The Arakan Army (AA) has urged young Rohingya men in Rakhine State to flee forcible conscription into the junta’s military and to take shelter in areas under the ethnic armed group’s control.
“I would like to urge young Muslim men to find the best way to escape from being forcibly drafted and to flee into and take shelter in the liberated areas, which are safer,” AA spokesperson Khine Thu Kha said at a press conference on Monday.
He said the junta is trying to protect itself at the expense of the lives of Muslim people by providing them with so-called military training and arms.
The junta’s military no longer has control in Rakhine State and is in retreat, he said, and is therefore deliberately looking to instigate new armed conflicts and communal violence in Rakhine State.
Since the country’s conscription law was enforced in early February, the junta’s military has been forcibly recruiting Rohingya men from villages and camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Rakhine State and it is feared they will be used as human shields.
As of Feb. 23, at least 400 Rohingya men had already been forcibly recruited from villages and IDP camps in Sittwe and Buthidaung townships to fight the AA. On Feb. 27, junta troops abducted 40 relatives of some young Rohingya camp residents who fled conscription, according to Rohingya activists and residents. And on the afternoon on Feb. 29, the junta’s military abducted 107 Rohingya men aged 18 to 35 from Kyauk Talone IDP camp in Kyaukphyu Township.
In comments carried by regime-controlled media and other media outlets, regime spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun has continuously denied that the junta forcibly recruits Muslim men in Rakhine State.
In an interview with the VOA, he said the regime has not made any effort to target Muslims for recruitment, and even accused the AA of doing so.
However, the AA has also pledged not to force anyone to serve without their consent.
“If someone likes the policies of our ULA/AA, and if he wants to serve, they are welcome,” explained Khine Thu Kha. The ULA, or United League of Arakan, is the AA’s political wing.
The AA has said it has already welcomed some young men and their family members fleeing into its areas and more are expected to follow.
In a statement released on March 2, the AA said the junta is using the conscription law to target people from the Muslim community for “recruitment”, and is trying to push ordinary communities not involved in resistance activities into conflict, or what it called the “hole of death”.
“This act is an attempt by the junta to break and destroy the peace and stability of the future Rakhine State and its development,” the AA said in the statement.