Military tensions are rising in Rakhine after the junta began mobilizing troops amid a months-long fragile truce with one of Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic armed groups, the Arakan Army (AA).
The junta has been beefing up its forces in Rakhine towns and cities for the past week as the AA takes part in a resistance offensive that is expanding elsewhere in the country.
Regime forces are also going door-to-door in urban areas and interrogating householders on the activities and whereabouts of AA fighters, say locals.
The AA has joined the Brotherhood Alliance’s Operation 1027 offensive, which has seized dozens of junta targets in Shan and Kachin states, and northern Sagaing and Mandalay regions over the past two weeks.
The civilian National Unity Government says the offensive is spreading nationwide as part of a coordinated strategy to topple the military regime.
Rakhine locals report that junta forces this week began seeking AA members, their families and friends in major townships. These include Kyaukphyu, where the regime is building a special economic zone and deep-sea port for China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Kyaukphyu residents said that junta soldiers and police are entering houses both day and night to interrogate residents for information on AA members.
“It’s not like inspections for household registrations which they usually do during the evening. Now they are asking straight out whether we support the AA or can name any of its members or supporters,” said a Kyaukphyu resident.
He said the junta has deployed more armed personnel to Kyaukphyu town, adding that it may have also sent plainclothes spies into local communities.
Regime forces are also stopping and checking civilians more often while arbitrarily arresting journalists and activists, in an apparent bid to impose an information blackout on Rakhine.
Residents in the capital Sittwe say the junta has been reinforcing its base there with troops from Kyauktaw and Ponnagyun since Monday.
“They are making sure they have strong forces in Sittwe. We have also observed them transporting food and weapons from one base to another. We cannot tell whether these are preparations [for military action], but it is certainly a state of alert,” said a Sittwe resident.
The junta has also sent reinforcements to checkpoints around Sittwe and Kyauktaw, as well as those guarding its bases in Mrauk U and Ann townships, where passersby face increased checks.
The Irrawaddy reached out for comment from AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha but got no answer.
In a statement issued Thursday, the Brotherhood Alliance said junta troops are being reinforced in Rakhine State, especially via waterways.
The ethnic alliance said the junta was obviously making military preparations in the state.
The AA enjoys popular support in Rakhine, where it maintains control in some areas amid fluctuating tensions with regime forces.
An informal ceasefire was agreed in November 2020 after the Myanmar military suffered heavy losses in two years of fighting. The AA then began establishing its own administration in some parts of Rakhine State. The fighting restarted in 2022 before another truce was agreed last November.
The AA was founded in 2009 as the armed wing of the United League of Arakan (ULA). It started fighting Myanmar military forces in 2015, seeking greater autonomy for Rakhine.
