Featured Image: Arakan Army, AA Info Desk
Although Arakan State has been globally associated with the plight and persecution of the Rohingya, the area holds a diverse range of additional issues that continue to grow in complexity and need for stabilization and peace. Even through the spread of COVID-19, the Arakan Army views the Burma Army as a greater threat than the pandemic – the Burmese government and Burma Army are a regime the ethnic minorities and armed organizations cannot avoid and are more dangerous to human rights than even the coronavirus.
Since its conception in 2009, the Arakan Army (AA), a military organization of ethnic Arakan, has been in conflict with the Burmese army in four out of five of Arakan State’s districts. The Burma Army initiates conflict with the justification that their actions are positive for the State, with the AA reacting in response to the Burma Army’s attacks. The AA claims to fight for increased self-rule and control over their territory and holds over 7,000 troops with established training camps in Kachin state. Much of Arakan state resembles a war zone and is now Burma’s poorest state, where successive governments have failed to take action to prevent further violence and address longstanding grievances. The Burma Army has used combat drones to provoke attacks against the AA. Despite signing ceasefires and other peace agreements with the Burma Army, the AA are often excluded from talks and have been continuously ignored due to Aung San Suu Kyi’s lack of control over the Burma Army and ignorance to ethnic groups’ struggles. In March 2019, the Burma Army used fighters and helicopters to bomb AA troops, contributing to the estimated 80,000 displaced due to clashes in Arakan state since November 2018. This number has drastically risen as the situation continues to change on the ground. In March 2020, the Burmese government designated the AA as a terrorist group – a move that will only increase tensions between the AA and the Burma Army and showcase the government’s dwindling power as attacks on the government continue.
In addition to Arakan state’s security issues, the region also has severe development issues. This shortcoming has been taken up by larger, more developed countries, namely China, that utilize Arakan state because of its strong geostrategic position. Arakan State holds India and Bangladesh to the north, China to the northwest, and countries of the Mekong Valley to the south. Many in the state feel that Arakan’s resources are exploited and utilized to enrich the Burma Army with one of the best examples being China’s Shwe Gas pipeline. A joint project between the China National Petroleum Corporation and the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, the pipeline produces gas and oil revenues primarily coming from Burma’s Shwe gas field since its discovery in 2004. The gas pipeline, which cuts through the country from western Arakan State to eastern Shan State, went online in 2013 and has since been infamous for its numerous threats of forced labor and other human rights abuses, worsening ethnic conflict, and displacing hundreds of locals off their lands, as well as coercing people into unfair contracts with little to no compensation. The pipeline, in addition to various other development works, has had detrimental environmental effects in Arakan State with many of these projects cutting through forests and rivers and creating damage that government officials have done little to address. The World Bank has also been criticized for its plans to implement a $100 million development program in Arakan State, where it would likely increase tensions between the state’s diverse communities because of the project’s selective aid.
As a result of Arakan’s internal conflict and exploitative foreign investments, a mass humanitarian crisis that includes not only the genocide of the Rohingya but the displacement and abuse of thousands has become increasingly dire. Over 4,500 Rohingya remain stateless between Bangladesh and Burma, while the 500,000-600,000 Rohingya that stayed in Burma are at risk of continuing atrocities perpetrated by the Burmese army; including arson, rape, enforced disappearances, and lack of education, food and health care. In Arakan and Chin states, a government imposed internet ban has isolated affected civilians from the outside world. A total of 392 villages in all of Burma have been destroyed, however, these are mainly Rohingya villages and homes that were bulldozed by the Burmese government to make way for foreign projects in Arakan state. Reports have emerged of the Burmese army initiating indiscriminate attacks, using civilians as human shields, and causing aid blockages, all of which endanger inhabitants of Arakan State. Curfews and internet shutdowns have been imposed throughout Arakan State since mid-2019, and, as of January 2019, the Arakan government has barred all UN aid agencies except for the Red Cross and the World Food Program from operating in state’s war-torn townships.
To truly find sustainable peace in Arakan State, the region should look at addressing its three main crises—the development crisis, security crisis, and humanitarian crisis that includes not only the plight of the Rohingya but the displacement and murder of Arakan Buddhists and other ethnic minorities. The State should first look at solving its humanitarian crisis by drastically improving the condition and number of the region’s camps for internally displaced peoples.
Although this is an issue the Arakan State government refuses to address, solving this aspect of Arakan State’s troubles first will start the chain of development throughout the region, where proper infrastructure that works for the people as opposed to profit can be implemented in necessary and accessible areas of the state. It is important to note that no conflict is linear and can rely on a ladder of instruction and that all steps mentioned are an ideal outcome to Arakan State’s sufferings; but the humanitarian and development crises are largely interdependent and addressing either issue is an important starting point to ensuring basic human rights and the necessary resources that civilians have long been denied.
The conflict between the Burma Army and AA seems to be carrying on with no end in sight, and peace stands as hard to obtain because of lack of government compliance and ordinance as well as no understanding of state needs. Inclusion of all governing parties, the AA, Burma Army, as well as civilian representatives would convene needed perspectives that are uniquely affected by the conflict and could contribute to the dialogue necessary to prevent further violence. These conversations would also pave the way for representation of other ethnic armed groups in places such as Shan, Karen, Kachin, and Mon states, where the Burma Army’s agreements and ceasefires consistently fail to hold true. When the Burmese and Arakan State government begin to grow in competence, the reality of foreign investment projects and their consequences in Arakan State can also be realized. In the meantime, the IDPs of Arakan State remain homeless due to Arakan State’s refusal to open new camps- these people have been displaced due to attacks by the Burma Army that seem to be nondiscriminant and targeted towards any who fail to follow the military commands, regardless of what ethnic group an individual belongs to. In a time where all groups are included on the Burma Army’s hit list, civilians should make inclusiveness a priority to truly stand together against the unjust violence that will continue to ruin and scar lives unless change comes.
The myriad of issues found in Arakan State present a long and overlapping map of interests and needs that civilians ultimately pay for.
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