5 months ago
19
Tens of thousands of Muslim minority
Rohingya
are feared to be caught in
fighting
in western Myanmar, as a powerful armed ethnic group bears down on junta positions in a coastal town on the country's border with Bangladesh.
The
Arakan Army
(AA), which is fighting for autonomy for Myanmar's Rakhine region, said late on Sunday that residents of
Maungdaw
town, inhabited primarily by the Rohingya, should leave by 9 p.m.
ahead of a planned offensive on the settlement.
The AA's attack on Maungdaw is the latest in a months-long rebel onslaught against the Myanmar junta, which took power in a February 2021 coup, and now finds itself in an increasingly weakened position across large parts of the country.
"We are going to attack the remaining posts" of junta, the AA said in a statement, asking residents to stay clear of military positions in Maungdaw for their own safety.
A junta spokesman did not respond to a call seeking comment.
Around 70,000 Rohingya who are currently in Maungdaw are trapped as the fighting draws closer, said Aung Kyaw Moe, the deputy human rights minister in Myanmar's shadow National Unity Government.
"They have no where to run to," he told Reuters.
Thousands of Rohingya fled towards neighbouring Bangladesh last month, seeking safety from the escalating conflict, although the neighbouring country is reluctant to accept more
refugees
.
Their movement was triggered by battles in and around the town of Buthidaung, around 25 km (15 miles) away to the east of Maungdaw, that was captured by the AA after intense fighting during which the rebel group was accused of targeting the Rohingya community.
The AA denies the allegations.
Rohingya have faced persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar for decades. Nearly a million of them live in refugee camps in Bangladesh's border district of Cox's Bazar after fleeing a military-led crackdown in Rakhine in 2017.
