Arakan Army plays key role in Rohingya conflict: Speakers

Speakers in a colloquium highlighted the emergence of the Arakan Army as a key player in the Rohingya conflict and emphasised resolving the Rohingya issue between Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The speakers came up with the opinion in a colloquium on the impacts of the “BURMA Act” on the Bangladesh-Myanmar bordering region on February 22, said a press statement.

Center for Peace Studies (CPS) of the South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG) at North South University organised the event.

It has been two years since the military coup in Myanmar, and there is no peace in sight. Late last December, the United States passed the BURMA Act, a comprehensive law designed to simultaneously sanction Myanmar’s military junta while providing support to the country’s numerous democratic forces.

In his speech, the Ambassador of Bangladesh to Switzerland and the permanent representative to the UN, Mohammad Sufiur Rahman highlighted the emergence of the Arakan Army as a key player in the conflict and emphasised how resolving the Rohingya issue between Bangladesh and Myanmar cannot be achieved without taking the Arakan Army’s interests into account.

SIPG Senior Fellow and former Election Commissioner Brig Gen (retd) Dr M Sakhawat Hussain noted that using a liberal interpretation of the non-lethal assistance clause may allow the United States to provide military support to the various Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAO) in Myanmar, which may undermine Bangladesh’s security as these groups have some ties to the same separatist factions operating in our country.

Prof Dr Zaw Wai Soe, minister of Health and Education of the National Unity Government (NUG) of Myanmar, expressed gratitude for the passing of the BURMA Act and for US support but reiterated that it does not rely on any one single superpower, but rather believes in a multilateral response to be the ideal way to address the current conflict.

“NUG officially recognised the Rohingya as an ethnic group of Myanmar and is in favour of peaceful and full repatriation of Rohingya from Bangladesh to Myanmar”, he said.

NSU Assistant professor Dr Raymond Kwun-Sun Lau underscored the geopolitical and strategic importance of the Rakhine State to regional powers such as India and China, both for its vast reserves of hydrocarbons as well as its location as a key area for connectivity projects that links India to its northeast region and reinforces China’s Belt-and-Road Initiative (BRI) respectively.

The event was also attended by experts and practitioners of geopolitics, representatives from international agencies, government officials, researchers, journalists, faculty members and students of NSU.