The Arakan Army (AA) issued a press release urging the Arakan people, including the people who are being oppressed by the military junta, to escape from regions controlled by the junta, including Yangon on February 20,.
According to the current military situation in Rakhine and Myanmar, the Arakan Army’s offensive and recaptured areas are the safest places for all oppressed people, including the entire population of Arakan, the AA added in a statement.
“The success of the Arakan Army (AA is quite large. Due to its great success, the military junta’s oppression of the entire Arakan nation is more intense. Now, the situation is that the military junta is pushing ethnic hatred and discrimination from the Ma-Ba-Tha (known as the Patriotic Association of Myanmar), who are telling the Rakhines (Arakans) not to stay in Yangon, the Rakhines (Arakans) living in Mandalay to leave, and not to encourage Burmese people to eat in Rakhine (Arakans) shops,” Than Soe Naing, a Myanmar political analyst, told MPA.
Than Soe Naing said that because of these conditions, the Arakan Army, which controls most of the northern Rakhine region as a liberated area, is encouraging the Arakan people to come and live; instead of living under the oppression of the military junta, it is urging them to do rehabilitation in the liberated area.
“The AA can tell them to move in the areas it controls because there is a place that can provide privacy and safety for the people. I used to live in the places it controlled. It can provide full security. Compared to Yangon, these places are safer,” said an Arakan man living in Yangon.
Than Soe Naing considered that the Arakn Army’s exhortation to the oppressed people, including the entire Arakn people, to flee to the areas under their control was due to the military junta’s promulgation of conscription laws as well as incitement to create national hatred.
“Now the whole of northern Rakhine is under the control of the AA, and they are in a position to work in various political, economic, and administrative sectors, so the Arakan people are being called back. In addition to their ability to provide security and protection, they (the Arakan Army) also have opportunities to widely use the Arakan people in administrative work. Due to these circumstances, the Rakhine people who are outside of Rakhine have been invited back,” he continued.
It is reported that the Arakan Army has taken control of the military junta’s battalions and divisions in northern Rakhine State, as well as the police stations, in four months since the start of Operation 1027 in November.