At least 40,000 Rohingya have been forced to flee intense clashes between junta forces and Rohingya rebels in two towns in Myanmar's western Rakhine state since the beginning of the week. They are now facing crisis assistance, evacuees told RFA Burma on Thursday. .
The clashes in the towns of Maungdaw and Buthidaung emerged as Rakhine state made major gains against the Arakan Army (AA), prompting the junta to implement a plan to stem military losses.
As part of the crackdown, the military is said to have forcibly recruited Rohingya into militias that the junta says were created to protect Muslim faiths in the Buddhist state of Rakhine.
However, observers say that the junta is trying to increase ethnic tension in the region so that the Arakan Army can advance. Rohingya rights activist Nay San Lwin, who has been monitoring the situation, said 40,000 people from more than 10 villages in Buthidaung, including Ka Kyet Bet, Ah Lel Chaung and Ba Gon Nar, fled for the first time on Monday. The villages of Paung Zar and Hla Baw Zar in Maungdaw are all located near the battlefield.
"Rohingya [internally displaced persons] are not allowed to take shelter in their camps, so they will not receive humanitarian aid," he said. "Between 40,000 and 50,000 Rohingya, including women, children, the elderly and the disabled, were forced to flee Buthidaung and Maungdaw villages," he said.
Nay San Lwin said the number of evacuees was confirmed after speaking to Rohingyas in the villages over the phone in the last three days.
Rohingya sources say the situation in Rakhine State has been tense over the past week, with tribal members being exploited and oppressed by the army and the AA.
Rohingya activists estimate the Rohingya population to be approximately 200,000 in Buthidaung and approximately 80,000 in Maungdaw, bringing the total to approximately 300,000. Those who have fled since Monday represent 15 percent of the Rohingya population in the two cities.
Warned to flee by AA:
A Rohingya resident of the city of Maungdaw, like others interviewed for the report, said he was not reported due to security concerns and told RFA that his escape was prompted by warnings from AA that conflict was imminent.
"The AA told us it would fight here, so we are running away," he said, adding that ethnic rebels were advised to seek shelter in towns to avoid the Junta's heavy artillery and air strikes. "AA did not attack us, they wanted us to escape," he said.
Attempts to contact AA spokesman Khaing Thukha about the situation in the two cities were not responded to on Thursday.
Gunfighting intensified in Maungdaw in May, with one Rohingya resident saying police from the 5th Border Security Force in Maungdaw's Myo Thu Gyi village were "shooting every day" as the junta shelled the town.
Rohingya from Buthidaung said the situation there was 'destroying life'.
"We're not safe at all and we've already been hit by an air attack." “I fled the conflict areas with all my relatives. People from 6-7 villages fled... Now we have difficulty finding food and are forced to flee to nearby villages.”
Ethnic Rakhines also at risk:
Gunfighting intensified in Maungdaw in May, with one Rohingya resident saying police from the 5th Border Security Force in Maungdaw's Myo Thu Gyi village were "shooting every day" as the junta shelled the town.
Rohingya from Buthidaung said the situation there was 'destroying life'.
"We're not safe at all and we've already been hit by an air attack." “I fled the conflict areas with all my relatives. People from 6-7 villages fled... Now we have difficulty finding food and are forced to flee to nearby villages.”
That same day, Rohingya refugees told RFA that the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and Rohingya Union forcibly recruited "at least 500 people" to join the army in Rohingya resettlement camps between April 29 and May 8. Cox's Bazar Rohingya Salvation Army, Arakan Rohingya Army and Rohingya Solidarity Organization have not announced recruitment for the camp.
Rakhine State residents say more than 2,000 Rohingya have been forcibly transferred to the capital Sittwe and the towns of Kyaukphyu, Buthidaung and Maungdaw since February, when the junta declared martial law.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 166,000 people have fled their homes due to conflict in Rakhine State. The clashes began in November, when the AA ended a ceasefire agreement it had with the military since seizing control of Myanmar's democratically elected government in a coup in February 2021.
RFA
