[🇧🇩] 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.

www.thedailystar.net

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.

www.newagebd.net

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

thefinancialexpress.com.bd

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...

www.newagebd.net

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...

www.newagebd.net

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.​