Myanmar military accused of fresh war crimes

YANGON: Myanmar’s military is guilty of committing new “war crimes”, extrajudicial killings and torture in its fight against ethnic Rakhine rebels, Amnesty International said yesterday.

The armed forces have deployed thousands of troops and heavy artillery across northern Rakhine State in recent months, where Arakan Army rebels are fighting for more autonomy for the state’s ethnic Rakhine Buddhists.

The state was the scene of the military’s bloody crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in 2017. That campaign pushed some 740,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh in violence United Nations investigators said warranted prosecution of top generals for “genocide”.

Amnesty yesterday said it had “new evidence” that Myanmar’s military was “committing war crimes and other human rights violations” against the ethnic Rakhine, listing extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, torture and enforced disappearances.

Access to the conflict area is heavily restricted, but details of civilian deaths have emerged over recent weeks and months.

But the army confirmed it shot dead six detainees late last month in Kyauk Tan village.

Amnesty’s report was based on scores of interviews with people from various ethnic groups, photographs, videos and satellite imagery. It documented seven unlawful attacks that killed 14 civilians and injured dozens more, saying notorious infantry units had been deployed against the ethnic Rakhine.

Some Rohingya Muslims who remained in the area had also been killed.

“The new operations in Rakhine State show an unrepentant, unreformed and unaccountable military terrorising civilians,” said regional director Nicholas Bequelin.

A Myanmar army spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment on the report.

The rights group criticised the government for choosing to “remain silent” while supplies of medicine, food and humanitarian relief remain blocked by authorities.