ‘Scope of the State,’ while the latter is further divided into three sub-sectors of functionality: 1) minimal functions 2) intermediate functions and 3) activist functions. In Fukuyama’s view, the three categories of State functions are as follows:

Minimal functions: Functions	Intermediate Functions	Activist
1. Providing pure public goods policy 2. Defense, law and order distribution 3. Property rights 4. Macroeconomic management  5. Public health 6. Improving equality  7. Protecting the poor	1) Addressing externalities 2) Education, Environment  3) Regulating monopoly 4) Social insurance  5) Insurance, financial regulation 6) Overcoming imperfect education	1) Industrial 2) Wealth

Myanmar (then Burma) may have had a large State scope under the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) government (1962-88), but its scope was trimmed back under the two decades of military rule that followed (1988-2010). The post-2010 governments are still trying to address State deficiencies in all three sectors. More importantly, the strength of the State in Myanmar is comparatively faint. Even the main law-enforcing actor, the Myanmar Army, is able to master just 50% of the territory ostensibly under its domain.

Being the second-poorest region in Myanmar after the contiguous Chin State, with nearly 70% of the population living in poverty, the people of Arakan harbour resentment toward the Nay Pyi Taw government. Two consecutive general election victories for Arakan State’s leading ethnic political party were followed by a rejection of their claim to have earned the right to form the state government. Historical grievances are made more galling by material poverty, with all these factors boosting the Arakan Army and the nationalist revolution it has vowed to shepherd by waging a war that is now more than 18 months old.

Since Myanmar is a weak State, it is more susceptible to being substituted in reality or in people’s minds by the likes of the Arakan Authority, an interim governance body forged by the AA’s political wing, the United League of Arakan (ULA). On June 19, Arakan News published a story about the AA-affiliated Authority settling a land dispute issue in Ponnagyun Township between two brothers. The case was worked out within a week and the two parties seemed to be satisfied with the resolution proposed by the Arakan Authority, according to the report.

A day earlier, on June 18, a local monk from Mrauk-U told RFA: “As far as I see and hear, the public does not go to the police for their criminal cases and I am told that AA is solving the cases. So, I find only AA and Myanmar military governance while the NLD government is nearly invisible. This started to happen soon after the AA announcement to install a governing mechanism.”

Drug rehabilitation programmes administered by the AA are also appreciated by local populations, the RFA story added.

The NLD administration, meanwhile, is seeking to rehabilitate the governing mechanism while the military is calling for more effective rule, possibly a form of martial law in Arakan. On the ground, however, the power of State to non-State actors is increasingly shifting to the latter. Still, it is difficult to know to what extent the Arakan Authority is acting in a manner befitting of the abovementioned Fukuyama chart on State scope and strength.

AA Revolution and the Muslim community in Arakan

It is interesting to consider how the Muslim community in Arakan State has reacted to the AA’s armed revolution and the changing political calculations in Arakan. Due to the 2017 “clearance operations” by the Myanmar military, around 700,000 Muslims fled to Bangladesh, a majority of them also stateless. With Myanmar facing a lawsuit under the Genocide Convention before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December 2019, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi described the AA movement as such:

Myanmar is thief who steals everything from Arakan before it calls itself Myanmar or Burma

It is not news that the invading brutal Myanmar Army is having devastating impact on Arakanese lives every second in the 24/7. 

We all realize that every electric media in Myanmar except Myanmar government media telecasts how Myanmar Army persecutes Arakanese people and driving out them from their houses to eliminate entire Arakan National in the lost Arakan to Myanmar. Myanmar Army has driven out over 200,000 Arakanese people from their houses and set villages on fire and demolished every house from those villages in Arakan.

Right now those over 200,000 Arakanese people are suffering from evil Myanmar Army which is just killing, wounding, abducting, beheading, raping, looting, and committing war crimes  against the civilians of Arakan  (Arakan  has lost its sovereignty to so-called Myanmar but it must be given Arakan friendly otherwise Myanmar or Burma will  going to be exploded into pieces and so-called Myanmar or Burma will come to end disappearing on the earth).

We, Arakan, do not care Myanmar or Burma because all their culture, literature, religion and everything which they mimic from us to be alive as Myanmar is Arakanese origin.

But we, Arakan, are still losing and are still struggling to regain what we had that you, bloody out of mind Myanmar or Burma get know right now on!  

Myanmar is thief who steals everything from Arakan before it calls itself Myanmar or Burma.

So, Myanmar was criminal since long time ago and at present also it is just again currently criminal before the International Court of Justice  ( ICJ, The Netherlands).

