Myanmar rebels claim control over major western military headquarters
NEWS | 21 December 2024
A rebel army in Myanmar said it had captured a major military headquarters in the country’s west, marking the fall of the junta’s second regional command as it faces mounting setbacks against a nationwide armed resistance movement. The Arakan Army (AA) said the western military command in Rakhine state, which borders Bangladesh, fell on Friday after two weeks of intense fighting, according to a statement posted on Telegram late on Friday. The regional command at Ann would be the second regional military command to fall to ethnic rebels in five months, and a huge blow to the military. A spokesperson for Myanmar’s military government could not be reached for comment on Saturday. Myanmar’s military has 14 regional commands across the country with many of them currently fighting established ethnic rebel groups or newer “people’s defence forces” that have sprung up to battle the military’s 2021 coup. Fighting has rocked Rakhine state since the AA attacked security forces in November last year, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since the putsch. AA fighters have seized swathes of territory in the state that is home to China and India-backed port projects and all but cut off the state capital, Sittwe. The AA posted photos of a man whom it said was the Ann deputy regional commander, in the custody of its fighters. The ethnic rebel group is part of the Three Brotherhood Alliance – a collection of anti-junta groups – that launched an offensive in October 2023, notching several significant victories along Myanmar’s border with China. In August, the alliance wrested control of the north-eastern town of Lashio, marking the first seizure of a regional military command in Myanmar’s history. Myanmar’s borderlands are home to myriad ethnic armed groups who have battled the military since independence for autonomy and control of lucrative resources. Last month the UN warned Rakhine state was heading towards famine, as ongoing clashes squeeze commerce and agricultural production. “Rakhine’s economy has stopped functioning,” the report from the UN Development Programme said, projecting “famine conditions by mid-2025” if current levels of food insecurity were left unaddressed.
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