[🇧🇩] Insurgencies in Myanmar. Implications for Bangladesh

[Saif]

BGB detains 36 Rohingyas for trespass

Border Guard Bangladesh yesterday detained 36 Rohingyas, who illegally entered Bangladesh through the Bay of Bengal.

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BGB detains 36 Rohingyas for trespass

Border Guard Bangladesh yesterday detained 36 Rohingyas, who illegally entered Bangladesh through the Bay of Bengal.

The Rohingyas arrived at the Teknaf shore in Cox's Bazaryesterday afternoon after crossing the Bay of Bengal on a fishing boat, BGB officials said, adding that they are now in custody and will be sent back to Myanmar.

Among the Rohingyas are five women, 10 children and 21 men, they said.

Lt Colonel Ashiqur Rahman, commanding officer of BGB Battalion-2 in Teknaf, said the 36 Rohingyas illegally entered Bangladesh through the Munderdale beach around one kilometre north of the BGB Khurermukh checkpoint around 1:40pm yesterday.

"The process of sending them back is underway."

Mohammad Salim, member of Teknaf Union Parishad, said they were informed that a boat carrying Rohingyas was seen floating near the Baharchara beach.

Among the detainees, Alam, 30, said he was from Nashong village in the east of Akyab (now Sittwe) in Myanmar.

A BGB official stands guard next to 36 Rohingyas, who were detained after illegally entering Bangladesh through the Bay of Bengal yesterday afternoon. PHOTO: MOKAMMEL SHUVO

He said the "Mug Bagi (Arakan Army)" has been torturing the Rohingyas there, so they tried to sneak into Bangladesh. They left the place five days ago on a wooden boat.

"Today [yesterday], a trawler towed us towards the beach as our engine broke down, and handed us over to the BGB."

Jaher Alam, another Rohingya from a neighbouring village, said, "There are five Muslim villages in our area. The Arakan Army has been forcefully training us with weapons to stand against the junta troops. We Rohingyas were subjected to inhuman torture if we refused to join the 'Mug Bagi' group. We thought it was better to die in Bangladesh than fight in Myanmar."​

 

[Saif]

Junta air strike kills 40 in Rakhine

A Myanmar junta air strike killed at least 40 people in a village in western Rakhine state, a rescue worker and ethnic minority armed group said on Thursday.

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Junta air strike kills 40 in Rakhine
Agence France-Presse . Yangon 10 January, 2025, 00:44

A man standing near a burning house at the site of a suspected air strike carried out by Myanmar’s military at Kyauk Ni Maw village in Ramree island in western Rakhine State on Thursday. | AFP photo

A Myanmar junta air strike killed at least 40 people in a village in western Rakhine state, a rescue worker and ethnic minority armed group said on Thursday.

The Arakan Army is engaged in a fierce fight with the military for control of Rakhine, where it has seized swathes of territory in the past year, all but cutting off the capital Sittwe.

The Rakhine conflict is one element of the bloody chaos that has engulfed Myanmar since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in a 2021 coup, sparking a widespread armed uprising.

AA spokesperson Khaing Thu Kha said a military jet bombed Kyauk Ni Maw, on Ramree island, around 1:20pm (0650 GMT) on Wednesday, starting a fire which engulfed more than 500 houses.

‘According to initial reports, 40 innocent civilians were killed and 20 were wounded,’ he said.

A member of a local rescue group whose team was helping people in the area said that 41 people were killed and 52 wounded.

‘At the moment, we don’t even have enough betadine and methylated spirit to treat them as the transportation is hard,’ the rescue worker said.

Photos of the aftermath of the bombing showed dazed residents walking through charred, smoking ruins, the ground littered with corrugated metal, trees stripped bare of leaves and buildings reduced to a few scraps of walls.

AFP has attempted to contact the junta for comment on the incident, but calls have not been answered.

Ramree island is home to a planned China-backed deep sea port that when completed will serve as a gateway for Beijing to the Indian Ocean, though construction has been stalled by the unrest.

The military is struggling to fight opposition to its rule on multiple fronts around the country and it has been regularly accused of using air and artillery strikes to hit civilian communities.

As well as youth-led ‘People’s Defence Forces’ that emerged to oppose the coup, the military is also battling numerous long-established and well-armed ethnic minority armed groups, including the AA, which control large areas of territory along the country’s borders.

In November, the UN Development Programme warned that Rakhine was heading towards famine as fighting squeezed commerce and agricultural production.

