Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint: 10 December 2019 YANGON—The Arakan Army (AA) is planning to levy “taxes” on infrastructure projects and other businesses in areas of Rakhine and Chin states under its control, including the India-backed Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transportation Project, worth an estimated US$480 million (722.25 billion kyats), according to AA chief Major General Tun Myat Naing. He told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the ethnic armed organization (EAO) would start collecting money from the operators of large-scale projects, but did not say whether small and medium-sized businesses would also be taxed. He said the taxes would be imposed from next year, as the group is currently compiling lists of the projects and businesses operating in those parts of Rakhine State and Chin State’s Paletwa Township where AA troops are present, and is in the process of deciding how much they will be required to pay. Maungdaw Border Traders Association chairman U Aung Myint Thein told The...

2019-12-06 Hnin Zar Phyu, the wife of Arakan Army (AA) Commander-in-Chief Maj-General Tun Myat Naing, and their infant son at the immigration department in the northern Thai city of Chiangmai on December 6, 2019. RFA Authorities in Thailand detained the wife and children of Arakan Army (AA) Commander-in-Chief Maj-General Tun Myat Naing this week at the Thai-Myanmar border and appear set to deport them, RFA learned on Friday. The detentions in the northern Thai city of Chiangmai were condemned by rights groups because the scenic city has been known for giving sanctuary to Myanmar expatriates and exile democracy leaders during decades of military repression and war in Myanmar. Friends and relatives of Tun Myat Naing told RFA’s Myamar Service that his wife, Hnin Zar Phyu, 11-year-old  old daughter Saw Pyae Shin, and infant son Myat Lin Zin were detained on Wednesday morning at Myanmar authorities’ request as they showed up to renew their Thai visas. Myanmar authorities al...

The wife of Arakan Army (AA) leader Major General Tun Myat Naing and their two children were detained by Thai immigration officials in Chiang Mai on Wednesday and will be deported to Myanmar soon, according to sources close to the family. Officials at the Thai Immigration Bureau’s Chiang Mai office arrested Ma Hnin Zar Phyu when she went there to extend her visa on Dec. 4, the sources said, adding that she and the two children were due to be sent to the border town of Mae Sai, in Thailand’s Chiang Rai province, on Friday afternoon. From there the three are expected to be transferred across the border to Tachileik Township in Myanmar’s Shan State, where Special Branch Police are awaiting their arrival. According to a source in Chiang Mai who cannot be named, the Myanmar government gave the Thai government a list of 10 people, including the family of Maj-Gen Tun Myat Naing, whom it sought to have arrested due to their affiliation with the AA. Ma Hnin Zar Phyu’s visa expired on De...

A 10-year-old boy wounded by an artillery shell in Yar Shay Pyin Village, Mrauk-U Township, Rakhine State SITTWE, Rakhine State—Five civilians, including three children, were injured in Rakhine State’s Mrauk-U Township on Sunday after the Myanmar military allegedly shelled Yar Shay Pyin Village. Military troops deployed nearby in Lin Mway Hill came down to the village and fired arms and artillery, according to local residents. A girl aged 13, two women aged 22 and 25, and two boys, ages 3 and 10, were reportedly injured. “Soldiers came shooting about one mile from the village. At first, they were shooting their guns. Then, they fired four artillery shells. The last one struck the house of my brother, and children hiding there were hit by shrapnel,” local resident Ko Aung Thein told The Irrawaddy. He said that most of the local residents fled when the soldiers came into the village shooting their guns. “Villagers told me that soldiers opened fire for no reason wh...

By MIN AUNG KHINE 2 December 2019 Sittwe, Rakhine State –Three Mrauk-U township residents died and four others were injured when an artillery shell struck their community in the Ale Zay quarter of Mrauk-U town on Monday afternoon after 4 p.m. A month-old girl, a 4-year-old boy and a 30-year-old woman died, according to Dr. Khin Maung Yin, the head of Mrauk-U hospital. He said, “A man and three other women were injured. One of the women sustained severe injures to her left leg and her right knee was dislocated. The injured will be operated on.” Details of what occurred were not yet known. A few hours earlier, three civilians were injured when an artillery shell fell on the village of Na Leik in Mrauk-U Township, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, on Monday at around 1 p.m., according to Yan Aung Pyin village-tract administrator U Sein Hla Aung. Two females, aged 13 and 27, and an 18-year-old male were injured in the incident, he said. Three people were hit by shrapnel and we have...

