Naw Theresa
On May 17, the Arakan Army (AA, now rebranded as the Arakha Army) captured the town of Buthidaung in the northern part of Rakhine State in Myanmar’s west. The next day, large parts of the town had reportedly burned down.
While the events of May 17-18 are still being pieced together, they immediately prompted allegations from Rohingya activists that AA fighters were responsible for arson and the forced displacement. Citing various eyewitness accounts, they claimed that thousands of Rohingya previously living in Buthidaung had been left homeless.
Blaming the fires on regime air strikes, the AA has categorically denied the allegations and doubled down with strong rebukes. Domestic media platforms’ coverage has been non-committal at best while resistance organizations and netizens have closed ranks to defend the group. Although the military State Administration Council (SAC) has intentionally used Buthidaung and the conscription of Rohingya as a way of weaponizing communal tensions against the AA, the way the events have played out, and the way in which anti-regime groups have reacted, are not encouraging for the country’s ongoing struggles.
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