More Rohingyas die as fighting in northern Rakhine intensifies

The conflict for control of northern Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township is continuing to claim the lives of Rohingya civilians, with more dying on Sunday during an attempt to reach Bangladesh. According to survivors and local rescue workers, the victims were aboard a boat that capsized as it was carrying 36 refugees across the Naf River, which forms part of the border between Myanmar and its neighbour to the north. “Only four of the 36 survived,” a source told Myanmar Now on Tuesday, noting that around half were children. Four children and a pregnant woman were among those whose bodies have been recovered so far, the source added. The deaths are just the latest so far this month, as fighting between Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army (AA) intensifies in a corner of the country that has witnessed numerous atrocities against the Rohingya in recent years. The AA began its offensive in Maungdaw on June 16, a month after it captured Buthidaung Township to the east. Rohingya Muslims make up most of Maungdaw’s population, along with some smaller communities of Rakhine Buddhists and Hindus. Largely cut off from the rest of the country and even the state—where phone and internet services have been nearly non-existent in many areas since the AA launched its state-wide offensive in November of last year—Maungdaw has a well-deserved reputation as an information black hole. Despite this, however, reports of some major incidents have managed to reach the outside world. The worst since the start of the current conflict occurred on August 5, when as many as 200 Rohingya were massacred in what appeared to be a deliberate drone attack. Much remains unclear about this attack, including who was responsible for it. While Myanmar’s junta-controlled state media and some Rohingya activists have blamed the AA, the group has denied the charge. In a statement released on August 12, Human Rights Watch claimed that both Myanmar junta forces and the AA had carried out attacks on the Rohingya. On August 16, the AA said that it had warned residents of Maungdaw to leave the town two months earlier. It added that most who stayed were connected to Rohingya “extremist” groups with ties to Myanmar’s military, suggesting that they were regarded as enemy combatants or their dependents. Families lost Myanmar Now has not been able to independently verify any of the claims that have been made about this incident. However, it has spoken to several Rohingyas who have made it to Bangladesh recently to learn about the current situation in Maungdaw. Umay Sawlima, a 22-year-old woman from Maungdaw’s Ward 2, said she decided to stay behind when her family left for Fezi, a village on the banks of the Naf River, to escape the clashes that were moving closer to their home. At the time she was working as a housekeeper for a neighbour. Eventually, she and her employers also decided that it was no longer safe to stay. But when she went to meet her family in Fezi, she found them dead, killed in the drone attack of August 5. “Their bodies were covered with wounds. There was nothing I could do but cry out and beg for help,” she told Myanmar Now on August 14. “But everyone else was going through the same thing, so nobody could do anything to help me. That’s when I passed out among all the dead and injured,” she added. Nine of her relatives, including her parents, siblings, and a sister-in-law, had been killed, she said. And while she lay unconscious on the ground, the family she had been working for abandoned her to make their escape. It was another family that came along later that rescued her, she said. Together with them, she waited until they were able to cross the river to Bangladesh at around 8pm on August 7—a journey that cost them 700,000 kyat, or more than US$200. “I am unmarried and I don’t have any relatives here in Bangladesh. I am worried about my future,” said Sawlima, explaining that the family who saved her are now her only source of support. A mobile phone image shows the bodies of displaced civilians massacred in Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State on August 5 (Supplied) Maung Maung, a 35-year-old man from Maungdaw, said he was on his way to a local market when fighting suddenly broke out at around 3pm on August 5. Like many others, he fled towards Fezi, leaving his wife and two children behind. Later that day, he boarded a boat with around 35 other people and arrived in Bangladesh at around 5:30am on August 6. “Luckily, our boat did not face any problems,” he said when asked if he had been affected by the drone attack in Fezi. Since then, he said, he has had no direct contact with his family. However, through his wife’s brother, who lives in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, he was able to learn that she was still trying to find a way to cross their river with their two children. Currently staying in a camp with relatives, he said he feels reasonably safe, but knows he could be arrested at any time because the Bangladeshi government has stopped accepting new arrivals from Myanmar. But his greatest worry was his family’s safety. “I need to go back for them, but there’s no way I can,” he said, adding that what he feared most was an attack by the AA, which he claimed had been intentionally firing at Rohingya villages. “I want to go back. I miss my family very much. I just want this situation to end very soon.” Powerless to help Mohammed Solim, a 44-year-old man who also crossed the Naf on August 6, said he saw at least 100 bodies along the river’s edge before he fled. There were also many more injured, he added. “They were crying out for help, but there was nothing anyone could do for them,” he said. “Everyone was just focussed on surviving.” His own priority was getting his family out of Maungdaw as soon as possible. Arriving in Fezi at around 7:30 in the morning, he and a group of others with the same goal were soon approached by boatmen who offered to take them across the river. Initially, they turned down these offers, fearing that the boats were not large enough to carry so many people. But as the hours passed and noon approached, they finally decided it was time to make a move. “We got on a boat that carried five families, with around 40 people. Our children cried as they got on board,” he said. Mohammed Solim’s children, who drowned while trying to cross the Naf River on August 6 (Supplied) The boat was tied to another, and they soon set off. But when one boat started sinking, the other was also pulled under the water, leading to a situation that inevitably ended in tragedy. “It was horrible. We watched each other go under, helpless to do anything as young children screamed for their lives,” said Mohammed, who lost all five of his children, including his three and a half year old twins, that day. He was one of only seven who survived. “I also wanted to die. If my religion did not prohibit it, I would have taken my own life,” he said, speaking to Myanmar Now on August 13.

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