[The rebel group, which is known locally as Harakah al-Yaqin, or the Faith Movement, is a small, underequiped group that has struggled to mount significant military operations. But it has claimed responsibility for a few deadly attacks on Myanmar’s security forces, including in August.]
By
Richard C. Paddock
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A
camp for Rohingya refugees in Balukhali, Bangladesh. More than 650,000 Rohingya
have
taken refuge in camps across the border in Bangladesh since August, joining
87,000
who had fled earlier.CreditTomas Munita for The New York Times
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In a statement posted on Twitter, Atta Ullah,
who identifies himself as commander of the rebel group, the Arakan Rohingya
Salvation Army, said the attack on Friday morning in Maungdaw had been staged
in response to efforts by Myanmar’s security forces to drive the Rohingya, a
Muslim minority in a Buddhist-majority country, from the area.
Mr. Atta Ullah accused government forces of
continuing to kill civilians, rape women and destroy villages in a campaign of
genocide.
More than 650,000 Rohingya have fled to
Bangladesh since the Myanmar military began its campaign in late August,
joining roughly 87,000 who had fled earlier. Survivors have given consistent,
harrowing accounts of gang rapes, torture, random killings and the destruction
of villages.
The campaign against the Rohingya has been
called “ethnic cleansing” by the United States and the United Nations.
“Thousands of Rohingya are still fleeing to
escape from endless inhumane persecutions of the Burmese terrorist army,” Mr.
Atta Ullah said.
Two security officers and a driver were
injured in the ambush on Friday, according to a post on the Facebook page of
Senior Gnl. Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s military chief. Ten members of the
Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, or ARSA, took part in the attack, the post
said.
The rebel group, which is known locally as
Harakah al-Yaqin, or the Faith Movement, is a small, underequiped group that
has struggled to mount significant military operations. But it has claimed
responsibility for a few deadly attacks on Myanmar’s security forces, including
in August.
Richard Horsey, an independent analyst in
Yangon, the economic capital Myanmar, said that while the group is small and
poorly armed, its actions provoke major responses from the government.
“It’s uncertain whether they have the
capacity to sustain an insurgency, but even occasional small attacks like this
will have a big political impact in Myanmar,” he said.
Small operations by the group against
security forces in August prompted brutal retaliation from government forces,
which in turn contributed to the mass exodus of Rohingya from Rakhine.
The international aid group Doctors Without
Borders estimated last month that at least 6,700 Rohingya, including 730 young
children, had met with violent deaths in the month after the military campaign
began in August.
General Min Aung Hlaing, the country’s most
powerful figure, has denied that the army committed atrocities against the
Rohingya. In November, the military released the results of an internal inquiry
that cleared all soldiers in Rakhine of any misconduct. Not a single innocent
civilian had been raped or killed by the security forces, the report said.
The government has refused to grant access to
the region to independent observers including United Nations officials, aid
groups, representatives of foreign governments and journalists.
The government of Myanmar, also known as
Burma, has denied most Rohingya citizenship and considers them to be “illegal
immigrants” from Bangladesh, factors that complicate their status and their
ability to be recognized as refugees or to apply for asylum.
U Zaw Htay, a former army major who serves as
a spokesman for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s top civilian leader, said the
ambush on Friday had been intended to derail the repatriation of Rohingya under
an agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh.
“We will start the repatriation process on
Jan. 23,” he said. “That’s why ARSA carried out a terrorist attack on Jan. 5,
just to delay the repatriation process.”
U Win Myat Aye, the minister of social
welfare and resettlement, said that refugees would have the choice of living at
a temporary center while their homes are being rebuilt, or of returning to
their villages to help rebuild the housing themselves, with the government
bearing the construction costs.
The relocation center is expected to
accommodate up to 30,000 people in tents from Belgium and China, he said.
“After the construction of their original
place is done, they can live in their own place and they can work freely as
before,” he said.
Despite such assurances, it is unclear how
many Rohingya will want to return home given the violent campaign of the past
few months.
In his statement, Mr. Atta Ullah said ARSA
had “no other option but to combat ‘Burmese state-sponsored terrorism’ against
the Rohingya population for the purpose of defending, salvaging and protecting
the Rohingya community.”
Mr. Horsey, who has closely followed the
group, said the rare statement from the rebel leader was a bid to position the
organization as a political representative of the Rohingya.
“We declare, loud and clear, that we will
continue our legitimate struggles in hand-in-hand cooperation with the
civilized international community until all our demands are fulfilled,” Mr.
Atta Ullah said. “Rohingya people must be consulted in all decision-making that
affects their humanitarian needs and political future.”
Saw Nang contributed reporting from Mandalay,
Myanmar.
