AA seeks new recruits to step up offensive

By Admin 06 Dec 2023

DMG Newsroom
6 December 2023, Sittwe

The Arakan Army (AA) has urged young Arakanese people to join it in fighting the military regime in Arakan State.

The ethnic armed group on Tuesday said it needs new members to guard the outposts seized or to be seized from the regime, urging young people with patriotic fervour and a sense of responsibility to answer the call of duty.

“We need new Arakha warriors — Defenders of Our Fatherland — who have genuine love for Arakha State and are dedicated to defending it,” reads the AA statement.

Since the launching of its Arakan State offensive on November 13, the AA has attacked and seized a key junta tactical hilltop base in Taron Eain Village in neighbouring Chin State’s Paletwa Township, as well as three outposts in Maungdaw and one outpost in Buthidaung. It has also seized dozens of junta positions abandoned by junta soldiers, police and border guard police.

The AA said it had made certain sacrifices to occupy the Taron Eain base, which has two helipads. The fighting lasted 21 days.

“I view the recruitment as the AA making necessary preparation for us to determine our future,” said a former lawmaker from Arakan State. “Everyone who lives in Arakan State is responsible for maintaining and protecting the hard-won territory that has cost us lives and limbs. So, Arakanese people should cooperate.”

Along with Operation 1027, launched by the Brotherhood Alliance including the AA, other resistance groups have stepped up their fighting against the regime across the country, with the junta reportedly losing ground.

“The AA needs more personnel as fighting is escalating across the country,” said a resident of Ponnagyun town. “Many young people enlisted with the AA during the previous fighting. However, AA did not accept all of them, and sent them back to their homes. It didn’t need them at that time. Young people who could not join the AA then will be ready to join it now, I think.”

Formed on April 10, 2009, by 26 young people, the AA has grown to become a powerful army in the relatively short span of 14 years. It had 30,000 troops in 2022, according to AA chief Major-General Twan Mrat Naing.

Meanwhile, the regime this week invited deserters and those absent without leave to return to the barracks and said they would not be punished for desertion and unauthorised absences; an indication, according to observers, that the ranks of the Myanmar military are severely depleted.