Myanmar junta personnel extort bribes from civilians fleeing Rakhine State

Residents of Rakhine State’s Gwa Township said they had to pay extortionate bribes at junta checkpoints on the state’s boundary with Ayeyarwady Region as they attempted to escape intensifying violence near their homes in recent weeks. Many of the displaced civilians did not have identification or other necessary documents with them when they left home. They said this was due to the unavailability of administrative services after most junta-appointed civil servants fled Gwa Township weeks before. The Myanmar military regime’s administrative apparatus effectively collapsed after the Arakan Army (AA)—the ethnic armed organisation currently fighting the junta for control of Rakhine State—launched an offensive in Gwa Township on August 10, one of the displaced people said. This has left most local people without the means to obtain or update their documentation. “There’s no functioning administration in Gwa as the employees have all fled,” the Gwa Township resident said in the last week of September. “Under these circumstances, it’s difficult to get required documentation, so now we have to pay money to pass through the junta’s checkpoints,” he added. People without identification cards or proper documents have to pay up to 300,000 kyat (US $143) at a checkpoint before entering Ayeyarwady Region, displaced people said, while those able to show documents with current stamps from the junta administrative offices can usually pass through without paying. The military has not responded to queries about the alleged practice of extorting money from displaced or undocumented people at their checkpoints. With the intensification of violence in Gwa Township, residents’ need to seek safety elsewhere has become more urgent even as junta personnel have tightened restrictions on entering Ayeyarwady Region. Most residents of Gwa who were able to escape fled to the Ayeyarwady Region towns of Ahthoke, Kyonpyaw, Hinthada, Ngathaingchaung, Pathein, Thabaung, and Yegyi. Residents of Rakhine State’s Thandwe Township north of Gwa have also been fleeing to Ayeyarwady Region despite the restrictions due to increasing airstrikes since the military’s main adversary in Rakhine State—the Arakan Army—took control of the township. There are at least four military checkpoints operating most of the time between the town of Gwa and Rakhine State’s border with Ayeyarwady Region. Some of the displaced have now chosen to cross the regional boundary on foot through the forest or the Rakhine Yoma hills to bypass the checkpoints. A woman from Gwa who had succeeded in escaping to Ayeyarwady and securing shelter said that some people had also sought out safer areas in Gwa Township to escape the clashes, although there was less chance of finding safety there than in the comparatively quiet Ayeyarwady Region. Locals fleeing clashes in Pauktaw, Rakhine State in November 2023. (Photo: Aye Myint Wai) “Those who don’t have means to leave or are afraid to abandon their homes are moving to nearby safe areas after artillery strikes or fighting,” she said. She added that the troubles of the displaced are not over even after they reach the relative safety of Ayeyarwady Region’s major towns. In a place where they have no established livelihoods, they often face high rents beyond their means, she said, or have to evade military surveillance and household guest inspections, which the military uses to enforce residential registration rules. “If we don’t register, or if we aren’t locals, we can be arrested without any formal questioning,” she said. Clashes are reportedly ongoing between the towns of Gwa and Kyeintali in Gwa Township. The AA has taken control of the coastal town of Kyeintali, but the military continued to shell the area using heavy artillery, according to AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha. “Kyeintali is one of the towns we have captured, but the military council continues to strike there using artillery and aerial attacks,” he said on October 1. According to local media outlets, the military council destroyed at least three bridges between Gwa and Thandwe in July of this year in an unsuccessful bid to stop the AA’s advance into Gwa Township. Currently, the military council is also reportedly reinforcing its defences in preparation for further AA offensive operations from Kyeintali. Amid continuing losses of territory and bases in Rakhine State, the junta is bombing towns and villages under AA control, causing increased civilian casualties. Between September 3 to 26, the military’s airstrikes on Kyeintali and Thandwe Townships killed more than 20 civilians. Before the recent conflict, Gwa and Kyeintali were estimated to have more than 65,000 residents combined, based on government records from 2019. The local news outlet Nirinjara reported that a junta bombing raid on October 12 killed three civilians in residential areas amid intense fighting near a village in Gwa Township. Currently, the AA controls more than half of Rakhine State’s 17 townships, namely Myebon, Minbya, Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Pauktaw, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung, Buthidaung, Ramree (Yanbye), Thandwe, and Maungdaw. They also control neighbouring Paletwa Township in southern Chin State.

Myanmar junta personnel extort bribes from civilians fleeing Rakhine State

People displaced from Gwa Township, Rakhine State said they were forced to make extortionate payments at checkpoints before crossing into Ayeyarwady Region, where they were travelling to escape escalating violence at home

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