Myanmar: Army kills 13 Rakhine rebel fighters

Myanmar’s army has killed 13 rebel fighters in the western Rakhine State, a military spokesman said on Friday, as government troops battle to contain a new insurgency in the troubled region.

The violence has brought fresh turmoil to the region, the site of a massive crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority in 2017, and represents another setback for the Buddhist-majority country’s embattled peace process.

Fighting between security forces and the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group seeking greater autonomy for Rakhine has forced some 5,000 civilians to flee their homes since early December, according to the United Nations.

“Between January 5 and 16, 2019, there were eight clashes and five landmine explosions,” said Major General Tun Tun Nyi, speaking at a rare press conference in the capital, Naypyitaw.

“Thirteen enemy bodies and three weapons were seized, and some soldiers died and were injured on our side,” he said.

The recent surge of violence began after insurgents killed 13 police and wounded nine in attacks on four police posts on January 4, as Myanmar celebrated Independence Day, state media reported.

Myanmar’s civilian administration last week called on the military to “crush” the rebels, according to a government spokesman.

On Friday, the military said Aung San Suu Kyi, who runs the country as state counselor, personally ordered the crackdown, stating that the Arakan Army, which recruits from among the mainly Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group, should face the same treatment as Rohingya insurgents.

The conflict is the latest crisis facing Nobel laureate Suu Kyi’s administration, which swept to power in 2015 promising to bring an end to the country’s myriad civil wars.

Myanmar governments have battled various autonomy-seeking ethnic minority insurgent groups since shortly after independence from Britain in 1948, though some have struck ceasefire agreements.

The United Nations has called for “rapid and unimpeded” aid access to the conflict zone after the state government last week banned non-governmental organizations and the U.N. from five townships affected by the fighting.