AA sends felicitations on 2nd anniversary of Chin resistance force

By Admin 25 Apr 2023

DMG Newsroom
25 April 2023, Sittwe

The Arakan Army (AA) has announced that it will continue to support the Chinland Defense Force (CDF-Mindat), which is aggressively fighting the military junta, as a good neighbourly partner.

The AA’s Alpha-3 military region sent a message marking the two-year anniversary of the CDF-Mindat’s founding on April 24.

Relations between Arakanese and Chin armed groups and the people they claim to represent have been occasionally strained, including when the AA began conducting military operations in Chin State’s Paletwa Township, where thousands of civilians were displaced by fighting from 2018-2020.

Political analysts say the AA’s message to CDF-Mindat indicates a better military, political and ethnic understanding between the Chin and Arakanese people.

“After the military coup, it can be said that the AA was quite strong in terms of providing military training to the Chin anti-regime forces and establishing alliances. This is a revolutionary and politically good move,” said U Tun Kyi, an Arakanese political analyst.

The AA said that CDF-Mindat is doing its best to build a compact and strong Chin National Defense Force under the umbrella of revolution, with a strong sense of unity for their shared political goal of eradicating the military dictatorship and achieving genuine federalism.

Chin State and Arakan State border each other, and the Chin people are historically the third largest ethnic group in Arakan State, with Arakanese people also well represented in Chin State.

“The AA’s sending of a message on the two-year anniversary of the CDF-Mindat’s founding is very good for us,” said a Chin youth in Thandwe. “Chin State and Arakan State share a border. It is necessary for the Chin and Arakanese people to work together to create a good political image, such as harmonious cooperation and mutual trust in the future.”

Chin State has proven to be a stronghold of the resistance to military rule, and the AA has provided military training and ammunition to anti-regime forces in Chin State.