Junta searches for ULA official in Kyaukphyu Twsp village

By DMG 16 Jul 2022

DMG Newsroom
16 July 2022, Kyaukphyu

A local administrative in-charge of the United League of Arakan (ULA), the political wing of the Arakan Army (AA), in Kyaukphyu Township’s Zin Chaung village is wanted by the Myanmar military, which undertook a search for him on Friday.

About 30 junta soldiers arrived at Zin Chaung, also known as Kone Bwe village, on Friday evening, making a beeline for the house of a 76-year-old woman who lives together with her granddaughter, where they enquired about the ULA official.

“They asked Daw Han Nu Khaing if she had contact with the Zin Chaung administrative in-charge, and knew where he was,” said a relative who did not want to be named for security reasons.

“They threatened to take her to the police station if she lied. When Daw Han Nu Khaing said she didn’t know, they asked her granddaughter Htet Htet Wai to give them their cellphones. When she refused, they pulled her by her arms, pointed a gun at her and asked her if she had ever seen a gun.”

The junta soldiers reportedly left the house after an hour of questioning.

“They told her to tell them where the ULA official was,” the relative added. “Daw Han Nu Khaing said she didn’t know, and that she had no contact with him. They then asked her to show the household registration certificate. She said she didn’t have one. They then asked her where her husband was. Daw Han Nu Khaing said he was dead. They then asked Htet Htet Wai how long she had been staying here, and told her to report to authorities about her staying there.”

The military’s search on Friday was the second of its kind, after junta soldiers searched the same house in June of last year on suspicion that the ULA administrative official was staying there.

The ULA’s Zin Chaung administrative official told DMG that the junta soldiers were searching the wrong house.

“The grandmother and her granddaughter might be scared, and so are the other villagers,” said the official.

The Myanmar military and the Arakan Army have observed an unofficial ceasefire since November 2020, after two years of often-intense fighting.

The AA took advantage of the cessation of hostilities to consolidate its control over large parts of Arakan State, strengthening its administrative grip — complete with a judicial system and police force separate from the junta’s own — over the past year as the Myanmar military was distracted by fallout from its 2021 coup in other parts of the country.

Tensions have been running high in Arakan State in recent months, however, with the regime attempting to contain the AA’s influence in the region.