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After suffering humiliating defeats and territorial losses to the ethnic Arakan Army (AA)’s ongoing offensive in Rakhine State, the Myanmar junta is again utilizing its old tactic of fueling racial and religious tensions between Muslim and non-Muslim residents in some townships in the north of the state, according to military analysts and the ethnic rebel army.

In May 2012, Rakhine State in western Myanmar experienced sectarian violence between the Rohingya and Rakhine Buddhist communities over the rape and killing of an ethnic Rakhine woman, leading to unrest between the Muslim community and other Buddhist communities in many parts of the country 

The conflict in Rakhine State then escalated, culminating a few years later in a crackdown on Rohingya by security forces that the UN called a genocide. The conflict saw more than 700,000 Rohingya flee to Bangladesh.

The Irrawaddy has learned that the junta is again using the “divide-and-rule” tactic in the state after losing six entire townships and three other towns out of Rakhine State’s 17 townships in the major offensive launched by the ethnic army in Nov. 13 last year.

With AA troops approaching the state capital Sittwe and conducting attacks on major regime bases in the northern part of the state, the junta orchestrated Rohingya protests against the AA to sow ethnic division in Rakhine in mid-March.

The regime-backed Rohingya protests were held in Sittwe and Buthidaung towns, with protesters holding banners reading, “We don’t want the AA” and “No war”. Junta-controlled state-owned media and pro-junta propaganda channels on Telegram disseminated stories about the Rohingya protests.

Meanwhile, the junta has recruited and trained Rohingya people and used them to defend battalion headquarters from AA attacks in northern Rakhine State.

The junta is also accused of having connections with Rohingya armed organizations such as the ArakanRohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), ArakanRohingya Army (ARA) and Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO).

Videos and photos have also surfaced showing junta soldiers providing military training and arms to Rohingya people in Rakhine State.

Amid AA attacks on a junta military battalion headquarters in Buthidaung Township, thousands of civilian structures belonging to non-Muslim residents in junta-controlled Buthidaung town, including the office of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), were burned in an arson attack on April 12.

Local residents and the AA said that only the houses of Rakhine, Hindu and other non-Muslim civilians in the town were destroyed, and that the junta-backed Muslim Rohingya terrorist groups ARSA, ARA, RSO and Rohingya militias recently armed and trained by the junta were responsible for the arson attack.

The junta also accused the AA of bombarding Rohingya villages in the townships, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.

In April a Rohingya rights activist accused the AA of abducting and killing five Rohingya civilians in Maungdaw Township, but the ethnic rebel army denied the accusation.

At the same time, the junta is attempting to damage the AA’s international reputation by forcing Rohingya recruits and conscripts to fight—and be killed by—AA troops on the front lines.

Swedish journalist, author and Myanmar expert BertilLintner told The Irrawaddy that the outside world is “obsessed” with the Rohingya issue, and if any Rohingya, even those who are armed by the regime military, are killed by the AA, it could damage the international community’s impression of the AA.

“We can assume that most people in the outside world would not be aware of the arming of the Rohingya,” he said.

Lintner also pointed out that by using the divide-and rule tactic, the military junta is trying to stir up communal clashes in Rakhine, which would then justify its intervention in order to “restore order” and “communal harmony”.

Considering the current military situation in Rakhine, analysts have forecast that the entire state could fall into the hands of the ethnic army soon.

“It seems possible, and that is why the State Administrative Council [the military regime] is playing the race-and-religion card to divide the population of Rakhine State,” Lintner said.

Another Myanmar military analyst who is constantly monitoring and reporting on the fighting between the regime and anti-regime revolutionary groups agreed with the Swedish journalist.

“The junta is definitely using the tactic of sowing hatred between the Muslim people and other non-Muslim groups as it is no longer able to defeat the AA,” he said.

The United League of Arakan (ULA)—of which the AA is the armed wing—said in late April that the junta is resorting to inciting communal conflict among various communities in the state, exploiting differences in religion and nationality. The junta military is deliberately training Rohingya extremists and arming terrorist groups within the Muslim community to stoke communal tensions in the northern part the state, it said.

By acting independently or in collaboration with the regime’s military, the Muslim armed groups have initiated a series of attacks against the AA. Additionally, these groups have engaged in criminal activities such as theft and vandalism of nom-Muslim public properties, posing a grave threat to the lives and security of residents in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships in Rakhine State, the ULA said.

Prominent Rohingya rights Activist Ro Nay San Lwin said that the regime is using the Rohingya conscripts on the front lines to spark communal hatred.

A video that went viral on Monday shows Rohingya militias, believed to be trained and armed by the junta, torching houses in the Rakhine village of Shwe Yin Aye in Maungdaw Township. Rakhine media reported that the raid and arson attacks happened in Shwe Yin Aye last Thursday.

The Rohingya militia group also burned down houses in nearby Wai Thar Li Village on the same day, it was reported.

Citing the viral video, Ro Nay San Lwin said on his Facebook that the armed group was believed to comprise Rohingya conscripts of the military regime.

“Regardless of who they are and whether it was staged, forced, or anything else, as a Rohingya, I condemn this unkind act in the strongest possible terms,” he said.

Another prominent Rohingya, U Aung Kyaw Moe, deputy human rights minister of the civilian National Unity Government (NUG), also condemned the arson attack by the junta-allied Rohingya militias.

He said that within the Rohingya community, there are many “stooges” working for the regime.

“We need to distinguish between stooges and ordinary civilians. We should be aware that blaming … indiscriminately will only increase the conflict. The desire of the terrorist junta is to create a conflict between two nationalities,” U Aung Kyaw Moe said.

The terrorist military regime is attempting to create and leave behind ethnic conflicts in Rakhine before it is forced to cede permanent control of the state to the AA, the Rohingya minister said.

Asked to comment about the possible results of the junta’s divide-and-rule tactic, Lintner said, “Too early to say, but it depends on how the Buddhist Rakhine community is going to react to the SAC’s using the Rohingyas against the AA.”

The military analyst who spoke with The Irrawaddy above said the junta’s tactic wouldn’t work, as most of the Rohingya community across the state have come to trust the AA. The junta is only using Rohingya recruits from Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships, where the AA has yet to build trust with the local Muslim community, the analyst said.

Nayt Thit, Author. 

This article was originally published on The Irrawaddy.
Views in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect CGS policy.