   

INTERNATIONAL WEAPON COMPANY IS BREACHING INTERNATIONAL LAW; MYANMAR ARMY USED LETHAL EXPLOSIVE DEVICES OF APOBS IN THE BATTLE IN AUNG THAR ZAY VILLAGE IN RAKHINE STATE, MYANMAR; ARAKAN ARMY KILLED 100 MYANMAR TROOPS IN THE TWO FRONTS IN MINBYA AND RATHEDAUNG REGIONS

https://www.arakan.news/2020/07/international-weapon-company-is.html

Arakan Army released a statement and photos of Anti-Personal Obstacle Beaching System (APOBS) and captive POW as well as weapons and ammunitions seizure on July 22. 

The statement said it killed 50 Myanmar troops including high ranking officers in Minbya township on July 20. It said AA fighters also killed 50 Myanmar soldiers in Aung Thar Zay battle in Rathedaung township. 

AA attacked 5 Myanmar military trucks on Yangon-Sittway Highway near Pha Pyo village on July 20. At least 50 soldiers were killed and 20 more troops were wounded. It captured a half dozen Myanmar troops. 

Local people have reported more than 50 Myanmar troops were killed and dozen soldiers captured in Aung Thar Zay battle in Rathedaung township where Myanmar army has been launching clearance operation since June 24. 

AA statement disclosed it killed 50 Myanmar troops in Aung Thar Zay.

Local people reported yesterday two battalion commanders were sacked and arrested in Htee Swea military base by their superiors for breaching order of high command and inability of advancing the AA position for weeks. 

Two photos were shown by Arakan Army, which is APOBS and used when Myanmar army was attacking AA base in Aung Thar Zay.

Local people have been reporting unusual explosions and heavy smoke bombs were seen near Aung Thar Zay village since July 20. 

Our news agency briefly investigated APOBS technology and its origin and found out it is USA technology and first tested by US based weapon production company, The Ensign-Bickford Company. U.S. Marine Corp and U.S. Army began using the APOBS in 2000 and 2001. 

It is unclear who has sold the APOBS to Myanmar army. But it is clear if any international weapon company selling the APOBS to Myanmar army, it is breaching international law and arms embargo rule and regulation. 

International community should thoroughly investigate the origin of weapon company that sold APOBS to Myanmar army. 

Global Arakanese community should sue the weapon company for damaging and breaching International law whereas hundreds of civilians were killed and injured and over 200,000 civilian populations are forced to displace in Rakhine State.

Any intentional weapon company that sells the lethal weapons to Myanmar army, filed genocide against Rohingya people at International Court of Justice (ICJ), is accountable for the damages and breaching the law and International arms embargo. 

Some Indian news outlets must stop the spread of misinformation and unjustifiable campaign

Some Indian news outlets must stop the spread of misinformation and unjustifiable campaign against the Arakanese People’s struggle for political freedom

Date - 22 , July , 2020

The government of Myanmar and its military have been waging their coordinated race and information war against civilians of Arakan in order to maintain the Burmese colonial rule, oppression and exploitation in Arakan. In fact, the world’s longest internet shutdown in Arakan and Chin states has been used as a tool to conceal war crimes committed by Myanmar armed forces against all the Arakan’s inhabitants, which blatantly violates its obligation to comply with the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Furthermore, the Burmese authorities have also been conducting a propaganda campaign with continued rally of fabricated information, misrepresentation of facts, unsubstantiated claims, and unwarranted accusations to unjustifiably shift the blame on our organization while covering up their flagrant war crimes.

The UN security council has recently adopted a resolution with respect to the appealing of 170 UN member states without Myanmar for “a global ceasefire" on 1 July 2020 in order to facilitate effective measures against the global threat of COVID-19 pandemic. Myanmar, which opposes the appealing of 170 countries for a global ceasefire, not only threatens world peace and regional stability but also negates international humanitarian laws and universal values.

In the meantime, we have come to notice the spread of misinformation by some Indian news outlets about our people’s struggle for political freedom against the Burmese invasion of Arakan. These Indian news outlets have accused our organization as having links with ARSA and receiving supports from China and insulted us on the pretext for the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport project. Their heinous acts have not only tarnished the reputation of India as the world’s largest democratic country but also committed serious violations of international humanitarian laws and journalistic ethics.

Allegations surfacing in the Indian media claiming that the ULA/AA has ties to the ARSA are damaging, defamatory and false. The United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) was formed as a revolutionary organization comprising all inhabitants in Arakan irrespective of religion, race, ethnicity, minority or majority, with political objectives striving for the liberation of the entire oppressed population of Arakan from the yoke of Burmese fascism and imperialism, equal rights, self-determination and freedom for the multi-ethnic Arakanese population, the restoration of the loss of national sovereignty and political freedom in Arakan, and the emergence of a dignified, new Arakanese society. Therefore, we categorically denied what was an unfounded and hugely damaging allegation linking the ULA/AA to the ARSA.

