AA takes issue with UN human rights chief’s Arakan State comments

By Admin 24 Apr 2024

DMG Newsroom
24 April 2024, Sittwe

The Arakkha Army (AA) has issued a statement saying UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk’s recent comments on the state of military, political and community relations in Arakan State were full of biased allegations.

“Rakhine [Arakan] State has once again become a battleground involving multiple actors, and civilians are paying a heavy price, with Rohingya [Muslims] at particular risk,” the High Commissioner said on April 19.

The UN human rights chief’s statement did not mention Muslim armed groups and emphasised only Muslims among those suffering from the fighting, while ignoring other victims, the AA said in response.

A total of 179 civilians were killed and 486 were injured between November 13 of last year and March 21. About 25 percent of the victims were Muslims, while more than 70 percent were Arakanese and other ethnic groups, the AA said.

Among the more than 300,000 displaced residents, 85 percent are Arakanese and other ethnic groups, and only 15 percent are Muslims, the AA said, describing Türk’s comments as biased and lacking in ground conditions and information.

“What is particularly disturbing is that whereas in 2017, the Rohingya were targeted by one group, they are now trapped between two armed factions who have a track record of killing them. We must not allow the Rohingya to be targeted again,” the High Commissioner added.

In this regard, the AA has been established to protect every ethnic group in Arakan State, and without targeting any innocent civilians, including Muslims, the ethnic armed group said, adding that it will continue to effectively protect all people.

The AA said that the military regime has been killing innocent people in Arakan State for the past few years, and is still facing a case at the International Criminal Court (ICJ) due to the worst of the killings in 2017, and continues to target and kill Muslims.

The AA said that the ethnic armed group was surprised that the statement of the UN human rights chief did not mention the continuous killings of Arakanese, Muslim and other minority peoples in Buthidaung and Maungdaw by Muslim armed organisations such as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, Arakan Rohingya Army and Rohingya Solidarity Organization.

Türk’s statement contains a lot of confusion, the AA said, and there is a false belief that the conflicts of 2012 and 2017, which were caused by the Myanmar military’s exploitation of national affairs, are the same as the current situation.