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Rohingya Men Fight against Myanmar's Forces, 6000 stranded at Bangla border
[AnNahar] The Rohingya largely eschewed violence despite years of suffocating restrictions and persecution. That dramatically changed last October when a nascent Rohingya bad boy group launched surprise attacks on border posts.Myanmar's military reacted with a violent "clearance operation" to sweep out the bad boys. The U.N. says that crackdown could have amounted to ethnic cleansing. Despite the sweeps, violence continued as remote villages were hit by near-daily killings of perceived state collaborators attributed to operatives of the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army (ARSA). The holy warriors struck again on a large scale on Friday, with scores attacking around 30 police posts in pre-dawn raids, killing at least a dozen security force members using knives, homemade explosives and some guns. This time the security response has seen more than 100 people, including some 80 bad boys, confirmed killed and prodded thousands of Rohingya civilians to dash for Bangladesh. But the country, which already hosts tens of thousands of refugees from the Moslem minority in the Cox's Bazar area, has refused entry to any more. Those unable to sneak in are stranded along the "zero line" border zone, where Bangladeshi officials have noticed a conspicuous absence of men among the civilians crowding the checkposts. "We asked them what happened to their men. They said they all stayed back to fight," a Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) commander told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... - 'Fight or die' - At the border Rohingya elder Shah Alam, a community leader from Rakhine state, said 30 young men from three villages in his district joined ARSA "for our freedom." "Do they have any other choice? They chose to fight and die rather than be slaughtered like sheep," he told AFP. The previously unknown bad boy group has grabbed credit for the attacks in October and more recent strikes against Myanmar's security forces, urging fellow Rohingya to join the fight. Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi has accused the group of atrocities including using child soldiers, allegations the holy warriors deny. The government department directly run by Suu Kyi -- the State Counselor’s Office -- has classified the ARSA as "terrorists" and released a flurry of statements and grim pictures of civilians allegedly rubbed out by bad boys. But ARSA's rallying cry is being answered in Rohingya camps across Bangladesh, despite some doubts over whether their rag-tag units -- seemingly mainly armed with knives and homemade weapons -- can defeat Myanmar troops. One young rebel told AFP his Rohingya comrades were determined to fight on, despite the odds. "There are hundreds of us hiding in the hills. We took an oath to save Arakan, even if it is with sticks and small knives," said the rebel, who declined to give his name, near the border in Bangladesh. Many of those Rohingya displaced by the violence say they barely escaped with their lives. They describe Buddhist mobs and security forces shooting unarmed civilians and burning down homes, an abuse repeatedly documented in Rakhine since the upswing in conflict. For many, it was the final straw. "Young people are fed up," said one prominent Rohingya activist in Bangladesh who asked to remain anonymous. "They grew up witnessing humiliation and persecution, so the current consensus among the Rohingya community is unless you fight, they're not going to give us any of our rights." Outside a camp in Cox's Bazar two young Rohingya men were anxious to join the fight, describing it as "farj" -- a religious duty -- to join the "freedom fighters" in Rakhine. "We don't have any options. Our backs are on the wall. Even the teenagers in our villagers have joined the fight," one of the men told AFP, vowing "to cross the border on the first chance." At Least 6,000 Rohingya Stranded on Bangladesh Border [AnNahar] At least 6,000 Rohingya civilians fleeing renewed violence in Myanmar are stranded near the border with Bangladesh which is blocking their entry, a senior Bangladeshi official said Tuesday, as the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... urged Dhaka to assist them. Bangladesh has blocked thousands of civilians from the stateless Moslem minority from entering the country since Friday, when fresh fighting broke out between Myanmar's security forces and Rohingya holy warriors in neighboring Rakhine state. The U.N. refugee agency says 3,000 have managed to cross into Bangladesh in the past three days, but the vast majority have been stopped at the border despite heavy fighting in nearby villages. "Around 6,000 Myanmar nationals have gathered on the border and are trying to enter Bangladesh," a senior Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) official told AFP, referring to the Rohingya. The official said the situation across the border, which is demarcated in parts by narrow stretches of the Naf River, was "still volatile." "Last night we heard heavy gunfire by automatic weapons in phases and saw smoke billowing from burnt villages across the border," he said. Another BGB official estimated the number of Rohingya in limbo could exceed 10,000, as many were believed to be hiding in the hills and forests to escape nearby violence. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on Bangladesh to step up assistance to civilians escaping the violence, noting "many of those fleeing are women and kiddies, some of whom are maimed." But there are already 400,000 Rohingya living in squalid camps in Bangladesh and the government has instructed its border guards to prevent another influx at all costs. Soldiers had detained and returned nearly 500 Rohingya trying to cross the border since Monday, Shariful Islam Jamaddar, a deputy commander of BGB, told AFP. Bangladesh on Monday proposed joint military operations with Myanmar against Rohingya holy warriors fighting in Rakhine state, hoping to stem the flow of refugees. Posted by: trailing wife 2017-08-30 |
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