The United Nations last week said that more than 3.5 million people have been displaced by the conflict in Myanmar — an increase of 1.5 million from last year.

The outlook for the coming year was ‘grim’, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said, with 19.9 million people — more than a third of the population — likely to need aid in 2025.​

 

[Saif]

Myanmar military air strike kills dozens in Rakhine village, UN says

Dozens of people were killed in an air strike by Myanmar's military government in the western state of Rakhine this week, the United Nations said, as the Southeast Asia nation's civil war nears its fourth year. The civilian shadow government and the Arakan Army, an ethnic militia based in Rakhine

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Myanmar military air strike kills dozens in Rakhine village, UN says
REUTERS
Published :
Jan 11, 2025 10:34
Updated :
Jan 11, 2025 10:34

Dozens of people were killed in an air strike by Myanmar's military government in the western state of Rakhine this week, the United Nations said, as the Southeast Asia nation's civil war nears its fourth year.

The civilian shadow government and the Arakan Army, an ethnic militia based in Rakhine fighting for the autonomy of the region, also reported the attack had killed dozens.

The junta hit Kyauk Ni Maw village of Yanbye township on Wednesday afternoon, destroying around 500 homes and killing more than 40 people, according to the National Unity Government and a UN statement released late on Friday.

Reuters could not immediately verify the reports. A spokesperson for the military did not answer phone calls seeking comment. The junta rejects accusations of committing atrocities against civilians, saying it is combating "terrorists".

The Arakan Army released the names of 26 Muslim villagers it said were killed and 12 injured in the attack.

Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military overthrew the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, igniting mass protests that evolved into a widespread armed rebellion on multiple fronts.

The UN statement urged all parties to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law.

The Blood Money Campaign, a coalition of Myanmar activists working to cut off revenue to the junta, urged international governments to swiftly sanction entities supplying it with aviation fuel.

"Only when this support stops will the air strikes truly come to an end," said Mulan, spokesperson for Blood Money Campaign who goes by one name.​

 

[Saif]

Myanmar junta air strike kills 15 civilians

A Myanmar junta air strike killed at least 15 civilians and wounded 10 others at a market in a gold-mining area in northern Kachin state, a spokesman for an ethnic rebel group that controls the area said on Sunday...

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Myanmar junta air strike kills 15 civilians
Agence France-Presse . Bangkok 13 January, 2025, 00:16

A Myanmar junta air strike killed at least 15 civilians and wounded 10 others at a market in a gold-mining area in northern Kachin state, a spokesman for an ethnic rebel group that controls the area said on Sunday.

The junta has been accused of carrying out multiple attacks on civilian targets as it struggles to quell resistance to its 2021 coup.

The latest attack happened around 11:00am on Saturday, Colonel Naw Bu, a spokesperson from the Kachin Independence Army, said.

‘All those killed were civilians including gold miners and local shopkeepers,’ he said.

The KIA, which can call on around 7,000 fighters, has been battling the military for decades for autonomy and control of local resources in Kachin state.

The state is home to huge jade mines and rare heavy earth elements, most of which are exported to China.

Naw Bu said the attack took place in a mining area in Tanaing Township, in the western part of the state.

Images from local media showed a large crater in the middle of an area completely flattened and strewn with debris.

A resident from the town said three of the 10 wounded had since died.

The KIA controls swathes of Christian-majority Kachin state — home to the world’s largest jade mines.

The region has seen heavy fighting in the wake of the 2021 putsch, with the junta accusing the KIA of arming and training the newer People’s Defence Forces that have sprung up to battle the junta.

Separately, the Arakan Army reported that the junta had dropped 15 bombs during three attacks Saturday on a public market in the town of Kyauktaw in Arakan State. It said some civilians had died and others were wounded, but did not specify how many.

The Arakan Army is engaged in a fierce fight with the military for control of Rakhine.​

 

[Saif]

Steps needed to stop recurrence of fires in Rohingya camps

THE recurrence of fires in Rohingya camps is gravely concerning. More than 200 fire broke out in Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar in two years that left dozens dead and many injured, with hundreds of shelters having been destroyed. In the latest fire, a five-year-old child died and at least 100...

