The Irrawaddy
YANGON – Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Major-General
Aung Soe told a regular session of the Upper House on Tuesday that the military
had established at least 30 militia groups and armed three of them in northern
Rakhine State’s conflict-torn Maungdaw district.
He was responding to a question from Arakan National
Party (ANP) lawmaker Kyaw Kyaw Win about whether the government planned to
establish and train militias in Maungdaw and Rathaedaung regions, especially in
areas where the government could not permanently deploy security forces.
Maj-Gen Aung Soe said the Army was providing firearms
training to groups in Bandhula, Tat Chaung and Wai Lar Taung villages. The
groups had received tactical shooting training up to an advanced level in
February and March last year, and further instruction was scheduled for this
summer season, he said. Thus, there was no need to establish more militia
groups, he said.
Maj-Gen Aung Soe did not elaborate on whether the Army
was providing its own firearms to the militias or simply allowing them to use
locally produced handmade, single-load rifles.
On Aug. 25, about six months after the militia training
began, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) — formerly known as Harakah
al-Yaqin (Faith Movement) — staged serial attacks against nearly 30 border
outposts and one military base in Maungdaw district, killing at least 10 policemen
and one soldier, and making off with several dozen firearms.
The Myanmar Army declared the region a military operation
zone and locked down the border. Its subsequent clearance operation drove more
than 650,000 Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh’s Teknaf district. The UN
described the devastation that followed as a “textbook example of ethnic
cleansing”.
Lower House lawmaker U Aung Thaung Shwe of Maungdaw
constituency said that in Bandhula, Tat Chaung and Wai Lar Taung villages,
located in northern Maungdaw, two Arakanese sub-ethnic groups, the Mro and
Khamme, rely on the resources of the Mayu mountain range to survive. He was
critical of the government’s efforts at militia training, saying it had been
discussing it since the Ma Sa La era, adding that it was only occasionally used
in the previous Thein Sein administration.
He pointed out that the military had never equipped local
villagers with its Ka Pa Sa arms, and merely allowed local handmade hunting
rifles, which are not tactical assault rifles. Lawmaker U Aung Thaung Shwe said
small ethnic groups armed themselves with single-shot rifles while fleeing
heavy clashes between ARSA and government security forces.
“We have consistently urged [militia training] in
Parliament, but it has never happened in this government’s term. They [the
Army] are just talking about it. As far as I know, there has been no effective
militia training or arming on the ground,” he said.
Upper House lawmaker U Kyaw Kyaw Win, who initially
proposed the plan, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday afternoon.
Maj-Gen Aung Soe claimed that the Army had established
596 militia groups under its Western Command, located in Ann Township of
Rakhine State, in order to implement regional stability and development
projects. He added that the Army is trying to recruit new police officers for
Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships and is collaborating with the Supreme Court
and the Office of the Attorney General of Myanmar to enact the Border Police
Force law.
The government had officially opened 12 new local police
stations and expects to open another four soon, Maj-Gen Aung Soe said.