Myanmar's military regime is allegedly instigating Rohingya protests against the Arakan Army to stoke ethnic tensions in Rakhine State, as per sources including a Rohingya activist, a Rakhine politician, and community leaders. Junta-affiliated media outlets on platforms like Telegram and Facebook reported hundreds of Rohingya demonstrating in Sittwe and Buthidaung Township on multiple occasions, sharing images and videos of protesters holding banners saying, “We don’t want AA!” and “No war!”.

The United League of Arakan's armed faction, the ethnic Rakhine AA, has been engaged in a struggle for increased autonomy in Myanmar's westernmost region since 2009. In November of last year, the AA initiated its most recent offensive, seizing control of 10 towns in northern Rakhine State, significantly impacting the junta's control. Tensions between the Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities escalated in 2012, resulting in violent clashes that led to the confinement of Rohingya populations around Sittwe into camps. Townships such as Maungdaw and Buthidaung in northern Rakhine have predominantly Rohingya inhabitants. In 2017, over 700,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh following a violent military crackdown by the army in response to attacks by Rohingya militants.

This week's protests, amid the junta's military setbacks to the AA in Rakhine, were deemed impossible without junta authorities' arrangement, according to Rohingya activist Nay San Lwin, due to restrictions like the ban on Rohingya traveling outside their residential areas without permission. “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 reiterated the assertion, stating that the protest in junta-administered Buthidaung was coordinated by the military. AA spokesperson U Khine Thu Kha mentioned that public protests were prohibited in junta-controlled areas, except for those in support of the military regime. He added, "The ULA/AA is closely monitoring this situation and will respond accordingly."

An ethnic Rakhine Buddhist resident of Sittwe suspected that the junta was provoking Rohingya riots to incite communal tensions. He mentioned rumors of Rohingya facing threats of compulsory military recruitment if they declined to participate in protests, citing the recently enacted Conscription Law by the regime.

Rohingya leaders and activists accused the military of trying to incite communal violence through protests against the AA. They claimed that protesters, not from the local area, were brought in by the military from rural regions and instructed to hold a three-hour demonstration from 3 pm to 6 pm. U Aung Kyaw Moe, a Rohingya representative in the civilian National Unity Government (NUG), stated that the junta was using Rohingya as proxies to protest against the AA in Buthidaung.

The deputy minister for human rights urged Rohingya to exercise political caution and align themselves with the right side of history. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, he warned that such protests clearly fuel communal violence between Rakhine and Rohingya, ultimately resulting in the Rohingya bearing the highest consequences.

The AA accused the junta of forcibly recruiting Rohingya to fight in Rakhine, releasing photos of Rohingya bodies in regime army uniforms allegedly killed in battle. The junta denied conscripting Rohingya. Ethnic Rakhine politician U Pe Than stated that the protests were the regime's ploy to divide the communities for its benefit. He urged Muslim youth to be cautious, emphasizing that such actions would only cause harm in the long run.

BOB Post