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Steps needed to stop recurrence of fires in Rohingya camps
19 January, 2025, 00:00

THE recurrence of fires in Rohingya camps is gravely concerning. More than 200 fire broke out in Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar in two years that left dozens dead and many injured, with hundreds of shelters having been destroyed. In the latest fire, a five-year-old child died and at least 100 houses were burnt in the Nayapara Mouchani camp early January 17. On December 24, an elderly man and a minor boy were burnt to death and 16 others burnt in a fire in Kutupalong camp at Ukhiya in the district. The fire also left 549 houses burnt to ashes and 263 houses and 197 infrastructure of several service-providers damaged. There hardly goes a month without a fire in the camps. While vulnerable structures and inadequate safety measures are responsible for many fires, a large number of them are acts of sabotage. A 2023 intelligence report, prepared by the army and submitted to the parliamentary standing committee, says that more than 27 per cent of the 222 fires that took place in Cox’s Bazar camps between January 2021 and December 2022 were acts of sabotage.

What is completely unacceptable is that the authorities rarely conduct any criminal investigation to identify the saboteurs and establish other causes of the fires. Intelligence and media reports have time and again highlighted that various gangs that prowl the camps often engage in fighting and infighting, creating an atmosphere of fear and paving the way for acts of sabotage. The gangs are also reportedly engaged in criminal and subversive activities, including drug peddling and human trafficking. Various syndicates, composed of local people, government officials and Rohingyas, are also known to be prowling the camps, facilitating the Rohingyas getting Bangladeshi passports and fleeing the camps. The law enforcement agencies have busted a number of such syndicates and detained a number of their members. The syndicates and their criminal activities, however, continue. All this suggests that there are lapses in efforts to ensure the safety and security of the Rohingyas, who have fled violence and persecution in Myanmar and taken refuge in Bangladesh. When Bangladesh needs to enhance security measures to protect the Rohingyas from any act of sabotage, the international organisations that are engaged there also need to look into the issues of safety and security.

The government should, therefore, investigate recent and earlier fires and address the vulnerabilities that have contributed to the rising number of such incidents. The authorities also need to carry out criminal investigation to look into how many of the fires were acts of sabotage and bring the saboteurs to justice. Local administration and international organisations should also coordinate among themselves to ensure safety and security in the camps and enhance their response capacity to stave off and fight fires.​

 

[Saif]

Arakan Army’s strategic mastery in Rakhine

THE Arakan Army on December 20, 2024 captured the headquarters of the Myanmar military’s western command in Ann town, marking a historic occasion for the organisation’s meteoric rise to power in Rakhine State controlling majority of the parts. The Arakan Army now controls 14 of 17 townships of...

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Arakan Army’s strategic mastery in Rakhine
Kawsar Uddin Mahmud 20 January, 2025, 00:00

A handout photo released on January 9 by the Arakan Army ethnic minority armed group shows a man standing near a burning house at the site of a suspected air strike carried out by Myanmar’s military at Kyauk Ni Maw village in Ramree island in western Rakhine State. | Agence France-Presse/Handout/Arakan Army

THE Arakan Army on December 20, 2024 captured the headquarters of the Myanmar military’s western command in Ann town, marking a historic occasion for the organisation’s meteoric rise to power in Rakhine State controlling majority of the parts. The Arakan Army now controls 14 of 17 townships of Rakhine State, including Paletwa township in neighbouring Chin State.

The Arakan Army’s sweeping victory in Rakhine State since November 2023 has shifted the balance of power over a wide area in western Myanmar. The Arakan Army has systematically dismantled junta control by starting with coordinated attacks as part of Operation 1027 with its Brotherhood Alliance partners. They controlled all of Myanmar’s 168-mile border with Bangladesh after the liberation of Maungdaw in December 2024. The subsequent fall of Ann township and the western command headquarters has left the military junta clinging to three coastal townships — Sittwe, Kyaukphyu, and Munaung.

Behind the success of the Arakan Army comes the methodical way of building power under the visionary leadership of commander-in-chief Twan Mrat Naing. The organisation was founded in 2009 with 26 members and has produced a comprehensive road map for liberating Rakhine State that it has implemented systematically over 15 years. The Arakan Army made its stand on being very different from other armed movements in Arakan as Oo Hla Saw, Mrauk U’s political commissar, is reported to have said.

For 2009–2011, the first four batches of fighters trained there in Kachin State had about 400 members. The trained cadres were stationed with the Kachin Independence Army to gain on-the-ground combat experience while others were assigned to work in major cities such as Sittwe, Mandalay and Yangon to build networks and recruitment channels.

In 2014, the Arakan Army began infiltrating and sowing functionaries on various locations and identifying and recruiting student leaders and monks for local support there. The organisation is at its organised spread into Rakhine State proper. It came as the Arakan Army leadership’s first public appearance in uniforms at an Arakanese conference in Kyaukphyu, signalling the start of its more visible presence in the region.

