Weekly Update of Arakan

 Rohingya Khobor Desk-

30.5.2024

Young Rohingya people are forced to enlist in the Myanmar Military in Sittwe.

Starting on May 25, 2024, the Myanmar Military has been forcing Rohingya men to enlist at IDP camps in Sittwe Township. Using a lottery, the Myanmar Military has been enlisting Rohingya men into the military at IDP camps in Sittwe Township, Arakan State, since May 25, 2024.

The administrator of the IDP camp in Thek Key Pyin met the internally displaced Rohingya IDPs on May 19 and 25, 2024, then used a lottery to forcefully recruit Rohingya men. A resident stated, “Police and militaries conducted the meeting in the compound of a factory in the Thek Key Pyin IDP camp.”

From every IDP camp, the Myanmar Military forcefully gathered fifteen Rohingya males, ran a lottery for them, and chose the ones best fit for militia training. During January, February, and May, the Myanmar Military forcefully conscripted many Rohingya men from the Rohingya IDP camps and villages; today, it is forcing additional Rohingya men to join the similar camps and villages.

Before being sent to the front lines against the AA in Buthidaung and Rathedaung Township, the Myanmar Military takes the forcefully conscripted Rohingya men for either 7 or 15 days of military training.

31.5.2024

Arakan State blames junta blockades for medicine shortages

Ongoing junta blockades of land and sea routes have reportedly caused medicine shortages and increasing medicine prices among the health community and Arakan State residents.

The junta blockades have caused pharmacies to run out of medication and soaring medicine stock prices. One owner of a pharmacy reported they had run out of drugs including paracetamol, biogesic, cetirizine, and enervon-C.

Junta blockades make it impossible for us to get medication. Currently, a Kyauktaw pharmacy owner said, we import drugs from India. One card of an anti-hypertensive medicine cost 1,500 MMK; one pill of Enervon-C cost 500 MMK; one card of Paracetamol cost 500 MMK; and one card of Biogesic cost 700 MMK before the ongoing battle in Arakan State.

These days, the price for one card of an anti-hypertensive medicine jumped to 5,500 MTK; the price for one tablet of Enervon-C increased to 3,000 MTK; the price for one card of Paracetamol soared to 2,000 MTK; and the price for one card of Biogesic went to 3,000 MTK. Rising medical prices are caused by junta blockades.

I’ll provide you an illustration: The cost rises to 3,000 MMK in Minbya due to transportation costs if one medical tablet costs 1,000 MMK in Kyauktaw. A Minbya healthcare professional noted that both purchasers and proprietors of pharmacy stores find it difficult since gasoline costs have not yet dropped. Since the junta established land and water blockades, local residents of Arakan State have been deprived of food as well as medications.

Apart from scarcity of supplies, Indian stopped exporting commodities to Paletwa Township in surrounding Chin State for the second week of April. The junta’s restrictions since the latest hostilities between the military and the Arakkha Army (AA) started on November 13 have caused many local and foreign organisations as well as civil society groups to stop operations.

1.6.2024

In Akyab, 40 Arakanese are killed by Junta soldiers

Several residents who saw the tragic event believe that at least forty Arakanese were slaughtered during a raid in Byine Phyu village on the borders of Arakan (Rakhine) capital Akyab. The junta troops asked the villagers to take off their shirts after detention.

Then they focused on the young people with tattoos bearing Arakanese words and symbols. “They asked the men to show their bodies and then killed those who had tattoos of the Arakan Army symbol, the Arakan national flag, other Arakanese texts, etc.,” stated an old villager.

The junta troops carried out the raid on the periphery when the locals said that the AA fighters were about to attack Sittwe. Reports claim that the junta soldiers also executed popular musician U Kyaw Hla and his son Ko Duwun Khaing. Most of the houses in Byine Phyu village were burned. Other villages, including Ma Laung and Kyay Taw Paik Seik, also saw the destruction, the old man said.

The junta troops stormed Byine Phyu village on May 29 and started war crimes against the people. They commanded everyone to leave the village on May 31. They then started the village ablaze. On June 20, 2024, the AA released a statement denouncing the continuous crimes against humanity carried out by the Military Council and strongly advising them to stop these activities right now in order to avoid such events once more.

The Military Council’s spokesman, Zaw Min Htun, said he had to shoot three persons who tried to take a gun from a military member in the area, therefore refuting assertions of killing over forty people. He said further that the charges made by the AA are just propaganda.

Furthermore mentioned by him were the efforts of the AA to hide the burning of Muslim homes and the slaughter of Muslims in Buthidaung Township.

The NUG also issued a statement of condemnation for the heinous murders of civilians and a pledge to bring anyone engaged, either directly or indirectly, in continuous war crimes, massacres, and crimes against humanity performed by the terrorist military to the Junta as soon as feasible.