NEW DELHI: The Indian government on Tuesday said its "timely intervention" ensured the release of five Indians and five Myanmar nationals, including an MP, who had been taken hostage by an ethnic rebel group in the country's restive Rakhine province. The ministry of home affairs said in a statement that the five Indian nationals, along with a Member of Myanmar Parliament, two local transporters and two speedboat operators, were abducted by the Arakan Army on Sunday while on their way from Paletwa in Chin State to Kyauktaw in Rakhine. The abducted Indians were engaged in building the Kaladan road project in Myanmar. "Timely intervention by the government of India has ensured release of five abducted Indian nationals, a Member of Myanmar Parliament and four other Myanmar nationals from Arakan Army in the Rakhine State of Myanmar, in the early hours on Monday," the statement said. One Indian national died in the Arakan Army's custody due to ...

By MOE MYINT 20 February 2019 YANGON – Maj. Thet Oo Maung, a military representative in the Rakhine state parliament, has accused the Arakan Army (AA) of planning to take over five townships in northern Rakhine State by 2020, drawing on his analysis of the AA’s recent series of offensives against the Myanmar military in the region. The military major submitted a proposal to the Rakhine parliament on Wednesday in which he urged the Arakanese public to support the military’s operations in the region, saying the military always protects the lives of the public, and protects race and religion in Rakhine State and always protects the Arakanese from the danger of Muslim attacks. “They plan to stage a coup in Paletwa, Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U by 2020 as part of their mission called the 2020 Arakan Dream,” Maj. Thet Oo Maung said during the parliament session. He also accused the AA and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) of coordinating on operations in the Mayu region, referring to ...

By  NYEIN NYEIN  12 December 2017 “Realizing Peace in Myanmar”, a collection of background papers published by the Euro Burma Office in Myanmar between 2015-17 was launched on Monday at an event to mark the 20th anniversary of the founding of the EBO. Author Paul Keenan compiled his research on the Myanmar conflict and highlighted the diverse nature of the conflict and the many obstacles that remain to peace. Keenan has been based in Southeast Asia doing research on Myanmar for almost two decades and is the current consultant on research and analysis at EBO Myanmar. He shared his perspectives on the Myanmar peace process with Irrawaddy senior reporter Nyein Nyein this week. What is the key message in your book? Paul Keenan: The key message I think is the fact that, for the conflict in Burma, people cannot just see it as a similar conflict elsewhere because there are far too many individuals who need to be given what they are asking for. Obviously, you know, it is ve...

By LAWI WENG 11 December 2017 The head of the Arakan Army (AA) has called on the Arakanese people not to let their emotions lead them to become involved in the conflict in Rahkine State. AA chief Tun Myat Naing spoke for 20 minutes in a video posted on the AA’s Facebook page in which he described the conflict between Muslims and the Myanmar Army in Rakhine as a “political trap.” The video has attracted more than 200,000 views. “The enemy has surrounded our Arakan land,” Tun Myat Naing said, referring to the Myanmar Army in Rakhine.“There are many conflicts in Arakan. For example, the problem of the Kalar (a derogatory term used against those of South Asian descent, and increasingly as an anti-Muslim slur) is a political trap for us. It has divided our people. We give warning to our people. This is a sensitive issue, and we should not become involved emotionally,” he said. “Whenever there has been a conflict with the Kalar, they [the Myanmar Army] have wanted to create a ...

About 1,300 villagers have crossed from Chin State to India to escape fighting between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army insurgents, an Indian newspaper reported on Tuesday. The men, women and children have taken refuge at four villages in remote, mountainous southern Mizoram State and were receiving shelter and relief from the authorities, the Hindu said. The report indicated that the villagers had been displaced by fighting around Paletwa in southern Chin, near its border with Rakhine State. It said those who crossed the border were Buddhists and Christians who spoke the same tribal language as southern Mizoram residents. The report quoted an official in Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district as saying it was the fourth time in the recent past that people had crossed the border from Myanmar to escape unrest. In one of the most serious encounters, a report earlier this month said at least 11 members of the Tatmadaw were killed and 14 injured in a clash with the Arakan Army near Paletwa....