The Arakan Army leadership knew precisely what to do in controlling key strategic areas and trade routes. The initial choice of focus on northern Rakhine and the region around the Myanmar-India-Bangladesh tri-junction was specifically made, an Arakan Army colonel heading a regional command explained, because ‘it was necessary to control the trade routes and into and out of India and Bangladesh.’

The foresight to put administrative capacity as well as military capabilities into place was demonstrated by forming the United League of Arakan in 2015 with the Arakan Army as its political wing. It mattered for governance in liberated areas and the establishment of international legitimacy. The Arakan Army leadership also showed advanced organisational ability setting up nine military regional commands, which are directed in a war office on a secret location where Twan Mrat Naing and his deputy Brigadier Venereal Dr Nyo Twan Aung coordinates operations with senior officers.

The other side of the leadership’s careful cultivation of public support, however, has been equally important: inclusive messaging and nation-building rhetoric. Whereas previous armed groups in Arakan favoured discrimination along racial or religious lines, the Arakan Army was the first to openly espouse an inclusive vision. The Arakan Army entered an informal ceasefire with the military in November 2020 which it had used to empower its positions and get ready for further operation. Following another ceasefire, hostility resumed early in 2022, but the Arakan Army continued to promote strategic flexibility as it built to the decisive November 2023 offensive that has made the Arakan Army dominant in Rakhine State.

Significant demographic and recruitment advantages have enabled the Arakan Army to expand from 26 initial members to a force able to defeat Myanmar’s military across Rakhine State. The large pool of potential recruits for the Arakan Army is the result of the socioeconomic conditions in Rakhine State. World Bank data say that 78 per cent of Rakhine people live below the poverty line and the young Rakhine people have limited economic opportunities. The combination of a demographic youth bulge within the Arakan Army and economic marginalisation has acted as a reservoir of potential fighters who perceive joining the organisation as a chance to wage a fight for the community’s dreams.

In addition, the Arakan Army has also showed flexibility in its recruitment approach directing older recruits, above 35 years, into the United League of Arakan’s administrative apparatus as opposed to combat roles. The assigning of roles in this age-appropriate manner has contributed to combat effectiveness while it gas also contributed to developing capacity in civilian governance. In addition, the organisation has integrated former senior political activists from other parties into the United League of Arakan without compromising its military efficiency while achieving political expansion.

In recent battles, the contrast between the Arakan Army’s motivated young fighters and the increasingly demoralised junta forces has become a crucial factor. It has also been observed that the Myanmar military is lacking in morale and demotivation, especially since confronting the Arakan Army’s cadres. In particular, this has been especially evident in recent operations — the capture of the BGP5 base when hundreds of demoralised junta soldiers finally capitulated to the Arakan Army forces. In addition, the organisation also made declarations of the ‘Way of Rakhita’ and ‘Arakan Dream’ in 2019 which struck a chord with the Rakhine people’s desire for autonomy and growth.

The Arakan Army’s military success has greatly been a result of its comprehensive understanding and exploitation of Rakhine State’s geography. However, the geography of Rakhine State — a long, thin place, mostly flat with rivers and streams cut through it — has been to the Arakan Army’s advantage, the military to its disadvantage. Because o f the poor condition of highways, the river became the main transport arteries in the region and the Arakan Army took the full advantage of its superior riverine capabilities.

This flexible approach to river transport has conferred an important mobility advantage, enabling the Arakan Army forces to concentrate rapidly on operation and maintain supply lines to frontline units. In contrast, the military relies on poor road networks that have left their forces at risks of ambush while it has become more and more difficult to resupply.

Arakan Army and United League of Arakan offices still have access to satellite internet, satellite phones and tactical radio networks. However, the Arakan Army intimately knows its local geography and it has been able to isolate and reduce military strong points. This was most obvious when it came to the siege of BGP5, the last big junta position in northern Rakhine. Because it understood the terrain, the Arakan Army could cut off the military supply routes while keeping its logistics up and running, forcing hundreds of junta troops to surrender. A similar exploitation of geographic advantages was showed in the capture of Ann township and the western command headquarters.

Since 2015, the Arakan Army joined the Northern Alliance along with the Tang National Liberation Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and what was then known as the Kachin Independence Army, the Arakan Army has cultivated solution-oriented partnership in advancing its objectives while still staying operationally independent.

