Regime troops’ visits to Arakan State villages are increasingly common, and unsettling, for locals

By DMG 09 May 2022

DMG Newsroom
9 May 2022, Sittwe  

Myanmar military inspections have become increasingly frequent in Arakan State villages of late, according to residents, who say the surprise visits are unnerving locals. 

Since April, junta troops have reportedly entered several villages and made enquiries at each household therein to check residents against their household registration certificates, as well as scrutinising for overnight guests. 

On May 4, about 50 junta troops checked household registration certificates in a number of villages including old Padetha, Ngat Gyi Kyun and Aung Dula in Ponnagyun Township, according to local residents. 

The regime soldiers stayed overnight at old Padetha village, and went to other villages the following day before leaving Ponnagyun Township. 

A Ngat Gyi Kyun villager who asked for anonymity said: “People have concerns when they [junta troops] come into villages with arms. It is unacceptable. If they are to check village information, they should contact the village administrator and notify us in advance of when they will come. Their surprise visits cause panic among villagers.” 

Similar troop forays were reported in the Ponnagyun Township villages of Sabarhtar and Aung Zeya on April 26. 

And junta soldiers and departmental officials knocked on the doors of each and every house in Sittwe Township’s Kan Kaw Kyun village on Saturday to check overnight guests, according to local residents. 

The growing unease among civilians comes as tensions are also rising between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA), which fought a two-year war in Arakan State before reaching an informal ceasefire agreement toward the end of 2020. 

“The military is doing so partly because of growing military tensions between two sides, and also to stop the AA from expanding its authority,” said U Khin Maung Latt, a former Upper House lawmaker for Arakan State. 

“They said they make checks for security reasons. But villagers are frightened by armed soldiers anyway,” said former Kyaukphyu Township lawmaker U Poe San. “They are concerned that they will be detained on suspicion of having ties to this or that group.” 

The military regime has detained a number of village administrators and civilians, some on suspicion of having ties to the AA, over recent weeks. 

The United League of Arakan (ULA), the AA’s political wing, has established a parallel administration in Arakan State — complete with a judiciary, revenue department, public security offices and other governmental institutions — since the military and Arakan Army reached their unofficial ceasefire in November 2020. Much of the ULA/AA administrative buildout has taken place while the junta has been busy fighting the resistance movement that has arisen across large swaths of Myanmar in response to the military’s 2021 coup. 

At an AA press conference on April 5, the armed group’s spokesman U Khaing Thukha warned that the regime’s interference in its administrative efforts could spark renewed conflict. 

Fresh clashes might break out if the military carries out such inspections on a wider scale, agreed the ex-MP U Khin Maung Latt. 

“It is their routine to make random checks. But if there are harsher restrictions on locals and their fears grow, tensions will grow and result in armed conflict,” he said. 

DMG phone calls to Arakan State Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Kyaw Thura went answered on Monday.