Our humble suggestion is that taking into account the mutual interest and cooperation in the future some Indian news outlets must stop the spread of misinformation and unjustifiable campaign against the Arakanese People’s struggle for political freedom.

Info-Desk

Arakan Army

MYANMAR SOLDIERS SHOT AND KILLED 80 AND 60 YEARS OLD VILLAGE MEN AND WOUNDED 3 OTHER CIVILIANS TODAY IN RAKHINE STATE, MYANMAR

Location of civilian killed and injured today in Chein Khar Li village on July 13,2020

 https://www.arakan.news/2020/07/myanmar-soldiers-shot-and-killed-80-and.html

Myanmar soldiers aim their guns at a 60 years old unarmed man and then shoot and kill him in front of his wife, and an 80 years old man is found dearth with gunshot at his resident in Chein Khar Li (Rakhine) village, Rathedaung township in Rakhine State, today at 11 am. 

Three more villagers including a 13 years old teenage boy are wounded when Myanmar military is spraying guns and shelling into the houses while entering into the village this morning. 

U Maung Than Sein, 60, was shot in front of his wife Daw U Sein Nyunt when they were hiding in the bomb shelter under the house. 

Eighty years old village elder man U Tun Sein Maung is found death with gunshot-wound in his body and laying in the living room at his resident today. 

When a family with 3 including 13 years teenage boy were hiding in the bomb shelters at their resident, a shell fired from the Myanmar army is landed in the compound and wounded entire family in the morning. 

U Tun Win, 50, is hit in his leg, his wife Daw U Mying Kyi, 45, is injured in her arm, and their son Maung Nay Min Tun, 13, is wounded on his chest by the shell explosion in their resident.

“The soldiers force to open the front door first, but they cannot. Then they hit the back door by their rifles. As soon as the door is open, they see my father in law sitting on the bank of bomb shelter. The soldiers shoot him immediately in front of his wife, my mother in law. He dies on the spot under the wooden floor. My mother in law is shock and struck metal unstable,” said Kyaw Aye*, son in law of late U Maung Than Sein.  

Chein Khar Li village administer told our news that 60 soldiers with heavy and small arms are firing randomly when they are coming from Done Paik police station at 9 am this morning and heading to the north.

“They are firing small and heavy guns thought out the road. All residents from Done Paik and Chin Khar Li villages are fleeing because they are very afraid to get killed,” the administrator said. 

He said 6 elder men and women are still trapping inside the village including his mother. 

The administrator said, “I have seen all the dead and wounded villagers. I am shocked. They are innocent villagers, and we have grown up together. The old and respected elderlies are gone out of our community.” 

The administrator said Myanmar soldiers are still reaming in the village at this moment we are writing this news at 6.67 pm in Myanmar time.

Some local residents told our news agency they heard Myanmar army and Arakan Army are fighting 600 yards in the north after Chein Khar Li police station. 

They said the military might have been suffered during the clash with AA. Thus, the soldiers are turning back to the village and killing the civilians for revenge and racial hatred.

The reseidnts said they have heard several young villagers have been arrested by the military but they cannot go out and look for them since the army is still in the village and firing guns to everywhere. 

Two villages women were wounded in Aung Bla village when the Myanmar military was shooting directly into the residents in last weekend. 

Since last Saturday, three civilians have been killed and 5 villagers injured by the Myanmar army senselessly firing guns and shells into the populated town and villages, including 70 years old town resident in Ponnaygun. 

“More civilians are killed and injured by the armed forces senseless spraying guns and shelling into the residential areas. It is very sad we have lost the lives of innocent and unarmed civilians. Rakhine communities are unprotected and vulnerable. All lawmakers in Rakhine State have to stand up and complain the President about the senseless killing and injuring the civilians. Otherwise, it will never end,” said U Khin Maung Latt, a lawmaker from Rathedaung township. 

Analysts said Myanmar military is intentionally shooting and shelling into all villages on the highway from Ah Ngu Maw to Maungdaw in order to clear all villages along the way as they did to Rohingya villagers in 2017. 

Arakan Army Spokesperson Khine Thu Kha had told our news agency previously Aung San Suu Kyi government does not protect Rakhine people but supporting the military. 

He said international community’s effective actions against the military and to bring perpetrators to international justice will end the atrocities of brutal military, and once for all. 

Note. Kyaw Aye is changed from original name due to his personal security.