Buthidaung locals spooked by fighting between ARSA, AA

By Admin 20 Jul 2023

DMG Newsroom
20 July 2023, Buthidaung

Local residents in Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township have been panicked by recent fighting between the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and the Arakan Army (AA).

AA and ARSA flighters clashed along the Mayu mountain range near Sein Nyin Pyar, Arkar Pyan, Kyauk Sar Taing villages in Gutarpyin village-tract on July 18 and 19, with concerns raised about the possibility of additional hostilities.

“We haven’t heard gunfire today. We are worried because we heard gunfire yesterday. Locals dare not go to their farms or into the forest,” a resident of Kyauk Sar Taing Village told DMG on Thursday at noon.

The fighting this week took place on a mountain road near Arkar Pyan Village on Tuesday night, and near Sein Nyin Pyar Village on Wednesday. One AA fighter died, and the bodies of five ARSA fighters and their weapons were seized, a source close to the Arakan Army told DMG.

A resident of Sein Nyin Pyar Muslim village said: “We live in fear. We dare not go to our farms. After we heard the gunfire, we dare not go out even in the village.”

This week’s AA-ARSA fighting served to highlight the complex military and security dynamics at play in Arakan State.

Arakanese politician U Pe Than said: “[ARSA] dislikes not only the Myanmar military, they also don’t like the administration of the ULA/AA. I think the clash happened as they attempted to disrupt the administrative mechanism of the ULA/AA.”

The Arakan Army runs an administration parallel to the military government in Arakan State, complete with a judiciary and tax collection department.

ARSA is active along the Mayu mountain range in Arakan State’s Rathedaung, Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, as well as along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border.

The Myanmar military and the AA have observed an unofficial ceasefire since late November, following some four months of renewed hostilities.