In this photo released by the Myanmar Army, a fire burns in the predominantly ethnic Rakhine village of Let Kar in Rakhine State’s Mrauk-U township, western Myanmar.
| Photo Credit: AP

“Myanmar ethnic armed groups seized a popular beach resort town in the west of the country and launched dawn attacks on junta positions in the north,” a military source and residents told AFP on June 25.

Fighting is raging across swathes of the Southeast Asian nation as ethnic armed groups and pro-democracy “People’s Defence Forces” battle the military, which seized power in a 2021 coup.

In western Rakhine state Arakan Army (AA) fighters have battled security forces for days around Ngapali beach, home to upmarket hotels and resorts owned by military-backed businesses.

“Junta troops and police had retreated to an airport in the town of Thandwe, around two kilometres (more than a mile) away,” a military source, speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP.

“Hundreds of kilometres away in northern Shan state, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) launched dawn attacks on the military in the town of Kyaukme,” residents said.

One resident of the town, which sits on a vital highway to China, said they had heard artillery and gunfire around the town since the morning. “Most people from the town are hiding inside their houses,” another Kyaukme resident who works for a volunteer rescue team told AFP.

“The TNLA had restricted travel around Kyaukme,” they said, requesting anonymity for security reasons. The AA and TNLA are members of the so-called “Three Brotherhood Alliance” that launched a surprise offensive against the junta last October across northern Shan state.

Their fighters seized swathes of territory and several lucrative trade crossings with China, dealing the junta its biggest blow since it seized power.

In January, China brokered a ceasefire that allowed the alliance to hold on to territory it had captured, but both sides have recently accused each other of breaking the truce.

‘Continuous shelling’

The town of Thandwe, a few kilometres from Rakhine’s Ngapali beach and home to the local airport, was largely deserted as of Monday, a resident who fled that day told AFP.

“Almost everyone in the town has fled… Very few people are now in Thandwe,” said the resident, who requested anonymity for security reasons. “A rocket shell landed in the town yesterday. We also heard continuous heavy artillery shelling.”

A local hotel owner who was no longer in the town told AFP his staff said the military had carried out air strikes near the airport on June 24. His employees told him there were “some army and police trapped inside the airport building.”

AFP was unable to reach a junta spokesman for comment and has contacted an AA spokesman. Thandwe airport has been closed since early this month as AA fighters launched attacks in the area.

Since launching its own offensive in Rakhine state in November, the AA has seized territory along the border with India and Bangladesh. State capital Sittwe is one of the few holdouts for junta troops in Rakhine.

The AA, which says it is fighting for autonomy for the state’s ethnic Rakhine population, has vowed to capture the city, home to an India-backed deep sea port and around 2,00,000 people.

Myanmar’s borderlands are home to a plethora of ethnic armed groups, many of whom have battled the military since independence from Britain in 1948 over autonomy and control of lucrative resources.

India should provide humanitarian assistance to the ethnic groups of Myanmar that have been affected by the armed conflict between the Myanmar junta and the Armed Ethnic Organisations (AEOs), leading human rights lawyer Nandita Haksar said.

Speaking at an event at the India International Centre on Monday, Ms. Haksar urged the Government of India to take a proactive stand, reach out to the affected communities and provide them medical support. She argued that under international humanitarian laws, New Delhi can extend such help without antagonising the military junta in Myanmar.

Ms. Haksar presented a grim picture and said there are various parts of Myanmar, especially the Chin region that she described as “the most bombed area” of Myanmar, where innocent men, women and children are being affected by the conflict.

“The women don’t have sanitary napkins. Children need medical aid. There are miscarriages happening. Some of them whose hands and legs have been amputated, require artificial limbs. We need to urgently send, or tell the government to send, humanitarian aid to Myanmar,” said Ms. Haksar.

Myanmar has been caught in an armed conflict where dozens of AEOs and the military forces of the junta have been caught in a state of warfare. The Hindu had earlier reported that the armed groups have gained control of the international boundaries of Myanmar with its neighbours Bangladesh, India, China and Thailand leaving the junta with the control of the big cities of the country. Hold over the border has given the armed groups control over the commercial routes that are vital for the country.

Ms. Haksar compared the tragedy of Myanmar with other ongoing crises and said the internal fight of Myanmar has been raging during the same time as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and yet the crisis has, so far, not drawn attention of the international media in a comparably passionate way.

Ms. Haksar urged the Indian authorities to recognise that the refugees from Myanmar are “classical refugees fleeing persecution” saying, “If they do not flee, then they would be jailed and killed. Now the military just shoots them. Refugees in India cannot get an Aadhaar card and can’t get a job. Government of India argues that India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention. Refugee women and men are working in factories in Delhi for Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 a month. They do not have access to medical facilities.”

Ms. Haksar pleaded with the Indian government to reach out to the ethnic communities that are willing to go home in Chin, Sagaing and other regions and rebuild their lives.

“They need tractors and seeds to rebuild their lives. Why is China doing it and why is India not doing it,” asked Ms. Haksar indicating that other countries have opened channels of communication with the rebel groups of Myanmar and are helping in dealing with the humanitarian catastrophe.