By NAN LWIN HNIN PWINT / THE IRRAWADDY| Tuesday, May 10, 2016  Arakan Army leader Brig-Gen Tun Myat Naing. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) Arakan Army leader Brig-Gen Tun Myat Naing. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) Founded in 2009 in northern Kachin State, far from their homeland, the Arakan Army (AA) were trained and supported by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and joined the KIA and the Myanmar Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), in skirmishes with the Burma Army in the country’s northeast last year. In March 2015, the first clashes between the AA and the Burma Army were recorded in Arakan State itself. This quickly receded, but clashes resumed in December 2015, acquiring a new intensity and prolonging into the term of the new government. The violence has spread beyond Kyauktaw Township to Buthidaung, Mrauk-U, Rathedaung and Ponnagyun townships of central and northern Arakan State. More than 1,700 local residents have been displaced this year by the fighting. Althoug...

By MOE MYINT / THE IRRAWADDY| Monday, May 9, 2016 Internally displaced Arakanese civilians in Yoe Chaung village, part of Kyauktaw Township in Arakan State. (Photo: Hla Htay) RANGOON — On April 16, celebrations for the Buddhist New Year’s Water Festival were being held around Arakan State. Music blared throughout towns and villages, and the people ate, drank and merrily splashed water on each other. But for thousands of Arakanese, the festivities were cut short by the sound of gunfire and explosions. Fighting between the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed organization, and the Burma Army last month engulfed villages in four townships, around 100 miles north of the state capital Sittwe. Thousands were forced from their homes, and at least 1,500 remain displaced, living in monasteries or other temporary shelters. With more violence breaking out Monday, the displaced people remain reluctant to return home, and a humanitarian crisis is brewing, which activists say is being ignored by ...

By LAWI WENG / THE IRRAWADDY| Thursday, April 28, 2016  Karen freedom fighters travel to fight alongside the Arakan Army. (Photo: Saw San Aung/Facebook) After days of traveling from Karen State, Col. Saw San Aung and dozens of troops arrived in Arakan State last week to help the Arakan Army (AA) fight the Burma Army. The troops are Karen freedom fighters—a Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) splinter group, and other ethnic armed forces from groups that the Colonel did not specify. He described the fighters as a federal army, formed discreetly by ethnic leaders. Making pillows of stones and singing to his troops, Col. Saw San Aung attempted to keep morale high for the soldiers he calls “freedom fighters” during the rough trip to western Burma’s Arakan State. “At times, we did not have food and could not sleep, but this is the life of a rebel,” he said. The trip was not smooth, as the troops trekked through the jungle from Taungoo to Pegu Yoma to Arakan Yoma, occ...

United League of Arakan (ULA) Released Statement No-5/2016 20 April 2016 Persecution against ethnic minorities committed by the Burmese military government and its armed forces have continued for more than a half century until the present. The military abuse in remote ethnic areas that remain virtually unknown because of severe restrictions imposed by the Burmese Army. The persecutions have been systematic and widespread, and the forms include extra-judicial killings, torture, and other forms of violence, arbitrary arrests, and detentions. Burmese Army has subjected civilians to executions, torture, human-shields and rape of ethnic women during the conflicts. The widespread violence, part of a vicious counterinsurgency campaign that amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, has contributed to a looming humanitarian crisis, threatening to democracy roadmap and peace in Burma. Since the outbreak of war in February 2015 in the Rakhine state, it has reported to have...

By   MOE MYINT / THE IRRAWADDY |  Thursday, February 4, 2016 | RANGOON — Authorities in Arakan State are continuing to arbitrarily arrest civilians on suspicion of links to the Arakan Army, according to several local sources, with the latest detainee a landowner from Taungup Township who was released on Wednesday evening. Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Aung Tin Moe said he was arrested on Monday in Taungup Township’s Ma-Ei town by military personnel who quizzed him over suspected ties to the Arakan Army which has recently been engaged in clashes with government troops. “They asked me what I have been doing since university age to this year,” said Aung Tin Moe, who owns a teak plantation in Ma-Ei town. He said he was detained by army personnel and held in neighboring Ann Township until his release on Wednesday evening. A friend of Aung Tin Moe, citizen journalist Tun Tun Naing, has also claimed he is wanted by authorities in Kyaukphyu Township. “I don’t kn...