Myanmar’s military is forcibly recruiting Rohingya men from villages and camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Rakhine State and it is feared they will be used as human shields, activists and residents of the state warn.
The warning was prompted by the initial drive to force Rohingya men in the war-torn state to join the junta’s military, which saw at least 400 Rohingya men from villages and IDP camps sent to military bases for two weeks of basic training.
“The training period is only two weeks. The junta’s military can only use those who have been trained for just two weeks as human shields,” said Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition.
At least 400 Rohingya men have already been forcibly recruited from villages and IDP camps in Sittwe and Buthidaung townships to fight the Arakan Army (AA), residents of the townships and Rohingya activists say.
The recruitment drive follows the first-ever enforcement of Myanmar’s conscription law on Feb. 10. Since then, the regime’s military has pressured Rohingya community leaders and administrators in villages and IDP camps in three Rakhine townships – Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Sittwe – to compile lists of men between 18 and 35 years of age so that they can be conscripted to the military.
Community leaders and administrators have been pressured to compile lists of at least 50 men for each small village and at least 100 for each IDP camp and large village.
“What we were able to confirm on Wednesday was that at least 300 people from IDP camps in Sittwe had already been drafted and are now in [military] training grounds,” Nay San Lwin said.
Junta troops also arrested at least 100 men from four villages in Buthidaung Township on Feb. 18 and 19 and they were sent to a nearby military base for basic military training, he added.
The conscription law only applies to Myanmar citizens. Rohingya people are not recognized as citizens of Myanmar.
Junta forces have told Rohingya men that if they serve in the military, each one will receive a sack of rice, a citizenship identity card and a monthly salary of 150,000 kyats (US$ 41), Rohingya residents of Rakhine State and activists say.
Sittwe, the state capital, has 13 IDP camps for about 100,000 Rohingya people who were displaced by ethnic and religious violence in the western state in 2012. The 300 Rohingya men already forcibly drafted to the junta’s military from the IDP camps are just the first group. A list of 300 more, including their names, has already been drafted for the next group, local residents and activists say.
The Irrawaddy was unable to independently verify the numbers.
Rohingya people say they are anxious for those who have already been forcibly drafted as well as for themselves. Sooner or later, it will happen to them or a loved one, they say.
The first 300 Rohingya men forcibly conscripted from IDP camps are receiving “basic military training” inside the base of Artillery Battalion 373 in Sittwe.
The Irrawaddy was unable to independently verify the numbers.
Nay San Lwin is calling for rapid and more effective international action against the junta’s atrocities and human rights violations. He called on neighboring countries and ASEAN to do more.
The junta’s military is suffering major defeats in battles with the AA, one of three ethnic armies in the Brotherhood Alliance that spearheaded Operation 1027, which was launched in northern Shan State on Oct. 27 last year.
After humiliating the junta’s military in northern Shan State, the AA did the same in Rakhine State.
On Nov. 13, it launched a large-scale offensive against regime targets across northern Rakhine State and in Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State.
It has seized more than 170 junta bases and outposts since Nov. 13, as well as six towns in Rakhine State and one in Chin State.
The junta’s military is fighting an army that knows the terrain of Rakhine State better than it does and has public support.
Ko Tun, a young Rohingya man who lives in a village near an IDP camp in Sittwe, said he is anxious for himself and his family because his age makes him eligible to serve in the junta’s military.
“Instead of getting killed at the frontline by taking up arms for the junta, we would rather fight them and join in the Arakan Army,” he said.
