Myanmar’s military regime is orchestrating Rohingya protests against the Arakan Army to sow ethnic division in Rakhine State, according to a Rohingya activist, an ethnic Rakhine politician, and community leaders.
Junta-run newspapers and propaganda channels on Telegram and Facebook reported that hundreds of Rohingya protested in the state capital Sittwe and Buthidaung Township on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The channels posted video and photos of Rohingya protesters in Buthidaung holding banners that read, “We don’t want AA!” and “No war!”.
The ethnic Rakhine AA, the armed wing of the United League of Arakan (ULA), has been fighting for greater autonomy in Myanmar’s westernmost state since 2009.
The AA launched its latest offensive in November last year and has so far captured 10 towns in northern Rakhine State, dealing a big blow to the junta.
Tensions between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities flared in 2012 with bloody clashes that saw Rohingya around Sittwe confined to camps. Northern Rakhine townships like Maungdaw and Buthidaung have majority-Rohingya populations. In 2017, more than 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh after the army responded to attacks by Rohingya militants with a violent military crackdown on civilians.
Restrictions imposed on Rohingya in Rakhine State include a ban on traveling outside their residential areas without permission.
This week’s protests – which come as the junta faces military defeat to the AA in Rakhine – were therefore impossible without arrangement by junta authorities, said prominent Rohingya activist Nay San Lwin.
“Rohingya communities told us the army threatened to burn down their houses and expel them from the country if they refused to join the protests,” said the co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition.
The AA echoed that claim, saying the protest in junta-controlled Buthidaung was orchestrated by the military. AA spokesperson U Khine Thu Kha said public protests were banned in areas under junta control except for rallies in support of the military regime.
“The ULA/AA is now monitoring this situation closely and will respond appropriately,” he said.
An ethnic Rakhine Buddhist resident of Sittwe said he believed junta was attempting to instigate Rohingya riots to stir communal discord.
“We also heard that Rohingya were threatened with forcible military recruitment if they refused to protest,” he said, referring to the Conscription Law recently activated by the regime.
Rohingya community leaders and activists said the military was attempting to spark communal violence with protests against the AA.
They said the protesters were not local but were transported by the military from rural areas and ordered to hold a three-hour protest from 3 pm to 6 pm.
The junta was using Rohingya as a proxy to protest against the AA in Buthidaung, said U Aung Kyaw Moe, a Rohingya representative in the civilian National Unity Government (NUG).
The deputy minister for human rights cautioned that the Rohingya must be politically cautious and remain on the right side of history.
“This act [protests] clearly instigates communal violence between Rakhine and the Rohingya and, at the end of the day, it is the Rohingya who will end up paying the highest price,” he warned in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
The AA has also accused the junta of forcibly recruiting Rohingya to fight on the front line in Rakhine. The AA recently released photos of bodies of Rohingya in regime army uniform who it said died in the battle for Rathaedung. The junta denied its military was conscripting Rohingya in Rakhine.
Ethnic Rakhine politician U Pe Than said the protests were the regime’s attempt to drive a wedge between the two communities for its own interests.
“Young Muslims may not be aware of this. Their leaders should do the right thing. In the longer term, this will do no good but only harm,” he said.