Organisational participation in the United Wa State Army-led Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee since 2017 and involvement in the Three Brotherhood Alliance in 2019 show its capacity to be in several, supplementary alliance networks. Operation 1027, launched in October 2023 by the Three Brotherhood Alliance, proved to be valuable to the military of these alliances. The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance and the National Liberation Army fought junta forces north of Shan State, seizing the strategic city of Lashio and the northeast regional command while the Arakan Army initiated its offensive in Rakhine State against a military already spread thin.

Formally declining association with the National Unity Government, the Arakan Army has, nevertheless, trained and supplied weapons to various PDF units around the country, creating useful relationships without severing the association. The Arakan Army has particularly grown to be significant with its alliance with the Chin Brotherhood Alliance in the neighbouring Chin State. This partnership also gave a demonstration of the military value of joint operation to Matupi in June 2024, capturing vital supply lines from India’s Mizoram state. This relationship has renewed the Arakan Army with strategic depth and has protected the Arakan Army’s northern flank whilst concentrating on operations in Rakhine State.

While in other regions of Myanmar, multiple armed groups are vying for legitimacy and resources, the Arakan Army does not face a serious rival in the ranks of the Rakhine Buddhist community. At the same time, the previous Rakhine armed groups have seen their rise in the Arakan Army coincide with their decline or marginalisation. The Arakan National Council, which once had enough clout to join the United Nationalities Federal Council in 2011, has fallen off the map. The Arakan Liberation Party and its armed wing, the Arakan Liberation Army, have broken into combatant groups that have not yet been able to marshal a fighting force and no more than 100 ALP members are fighting, with the bulk of them still based in Sittwe.

Both military success and political acumen have led to the consolidation of representation. In 2019, the Arakan Army’s declarations of the Way of Rakhita and Arakan Dream acted as a highly effective expression of the popular desire for self-determination and a more sophisticated and inclusive vision than previous movements.

The major areas of potential challenge to the Arakan Army authority are some of the Rohingya militant organisations such as Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army based in the northern part of Rakhine State. However, these groups have largely fled to Bangladesh following Arakan Army advances. This now reveals the challenges that the Arakan Army will face in governing an ethnically diverse region due to its complex relationship with the Rohingya community — promising such integration while simultaneously conducting military operations against Rohingya militants. Yet the Arakan Army is unchallenged within the core of resistance to a central authority, the Buddhist Rakhine, which forms the backbone of the organisation. By providing the Arakan Army and its political wing, the United League of Arakan, with a unified military and political leadership, has been able to devise and communicate a coherent strategy.

In summary, the transformation of the Arakan Army from a 26-member organisation in 2009 to a dominant force in Rakhine state is the largest success the ethnic armed organisations have seen in the history of armies in Myanmar. Its grip on 14 out of 17 Rakhine townships, along with the capture of the western command headquarters, hints at the possibility of a de facto autonomous region beaming out from across Myanmar’s western frontier. Such a development has big implications for Myanmar’s political future and regional stability. There are still significant challenges to be accomplished, especially in leading a populace that is diverse and managing relationships with else in the world including China and Bangladesh.

Kawser Uddin Mahmud, a researcher at the KRF Centre for Bangladesh and global affairs, is a geopolitical analyst and international relations author based in Dhaka.​

 

[Saif]

Myanmar junta air strike kills 28

A Myanmar junta air strike killed 28 people, including children, and wounded 25 at a temporary detention area in western Rakhine state, an ethnic minority armed group said on Sunday...

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Myanmar junta air strike kills 28
Agence France-Presse . Bangkok 20 January, 2025, 00:17

A Myanmar junta air strike killed 28 people, including children, and wounded 25 at a temporary detention area in western Rakhine state, an ethnic minority armed group said on Sunday.

The Arakan Army is engaged in a fierce fight with the military for control of Rakhine, where it has seized swaths of territory in the past year, all but cutting off the state capital Sittwe.

The Rakhine conflict is one element of the bloody chaos that has engulfed Myanmar since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in a 2021 coup, sparking a widespread armed uprising.

The AA posted on its Telegram channel that a military jet bombed a detention area in Mrauk-U Township around 4.45pm (10:15 GMT) on Saturday, where family members of junta soldiers were being held by the AA.

‘Those who were killed and wounded were family members of soldiers in Myanmar’s Army. We arrested them during fighting,’ the AA said in the post.

‘As we were preparing a plan to release them, they were bombed,’ the AA said.

