“End the Impunity”: Rohingya Muslims Under Attack by Both Burmese Army and Rebel Group

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: We end today’s show looking at Burma, where up to 200 Rohingya Muslims were recently killed in drone strikes as they attempted to flee to Bangladesh. This comes amid intensifying conflict between the military junta and the Arakan Army, a rebel armed group. Survivors of the drone strikes accused the Arakan Army of carrying out the assault, while the rebel group blamed the military junta, which overthrew Burma’s elected government in 2021.

A new report from Human Rights Watch finds the military and rebel armed groups have committed extrajudicial killings, unlawful recruitment for combat, and widespread arson against Rohingya Muslims and other civilians in the area.

AMY GOODMAN: During last week’s drone attack, many Rohingya also died while trying to escape by sea. This is an account by one man who lost five children after they drowned while trying to flee the attack by boat.

ROHINGYA MAN: [translated] Starting at 5 p.m. on August 5th, the Arakan Army fired weapons incessantly. The next morning, on August 6th, for survival, we decided to flee to Bangladesh. … So, I decided firstly to flee a family with a small boat. Then a big boat will be sent. My family got on a small boat. My sister’s family also got on there. While fleeing, one boat sank. The people from that boat dragged down the boat we were on, and the boat we were on sank, too. Only six to seven survived out of almost 40. From my family, my five children, four children from my sister’s family were lost. And other elderly, youths and women were lost.

AMY GOODMAN: Thousands in Rakhine state in Burma were forced to flee as their homes were burned down overnight. This was in May. This is Saifur Rahman, a 30-year-old Rohingya father who managed to flee to Bangladesh and escape the violence with his wife and their two young children.

SAIFUR RAHMAN: [translated] The Arakan Army set fire to our house. They were firing guns randomly and rapidly. I had a brother who got arrested and later was shot dead. I don’t know where my parents are now, probably dead. My wife and I whisked our two children and ran to the main road to save our lives and never looked back. We went to different villages across the mountains, keeping a low profile, and eventually managed to come here to Bangladesh. … Tens of thousands, all people from the surrounding villages, were escaping the attack. Nobody was looking back. We were running to save our lives.

AMY GOODMAN: So, if we could turn now to Nay San Lwin, who is joining us from Frankfurt, Germany. We just played two clips. If you can talk about the latest attack on the Rohingya and put it in a larger context of what’s happening in Burma today?

NAY SAN LWIN: Well, thank you so much for having me today.

So, as you have mentioned about the Naf River massacre, where the more than 200 Rohingya were massacred by the drone strike by the Arakan Army, that happened on August 5th. As of now the Maungdaw downtown, the [inaudible] area has been empty as of today morning. And the Arakan Army soldiers are in the town. They are looting the Rohingya houses. And the Rohingya are, you know, what they call the evacuated, but it is actually forcibly relocated to somewhere else. They are now at the border of where the Myanmar military junta has built the temporary camp. Most of the people are there. And some of the people are relocated to some other villages. So, there are some fighting still ongoing, but unlike before.

So, let me talk a little bit — talk about this Maungdaw town. Since the early June, the Arakan Army has been fighting against the military there. But whenever they launch the drone attack or the artillery attack, they target the Rohingya people. The military base is opposite direction of the Rohingya villages. But still, every day they target the Rohingya village. Every day there were two or three, sometimes five, six Rohingya were killed, many injured.

So, on August 3rd, since these drone strikes increased, on August 5th in the afternoon, the people decided to flee to Bangladesh. Then they gathered at the bank of the Naf River. Around at 5 p.m., the Arakan Army dropped a drone bomb and resulted in more than 200 dead and the many injured. And also, at the same time, when a boat tried to flee from there, they dropped a drone bomb. And as a result, only two survived. There were more than 20 people on boat. Next day morning, just now you have played a clip. He is the survivor from the boat, you know. So, we think at least — including the dead from the boat, I think at least 250 died, including this Naf River massacre.

The scale of the killing is compared to the Buthidaung township. It is the small scale. In Buthidaung township, before the May 17, the Arakan Army has committed the significant massacres in different villages. In one single village on May 2nd, they killed more than 600 people. I spoke to some survivors. Only a few people survived. And the eyewitnesses and the people who know about this massacre, I have also got the family list. So, they have committed the same massacre in the different village, as well. In Buthidaung alone, they have killed more than 2,000, and they have burned down more than 850 — 8,500 Rohingya houses. So, in Maungdaw, the same thing they are doing.

