Myanmar has a new insurgency to worry about

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army sent a clear signal when it attacked 30 police stations and outposts, just six hours after former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan presented his final report on the Rakhine issue

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A police officer guards the remains of a house which was burnt down during the violence in Maungdaw, northern Rakhine state, Myanmar. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:17pm, 1 Sep 2017Updated: 8:17pm, 1 Sep 2017

When fighters of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked 30 police stations and outposts in a well coordinated offensive on August 25 across a wide swathe of territory around the townships of Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung, they sent out a clear signal.

For the first time in the history of the Rohingya insurgency, that began in 1946 and has survived many ups and downs, here was a group capable of hitting back when facing a military operation aimed at destroying it.

Despite a massive counter-insurgency drive by the 33rd Light Infantry division in the Mayu mountains where the ARSA has its major bases, the rebels were able to mobilise enough numbers in the flatlands of northern Rakhine to stage a well orchestrated attack within six hours of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan presenting his final report on the Rakhine issue.

Kofi Annan, chairman of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, talks to journalists in Yangon, Myanmar. Photo: Reuters

Annan has headed the nine-member Advisory Commission for more than a year, with six Burmese and three foreigners on the committee since State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s government tasked it with recommending ways to handle the conflict in Rakhine.

On August 24 he presented the final report to President Htin Kyaw and Suu Kyi, listing out a set of recommendations to bring the situation in Rakhine back to normal. Later in the day, he addressed the media, making it clear that militarisation was no answer to the complex situation in Rakhine.

Annan’s report called for extensive inter-ethnic dialogue at all levels and an effort to create human rights awareness in Myanmar’s security forces – and it stressed the need to sort out citizenship issues and related verification issues.