Nine children were among those dead, including a two-year-old boy, it said.

The others killed were women, according to a list of the dead posted by the AA.

Photos of the aftermath posted on the Telegram channel showed a long row of bodies laid on the floor in a grassy area, covered in white sheets. A number of people could be seen grieving close by.

AFP has attempted to contact the junta for comment about the incident but calls have not been answered.

The military is struggling to fight opposition to its rule on multiple fronts around Myanmar and it has been regularly accused of using air and artillery strikes to hit civilian communities.

It is unclear whether the strike in Mrauk-U Township was mistargeted or if the junta was unaware the area was being used as a detention site for soldiers’ families.

As well as youth-led ‘People’s Defence Forces’ that emerged to oppose the coup, the military is also battling numerous long-established and well-armed ethnic minority armed groups.

These groups, which include the AA, control large areas of territory along Myanmar’s borders.

The UN Development Programme warned in November that Rakhine was heading towards famine as fighting squeezed commerce and agricultural production.

The United Nations said this month more than 3.5 million people have been displaced by the conflict in Myanmar, an increase of 1.5 million from last year.

Meanwhile, Southeast Asian foreign ministers told Myanmar’s junta to prioritise a ceasefire in its civil war over fresh elections during a meeting in Malaysia on Sunday.

The Myanmar military seized power in February 2021, making unsubstantiated claims of massive electoral fraud in 2020 polls won resoundingly by the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.

The junta then unleashed a bloody crackdown on dissent and, as fighting ravaged swaths of the country, it has repeatedly delayed plans for polls that critics say would be neither free nor fair.

‘One thing that we know, they want to have an election. But we told them that election is not a priority at the moment,’ Malaysian foreign minister Mohamad Hasan told reporters after the meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers on the Malaysian island of Langkawi.

‘The priority now is for a ceasefire and everybody to stand down. It’s very simple,’ Mohamad said.

Malaysia is this year’s rotating chair of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations — long derided by critics as a toothless talking shop.

Myanmar was represented on Sunday by Aung Kyaw Moe, the junta’s foreign affairs secretary.

Mohamad said Aung Kyaw Moe briefed the ministers about the junta’s plans to hold an election without giving any dates.​

 

[Saif]

Atrocities against Rohingyas: Arakan Army also under scanner of investigators, says UN official

The UN investigation team on Myanmar will also look into the alleged involvement of the Arakan Army in atrocities against the Rohingyas in the Rakhine State in Myanmar, a senior UN official said on Sunday. “We have a mandate to collect evidence of crimes committed by anyone, regardless of th

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

Atrocities against Rohingyas: Arakan Army also under scanner of investigators, says UN official
FE Online Report
Published :
Jan 19, 2025 20:58
Updated :
Jan 19, 2025 20:58

The UN investigation team on Myanmar will also look into the alleged involvement of the Arakan Army in atrocities against the Rohingyas in the Rakhine State in Myanmar, a senior UN official said on Sunday.

“We have a mandate to collect evidence of crimes committed by anyone, regardless of their ethnicity, religion, or nationality, against anyone, regardless of the victims,” said Nicholas Koumjian, head of the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.

He said that it was very important to look at any evidence showing the Arakan army and any other force had committed serious international crimes.

The investigation team head added that the UN had requested information from them about allegations of crimes, including crimes allegedly committed by the Arakan Army.

“They told us they would respond, but we have not received a response, and we are awaiting that. We'll be sending more requests to them for more information”.

“We want all players, all participants in the conflict in Myanmar to know we exist. There's a body watching, collecting evidence of these serious international crimes, and one day we are seeking justice for these crimes that people will be held to account” he added.

Responding to a question, he said unfortunately, there is an increase in violations of very serious crimes recently.

“We've seen bombings that are affecting civilians all over the country, very serious attacks on targets that do not appear to be military in nature. We've also seen crimes in detention, including sexual violence and torture of people in detention”.

“Obviously, the aerial bombings are done by the military authorities. We've seen, unfortunately, evidence of very serious crimes committed by other groups also in Myanmar, and this also falls within our mandate [to check] if they qualify as serious international crimes. So we're trying to gather as much of this information as possible,” he said.

About his meeting with the foreign ministry high ups, he said, “In the meetings, we all acknowledged that the situation, unfortunately, is not getting better. It's getting worse. We see continued violence, and it's important we send a message to all the people in Myanmar, and particularly potential perpetrators, that someone is watching and collecting evidence”.​