Myanmar Spring Chronicle – August 24th Scene
(MoeMaKa) August 25, 2024
7th Anniversary of the Rohingya Genocide and the Potential for Further Genocides
Seven years ago, the Myanmar military carried out brutal massacres in Rohingya Muslim villages in the northern part of Rakhine State, including Maungdaw, Buthidaung, and Rathedaung townships, under the pretext of a military operation. These operations resulted in the killing of civilians and the destruction of their homes, forcing around 1 million Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.
On August 25, 2017, early in the morning, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) launched simultaneous attacks on around 30 border guard and police outposts, resulting in dozens of police fatalities. In response, the then-NLD-led government gave the military the green light to launch a military operation, which lasted for two weeks and was later described as a genocide. During this operation, large-scale massacres occurred, with hundreds of civilians, including children, women, and the elderly, being killed, and entire villages being burned down. Estimates suggest that between 6,000 and 10,000 people were killed in mass executions within those two weeks. The NLD government, however, claimed ignorance of these events, as did most of the general public in Myanmar outside the northern part of Rakhine State. The broader Myanmar populace only learned of the events through media reports, and even then, much of the media was more focused on nationalist and religious rhetoric than on verifying facts.
In the political and activist circles in Myanmar, many people supported and endorsed the military’s actions, driven by nationalism and religious fervor, rather than by concern for human rights.
It is also suggested by some inside sources that the military waited for about three days after the August 25, 2017, attacks before launching their operation, possibly because they were waiting for government approval. The military is said to have requested a month for the operation, but the government only granted them two weeks. This time constraint may have led to the excessive use of force during the operation. The military is believed to have exploited existing animosities and desires for revenge among some Rakhine locals towards the Rohingya, stemming from the 2012 ethnic and religious conflicts. In some cases, the military reportedly involved Rakhine civilians in acts of arson and killings, as in the massacre of 11 Rohingya in Inn Din village, where Rakhine civilians were allegedly coerced into participating by the military.
Although a few military officers were held accountable after a media outlet exposed the Inn Din massacre, there was no significant investigation or accountability for the broader genocidal events and mass killings that took place between late August and early September 2017.
The 2018 report by the Independent Commission of Enquiry (ICOE), established by the Union Government, documents some of the military’s atrocities committed during that period. The report confirms the killing of civilians in villages like Min Gyi (Tula Toli), Chut Pyin, Gu Dar Pyin, and Inn Din, where homes were burned down, and entire villages were left uninhabitable.
Despite this knowledge, the NLD government chose to vigorously defend the military at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2019, when Myanmar was accused of genocide. This decision has been criticized as an effort to avoid conflict with the military, rather than seeking justice for the atrocities committed.
The events of August 25, 2017, and the subsequent ICJ defense in 2019 serve as stark reminders of the lessons that need to be learned from Myanmar’s past. Failure to learn from these events raises the risk of similar mass killings occurring again, especially in regions where ethnic and religious tensions persist, such as in Rakhine State. The history of unaddressed atrocities from seven years ago continues to haunt Myanmar, and it remains crucial to draw lessons from the past to prevent future tragedies.