The Myanmar military
has air-dropped hundreds of troops into the country’s strife-torn western
Rakhine state in preparation for a surgical operation intended to root out
accused Muslim rebels and insurgents, according to military sources. The
deployment of the 33rd Light Infantry Division commenced last Thursday. They
were helicoptered into the regional capital Sittwe, despite inclement weather,
and were deployed to Maungdaw the following day. Since then they have down
regular sorties in the area, according to local eyewitnesses.
The Myanmar Army or
Tatmadaw has also given verbal orders to villagers in northern Rakhine to avoid
entering the Mayu mountain range to the north, as they conduct clearance
operations in the region. This is where the military believe there are
“terrorists” holed up, conducting military training courses. The government’s
security forces have been carrying out counter insurgency operations around
here for months, searching for suspected Muslim militants in the region,
according to military sources. Now with the addition of more than 500 troops
these operations have been ratcheted up.
Over the weekend,
the authorities extended a curfew that was already in place in the township. At
the same time State media also reported that the government had imposed new
curfews, to be set “in necessary areas” as the army beefs up its “clearance
operations”.
According
to several Asian intelligence sources some 300 Muslim Rohingya have been
undergoing foreign-funded training — using automatic rifles — in the Mayu Mountains.
The military
operation comes at a particularly sensitive time for the Myanmar government,
faced with a barrage of international criticism and demands by the UN to allow
a special investigation into the military’s conduct in Rakhine – and
allegations by Rohingya villagers of systematic rape, murder and arson at the
hands of soldiers — during last year’s security mob up, in response to a series
of attacks on police border guard posts, which left nine dead.
More than 70,000
Muslim villagers fled across the border to Bangladesh since then as sporadic
violence in the region persists. The government has accused insurgents of
murdering and abducting dozens of villagers, who they perceived to be
government collaborators.
According
to regional intelligence sources, vast amounts of money and arms are being
funneled to the Rohingya, largely through Mae Sot on the Thai border with
Myanmar.
The violence has
escalated further recently, the worse, a week or so ago when six ethnic Mro
were killed in Maungdaw. Hundreds of villagers have since fled, amid increasing
panic in the area. The Mayu mountain range has been the center of the
Tatmadaw’s operations over the last few months. In June, the security forces
killed three suspected militants during a two-day operation. According to
several Asian intelligence sources some 300 Muslim Rohingya have been undergoing
foreign-funded training — using automatic rifles — in the Mayu mountains.
The insurgents,
known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, were little known until they
claimed responsibility for the October raids on the police posts. The group
says it is fighting to advance the rights of the Rohingya and has denied
killing civilians in statements issued through an unverified Twitter account.
According to
regional intelligence sources, vast amounts of money and arms are being
funneled to the Rohingya, largely through Mae Sot on the Thai border with
Myanmar. The intelligence sources though are unclear whether the weapons –
alleged supplies left over from the Cambodian conflict decades ago – are
reaching their intended destination.
This is a relatively
new phenomenon, according to the intelligence sources. Before last October’s
attacks, Myanmar intelligence sources believed that at least 200 Rohingya had
slipped into neighboring Bangladesh since 2013 for training – in political
organization, advocacy and self-defense, including the use of arms, funded by
Saudi benefactors.
While it is
impossible to verify the veracity of these intelligence claims, the increase in
violence in Northern Rakhine suggests there is no smoke without fire. At least
the Myanmar military are convinced, and are committed to ramp up their counter
insurgency efforts there and completely route out the alleged “terrorists”.
The army commander
has made it clear – that this time at least – they are responding to the
demands of the local residents. A day before the troop airlift, the commander
in chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing met leading Arakan National Party
(ANP) politicians in Naypyidaw and assured them that the Tatmadaw would not
stand idly by and let the violence go unchallenged. The Arakan politicians
asked for security to be beefed up and more troops deployed.
“The army chief said
he would fully protect ethnic groups in Rakhine State and that he would take
care of the routes that are used to illegally infiltrate [into the country],
and make sure the Mayu mountains are not used by militants,” according to ANP
member Oo Hla Saw, a Lower House MP from the state, who was among the
delegation who met Min Aung Hlaing.
Aung San
Suu Kyi needs to use some of her prestige and popularity to fight back,
starting with embracing credible efforts to investigate military abuses and
demand the Tatmadaw permit prosecutions of those found to be involved,
It was a
high-powered military delegation, which met the Arakan politicians, including,
deputy commander-in-chief of defense services and army commander-in-chief
Vice-Senior-General Soe Win as well as chief of general staff (army, navy and
air) General Myat Tun Oo, also believed to be head of the military’s
intelligence operations.
As the army
commander dispatched reinforcements to Rakhine, the country’s civilian leader,
Aung San Suu Kyi convened a meeting of the newly formed Rakhine security
committee to discuss the situation in Rakhine, which comprised relevant
national ministers – including the three ministers from the army, Border
Affairs, Defense and Home Affairs — regional ministers and the state
counselor’s national security advisor Thaung Tun. There was no mention of the
launched military operation in their statement on Face Book, after their
meeting concluded.
It would seem that
the Commander-in-Chief ordered this major surgical operation, against Rohingya
rebels and alleged insurgents in Rakhine, without directly consulting the Lady.
This was his constitutional prerogative, as it was regarded as a military
matter and does not need civilian approval, according to sources close to Min
Aung Hlaing. Since the very first days if NLD government, the two leaders –
Aung San Suu Kyi and Min Aung Hlaing – have had a clear understanding on how
they would work together: Min Aung Hlaing would take the lead in security
matters, while the lady was responsible for the rest, said a former senior
military officer.
Of course, both
understand that the Rakhine issue is beyond being a strictly internal security
matter and deeply affects international relations. But the problem is that
there is no direct formal channel for consultation between the country’s two
real leaders, other than the National Defense and Security Council, which met
six previously – at which the situation in Rakhine was discussed. Although
there is no direct channel for two to discuss operational matters, this
operation was consistent with their clear understanding and clear terms of
engagement, noted a senior retired general.
But according to
sources close to the government, Aung San Suu Kyi was indeed aware of the
pending operation. Intermediaries informed her, according to military sources:
the Vice President, Myint Swe and the defense minister and the interior
minister. However, it also does not mean she is happy with this situation. Like
the Rohingya villagers, she is concerned to avoid a repeat of the human rights
abuses that accompanied the military’s previous counter insurgency operation in
Rakhine.
This also concerns
the UN especially the special rapporteur Yangkee Lee who reported on the
earlier situation Rakhine, concluding that it may amount to ethnic cleansing of
the Muslim minority Rohingya. On Friday, she issued a statement raising
“serious concerns” about the launch of the military operation in Rakhine. But
most activists and international human rights organizations are calling on Aung
San Suu Kyi to be more resolute. “Aung San Suu Kyi needs to use some of her prestige
and popularity to fight back, starting with embracing credible efforts to
investigate military abuses and demand the Tatmadaw permit prosecutions of
those found to be involved,” Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch told South
Asian Monitor in an email.