Rohingya refugees drown fleeing Myanmar’s war as concerns mount

Twenty-six members of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority drowned when their boat capsized as they were trying to flee to Bangladesh, witnesses said, an accident likely to compound fears that the largely Muslim community is facing a new round of genocide.

Rohingya living in Rakhine state in western Myanmar have been caught in crossfire between ethnic minority insurgents fighting for self-determination against Myanmar’s military, with both sides accused of killing them.

Some analysts have warned that the latest attacks are worse than those inflicted on the community in 2017, when a Myanmar military crackdown against Rohingya militants triggered an exodus of some 700,000 people to Bangladesh.

As then, Rohingya are again fleeing the violence to Bangladesh, many crossing a border river in small boats.

On Monday, a crowded boat crossing the Naf River to Bangladesh sank killing 26 of those onboard, witnesses said, the latest in a spate of deadly accidents on the river.

“There were 30 people on the boat including 18 children. Only four survived. The rest died,” said one of the witnesses who declined to be identified because of security fears.

Rescue workers searching for bodies had found seven victims, including four children and a pregnant woman, he added.

Aung Kyaw Moe, deputy minister of human rights for Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, said the boat was heading to Bangladesh because of intense fighting in Maungdaw township on the border between junta troops and the Arakan Army, or AA, insurgent group.

“They fled for their lives. They were worried about where the heavy artillery would fall,” he said. “The Naf River is dangerous because of the ebb and flow of the tide. They had to risk their lives.”

Aung Kyaw Moe said the situation in Rakhine state was confusing because some areas were controlled by junta forces while others were in the hands of the AA, with tens of thousands of Rohingya caught up in the conflict.

The AA draws its support from the largely Buddhist ethnic Rakhine community, the majority in the state. The rebels are fighting Myanmar’s military for greater autonomy, in alliance with ethnic minority forces from other areas and democracy activists who took up arms after the army overthrew an elected government in 2021.

Both sides have been accused of killing Rohingya, with AA fighters blamed for attacking people believed to be supporting junta forces.

On Aug. 5, dozens of Rohingya people were killed by fire from heavy weapons as they waited for boats to cross to Bangladesh, survivors told Radio Free Asia. Some survivors said the AA was responsible though the insurgents denied that.

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Torched homes

On Aug. 12, Human Rights Watch said both the junta and the AA had committed extrajudicial killings and widespread arson against Rohingya, Rakhine and other civilians in Rakhine state.

“Ethnic Rohingya and Rakhine civilians are bearing the brunt of the atrocities that the Myanmar military and opposition Arakan Army are committing,” said the group’s Asia director Elaine Pearson. “Both sides are using hate speech, attacks on civilians, and massive arson to drive people from their homes and villages, raising the specter of ethnic cleansing.”

The recent attacks on Rohingya were “worse than in 2017” and represents a “second wave of genocide”, two experts told a press briefing in the United States this month.

There were about 60,000 displaced people in Rakhine state before the latest round of fighting resumed late last year but now there are more than 500,000, aid groups there say.

Echoing growing concerns about the Rohingya, the U.K.-based Burma Human Rights Network, or BHRN, called on Wednesday for the international community to protect Rohingya, particularly those in Maungdaw.

It cited witnesses as saying many Rohingya had been killed in boat accidents or from bombs on the banks of the Naf River. The group cited witnesses as saying AA fighters had torched Rohingya homes in Maungdaw. 

“These problems started when the junta forcibly recruited Rohingya for military service,” Kyaw Win, director of Burma Human Rights Network, told RFA. “If there are violations by AA troops on the ground, the AA needs to be exposed and action needs to be taken.”

The AA, in an Aug. 18 statement, accused “Muslim armed forces” of setting fire to homes and it warned that rights activists making accusations could affect harmony between ethnic groups. The AA said it had evacuated nearly 20,000 people, including Rohingya, from embattled Maungdaw town and would move more to safety.

Kyaw Win said forces opposed to the junta throughout the country, including the National Unity Government and other insurgent groups, had been reluctant to criticize the AA, their anti-junta ally. 

But he said the international community should investigate the AA’s actions and take measures, including sanctions, if necessary.

Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Mike Firn.