To claim justice for all impacted victims, it will cooperate and work nonstop with pertinent groups including regional and local revolutionary allies.

Northern Maungdaw Township’s growing atrocities by AA

The AA, along with the Rakhine chairman of Ywet Nyo Taung Rakhine village in northern Maungdaw Township, are coordinating various atrocities against the Rohingyas in the village, to evict them.

“The Terrorist Moghs Group AA has confiscated the base camp of the Burmese Genocidal Military in Rwa Yun Taung village, and its commander, along with U Nyi Nyi, the Rakhine chairman of Ywet Nyo Taung, are committing various atrocities against the Rohingyas, residents of Ywet Nyo Taung Rohingya village in northern Maungdaw Township,” a Rohingya said.

AA and U Nyi Nyi, the chairman of Ywet Nyo Taung, have committed the following offences:

In Abujja village in The Yet Of hamlet in northern Maungdaw Township, five innocent Rohingya civilians lost their lives.

False allegations of connections with the Myanmar Army and Rohingya armed groups have led to the abduction of four innocent Rohingya civilians from Ye Kai Chaung Kuwa Sone. They also robbed the villages’ properties, including phones, gold, and money.

Mohammad Sawlam, a resident of Da Gyi Sa village in Tha Yet Oke hamlet, had eight buffalos stolen and sold for 120 lakhs of Myanmar kyats.

Mohammad Zavair, a resident of Da Gyi Sa village in Tha Yet Oke hamlet, had his rice store robbed of 85 bags.

Rahamat Ulah, a resident of Tha Yet Oke Rohingya village, had his 28 buffalos stolen.

They gathered 25 Rohingya villagers from Thu Oo Hla Rohingya village for a meeting, stole their phones, watches, and money, and intimidated them with false accusations. Five meeting attendees were also abducted.

Baseless accusations led to the abduction of a Rohingya youth, who was a resident of Myo Taung Rohingya village. Families and villagers still don’t know the whereabouts of the aforementioned abductees, who have been missing for over a month.

2.6.2024

AA has kidnapped three Rohingyas from Maungdaw Township

The villagers of Maungdaw, Kyaw Hle Kha hamlet and Thay Chaung Rohingya village, said that AA kidnapped three Rohingyas on May 30, 2024, at about two p.m. The three abductees are Abdu Razak, the son of Soyed Akbor, Saiful Kolim, and Mohammad Hamid; Abdu Razak is also the son of another man.

All of them live in the Chaung Rohingya community in Kyaw Hle Kha hamlet, in northern Maungdaw Township. Saiful Kolim runs a shrimp fish pond; Abdu Razak maintains a market in The Chaung village in Kyaw Hle Kha hamlet; and Mohammad Hamid runs a market in Minglalar Gyi village.

Under Territory (Naymay) 6 in northern Maungdaw Township, the base camp of AA in Pyin Pyu is reported to have taken the three abductees. Holding the three abductees, AA has been prohibiting their meeting with their relatives. Targeting Rohingyas with sufficient livelihoods, AA started accusing them of ties to the armed organisations and Myanmar Army, therefore resulting in their kidnapping.

In Maungdaw Township, AA is abducting and extorting Rohingya young people

According to reports made by the Rohingya people from Maungdaw, AA is forcefully collecting 8 lakh Myanmar kyats every Rohingya home in U Shin Gya village tract (Burashidor Fara), a Rohingya community in northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, Myanmar.

Attaching Rohingya residents of U Shin Gya village tract (Burashidor Fara), northern Maungdaw Township, AA called a meeting and angrily demanded that they fork over 8 lakh Myanmar kyats each household to Terrorist Moghs Group AA.

AA members said in the conference that individuals who refuse to pay 8 lakh Myanmar kyats in taxes will be subjected to torture and kicked out from the hamlet. May 31, 2024: AA started gathering funds in the northern Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, Myanmar U Shin Gya village tract. On May 23, 2024, AA kidnapped 27 young Rohingya people from the U Shin Gya village tract in northern Maungdaw Township.

A source said that AA has kidnapped 27 Rohingya young people and intends to use them as human shields under force. AA has not revealed where the 27 Rohingya teenagers disappeared to. Demand from their relatives and neighbours is that AA members release them immediately.

3.6.2024

The WASH activities are still ongoing in Akyab and Pauktaw Townships

The WASH activities are ongoing, with local Muslim staff residing in the IDP camps of Akyab, Pauktaw, and Kyawkphyu. The IDP camps in Rakhine State prohibit national staff, including Burmese and Rakhine, from entering.

Myanmar Heart Development Organization (MHDO) is providing food to the IDPs in Pauktaw and Kyawkphyu Township. The ICRC is still conducting online transactions. International organisations withdrew from other townships in Arakan and maintained emergency response offices in Akyab City.