They have the intention to cleanse the Rohingya people. That, we can prove, if we read the articles that published in the Foreign Policy magazine 10 years ago. And also, the six years ago, the elder brother of the Arakan Army chief, you know, delivered his speech in the private meeting, which leaked to the social media. In this speech, he said, you know, “We have to strategize to cleanse the Rohingya from” — they call the Bengali, these people, from the Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships. This is what exactly they are doing now. What they are doing is they are — you know, they’re carrying out the unfinished business of the Myanmar military.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: And if you could explain, Nay San Lwin, the origins of this crisis, the historical context with the crisis, the Rohingya crisis, beginning in August 2017?

NAY SAN LWIN: Well, you know, the Rohingya genocide began in 1978, more then 45 years ago. So, the massive violence against in 2017 is not the first one. The first one occurred in 1978, then again in 1991, 1992, and 2012, 2016. The latest wave was in 2017. So, it is the very elongated persecution by the Myanmar military to cleanse the entire population from the country.

As of now, only about 600,000 remain in the country. So, the Arakan Army is trying to cleanse about 300,000 who are remained in the Buthidaung and the Maungdaw townships. These are the Rohingya-majority areas. Normally, before the 2017, there were more than 1 million people there. But in 2017, Myanmar military cleansed about 750,000, and more than 10,000 were killed. Hundreds of women and girls were raped.

So, as of now, the humanitarian situation is very dire. There are no humanitarian agencies present. And the people are depending on the money sent by their relatives live in the diaspora. And also, there are a lot of [inaudible] — 

AMY GOODMAN: Let me interrupt and ask: What is the relationship —

NAY SAN LWIN: They cannot move from — 

AMY GOODMAN: Nay San Lwin, what is the relationship between the Arakan Army and the Burma military? And, you know, you’re saying “Myanmar”; we are saying “Burma.” It’s the same country. The military regime renamed it Myanmar.

NAY SAN LWIN: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, true. So, they don’t have the relation. The Arakan Army is fighting against the military since the late 2018 in Rakhine state. So, they had, on and off, the ceasefire. But since last year November, they have been continuously fighting against the military. But they are the enemy each other.

But when it comes to the Rohingya issue, they have the same intention. The Arakan Army has also same intention as the Burmese military, Burma military. That is why they are now cleansing the Rohingya. They have killed, in three months of time — in four months of time, they have killed more than 2,500 Rohingya in two townships and displaced around 300,000 Rohingya now.

AMY GOODMAN: And what should the international community do at this point? And does the student uprising in Bangladesh, that ultimately threw out the prime minister there — does it have an impact on Burma and what’s happening there?

NAY SAN LWIN: Well, you know, the Burmese people, especially the people who are working to bring back the democracy in Myanmar, and also the younger people engaging in the Spring Revolution, they are very happy, and they are congratulating the Bangladeshi students. They have seen the real change in Bangladesh, so they are also hoping.

But the problem with the international community when it comes to the Burma, the international community is letting the Burmese military to enjoy the impunity until now. You know, two years ago, two-and-a-half years ago, the U.S. government determined the crime against Rohingya as a genocide and a crime against humanity, but nothing followed. So, all this justice venue, they have to take the serious action against the Myanmar military and end the impunity. So, since the international community is failing again and again on the Rohingya, the Arakan Army is also committing the same crime. You know, whatever they have committed against the Rohingya, it’s amounted to crime against humanity and the war crime. So, they think they will also enjoy the impunity.

That is why to end the impunity by the international community is really very much crucial. And also, the Myanmar — the Burmese military is under the sanction by the Western governments. The Arakan Army also need the same sanction. So, until now, you know, more than 2,500 people have been killed, but we didn’t see any — you know, the few-line statement from the U.S. state government, and also all the European governments and the U.K. government and also the Canadian government. They have to take the action.

AMY GOODMAN: Nay San Lwin, we have to leave it there.

NAY SAN LWIN: You know, if the — yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: We have to thank you so much for being with us, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, speaking to us from Frankfurt, Germany.

Tune in next week when Democracy Now! will be broadcasting two hours daily from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago beginning Monday. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.