‘I’ll never return as long as they’re still there’: One woman’s ordeal in AA-controlled Paletwa Township

On the evening of April 5, Koe Bell, a 23-year-old ethnic Khumi woman, was walking to her home when she encountered two men on the road. The young mother, whose husband worked abroad, lived with her in-laws in a small village in southern Chin State’s Paletwa Township. She had just spent the day tending to their crop of black-eyed peas, which they grew in the forest near their village. She recognised the men as members of the Arakan Army (AA), the ethnic armed group that has controlled Paletwa Township since January 2024. They weren’t armed or wearing uniforms, but she remembered seeing them when they first arrived in the village. She had seen one of them more than once, but the other was less familiar, she said. What happened next is a blur. The two men quickly overpowered her, raped her, and attempted to drown her in a nearby creek. Nearly five months later, she still finds it too painful to recall the details. She is not even sure how she survived. “Every time I recount the incident, it feels as if I am living it all over again. Please don’t make me repeat it,” she told Myanmar Now recently, her voice shaking with emotion. “You can ask me about what happened afterwards, but I’m not ready to retell the whole thing again now. I don’t have the strength.” According to an officer of the Global Khumi Organisation (GKO), a group that has accused the AA of committing multiple war crimes and human rights abuses in Paletwa Township, Koe Bell managed to escape with her life only because one of her in-laws came looking for her. “They went there because their grandchild was crying for milk. They saw one AA member trying to drown her while the other kept watch. By crying out and calling for help from nearby villagers, they saved her,” said the GKO officer, citing local sources. AA troops in front of a captured junta base in Paletwa Township (Photo: AA Info Desk) ‘No right to question them’ The family wasn’t sure what to do next. They wanted to seek justice, but didn’t know who to turn to. In the end, they decided to report the incident to the AA, since they were sure that the perpetrators were members of the group. They did not contact any other armed groups operating in the area. Although Paletwa, which borders Rakhine State, has a large Rakhine population, most people living there belong to other ethnic groups. Among them are the Khumi and Mara, which are both Chin subgroups. While some Chin resistance forces have aligned themselves with the AA, others regard it as an interloper. These tensions have significantly impacted local communities. The incident was first reported later the same day to the administrator of Seint Sin, the village where Koe Bell lived, and where she was raped and nearly murdered. His report was then conveyed to the AA officer on duty in the village and to the group’s township-level commanding officer. Koe Bell said she was told that the two suspects confessed to their crime during interrogation. Nearly three weeks later, on April 25, AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha told a local media outlet, Western News, that two of the group’s members had been convicted of sexually assaulting a woman bathing in a creek. He added that they were both under the influence of alcohol at the time, and said that strict measures would be taken to ensure that the punishment fits the crime. However, the AA did not subsequently release any information about the culprit’s sentences, or even their identities, including their names and ranks. When Myanmar Now reached out to Khaing Thukha for an update on the situation, he confirmed that sentences had been handed down, and said that the family had been notified. “One of the two troops convicted of rape was sentenced to death on June 7, while the other’s death sentence has been suspended for six months pending an appeal,” he said. According to Koe Bell, the AA told her that one of the men had been executed the same day as he was sentenced, while the other had appealed. “They claimed to have issued the sentences, but we cannot say if we believe them. As an armed group, they wield significant power. If they say someone has been executed, it could endanger our lives to dispute it. We have no right to question them,” she said. A view of the town of Paletwa in February 2020 (Photo: Myanmar Now) Running from trauma On April 25—the same day that Khaing Thukha first spoke publicly about the case—AA officials and civilian authorities visited Koe Bell’s home to apologise and offer her 10 million kyat (around US$2,400) in compensation. Koe Bell and her family initially declined the offer, but later accepted the money at the urging of a village elder, who warned that refusing risked angering AA officials, as it might appear as if they were resentful. The family donated half of the money to Seint Sin and used the rest to pay their way to Mizoram State in neighbouring India, where they are now living in a small village. Koe Bell said she had to leave Seint Sin because her rape and narrow escape from death had left her traumatised, both physically and mentally. She still has panic attacks, she said, despite taking medication prescribed for her by a doctor. She said that all she wants now is to live peacefully with her family in their current village, free from worry. She is due to be reunited with her husband next year, she added. Under no circumstances, however, would she return to Seint Sin. Her memories of what happened there would be too much for her to bear, she said. She also said that she would never return to Paletwa Township, at least as long as the AA remains in control there. “The farther I am from them, the better. I’ll never return as long as they’re still there. Even if they stay my entire life, I still won’t go back.”

‘I’ll never return as long as they’re still there’: One woman’s ordeal in AA-controlled Paletwa Township

A young mother who survived a brutal rape explains why she fled her homeland—and why she can’t go back

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