Suu Kyi tells military to crush Rakhine rebels

What is news?

• Myanmar government leader Aung San Suu Kyi discussed insurgent attacks on Myanmar police on Monday in a rare meeting with the military chief, and her administration called for the armed forces to “crush” the rebels.
• Fighting between government forces and the rebel Arakan Army in the western state of Rakhine has displaced thousands of people since early December, according to the United Nations.
• The Arakan Army wants greater autonomy for Rakhine, where the mainly Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group makes up the majority of the population.

Background:-

• Rakhine State saw a military-led crackdown in 2017, following attacks by Rohingya Muslim insurgents that prompted hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee westwards into neighbouring Bangladesh.
• The president’s office has instructed the military to launch an operation to crush the terrorists.
• While Suu Kyi is barred from being president by a military-drafted constitution, Win Myint is a loyalist and she is seen as de facto leader of the civilian government, while the military remains in charge of security.
• An Arakan Army spokesman outside attacked the security forces in response to a broad military offensive in northern Rakhine State that also targeted civilians.
• The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Monday that 4,500 people were sheltering in monasteries and communal spaces after being displaced by the fighting in the past month.

‘CYCLE OF VIOLENCE’

The Arakan Army was termed as a “terrorist organization” and  it had surprised security forces on guard against Rohingya insurgents.

• The Arakan Army could destabilise Rakhine State for years to come and warned people not to give it support.
• Myanmar governments have battled various ethnic minority insurgent groups since shortly after independence from Britain in 1948, though some have struck ceasefire agreements.
• Mayanmar accused the Arakan Army of meeting the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a group of Rohingya insurgents that Myanmar also considers terrorists but added that Myanmar was unable to eliminate the groups as they had bases across the border in Bangladesh.
• A Bangladeshi foreign ministry denied the accusation and asked Myanmar to provide evidence of militant camps in Bangladesh.