Myanmar: Junta Forces, Rohingya Battle Common Enemy, Arakan Army

Myanmar’s military long viewed the insurgency among persecuted Rohingya Muslims as an existential threat to the majority Buddhist nation. But as the Arakan Army rebel group makes sweeping gains, the junta and some Rohingya fighters now have a common foe.

In a once-unthinkable arrangement, the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) says its fighters have reached an “understanding” with the military not to attack each other. This comes as they both battle the Arakan Army, the major rebel force in western Myanmar.

“The junta did not attack us, and we did not attack them,” Ko Ko Linn, the head of RSO’s political affairs said.

There is no formal agreement between the RSO and the Myanmar military, said Ko Ko Linn. She added that the two sides are not collaborating to fight the Arakan Army.

Ko Ko Linn cited the movement of RSO fighters into the town of Maungdaw on the Bangladesh border earlier this year. This is where the junta and RSO fought the Arakan Army.

The Myanmar junta did not respond to requests for comment via telephone and email.

There are deep-seated tensions between Rakhine’s Buddhist community, which backs the Arakan Army, and the Rohingya. Some Rohingya have been forcibly conscripted by the military to fight the Arakan Army. The Army accuses sections of the Muslim minority, including the RSO, of collaborating with the junta.

Ethnic Cleansing

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after a brutal junta crackdown in 2017 that the U.N. described as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

The military has insisted the 2017 operation was a legitimate counterterrorism campaign sparked by attacks by Muslim militants.

The fighting in Rakhine now is part of a wider rebellion against Myanmar’s junta. This came three years after it ousted an elected civilian government in a coup, triggering nationwide protests that have morphed into an armed uprising.

Deadly Attack

Earlier this year the RSO sent around 1,000 fighters into Maungdaw to defend the Rohingya as the Arakan Army bore down on the area in an attempt to push out the military, Ko Ko Linn said, adding that is when the RSO and the military found themselves facing the same enemy.

However, after operating in and around Maungdaw for around three months, he said, the RSO pulled its fighters out in early August following a deadly attack on civilians.

Some 180 people, including many women and children, were killed in artillery shelling and drone attacks near the bank of the Naf River adjoining Maungdaw, according to a U.N. estimate of casualties from the assault.

The Arakan Army and Myanmar’s military have blamed each other for the incident.

The RSO was not involved in the incident but withdrew from Maungdaw to avoid further civilian casualties, Ko Ko Linn said.

“We are changing our strategy,” he said, declining to provide any details. “We will go again inside to fight.”