Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army

Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army
Participant in the Rohingya insurgency in Western Myanmar
150px Logo of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army
Active	October 2016 (2016-10) – present
Ideology	Rohingya nationalism
Leaders	Ata Ullah
Area of operations	Northern Rakhine State, Bangladesh-Myanmar border
Strength	~500
Opponents	Myanmar Myanmar Army Western Regional Military Command 18px Myanmar Police Force
Battles and wars	Rohingya insurgency in Western Myanmar 2016–17 Northern Rakhine State clashes

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Burmese: အာရ်ကန်ရိုဟင်ဂျာ ကယ်တင်ရေးတပ်မတော်; abbreviated ARSA), also known by its former name Harakah al-Yaqin (meaning Faith Movement in English) is a Rohingya insurgent group active in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. According to a December 2016 report by the International Crisis Group, it is led by Ata Ullah, a Rohingya man who was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and grew up in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Other members of its leadership include a committee of Rohingya émigrés in Saudi Arabia.

According to the lead interrogator of ARSA suspects jailed in Sittwe, Police Captain Yan Naing Latt, the group's goal is to create a "democratic Muslim state for the Rohingya" in Myanmar. Although there is no firm evidence linking the ARSA to foreign Islamist groups, the Burmese government suspects that the group is involved with and subsidized by foreign Islamists. The Burmese government has also accused the ARSA of murdering 34 to 44 civilians and kidnapping 22 others in reprisal attacks against those the ARSA have perceived as government collaborators. These claims have been denied by the ARSA, who have stated that they "have no links to terrorist groups or foreign Islamists" and that their "only target is the oppressive Burmese regime".

On 26 August 2017, the Central Committee for Counter Terrorism of Myanmar declared the ARSA a terrorist group in accordance with the country's counter terrorism law. However on 28 August the group released a statement, calling government allegations against it as "baseless" and claiming that its main purpose is to defend Rohingyas' rights.

History

According to the International Crisis Group (ICG), ARSA was formed following the 2012 Rakhine State riots.

According to Rohingya locals and Burmese security officials, the group began approaching Rohingya men from various villages for recruitment six months prior to its first attack in October 2016, and trained them across the border in Bangladesh.

In October 2016, the group, calling itself Harakah al-Yaqin (or, Faith Movement), claimed responsibility for attacks on Burmese border posts along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, which left 9 border officers and 4 soldiers dead.

On 15 November 2016, the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces) announced that a total of 69 insurgents had been killed by security forces in the recent fighting.

On 14 December 2016, the ICG reported that in interviews, the leaders of the group claimed to have links to private individuals in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The ICG also reported that Rohingya villagers had been "secretly trained" by Afghan and Pakistani fighters.

On 22 June 2017, Burmese state media reported that three insurgents had been killed by security forces in a raid on an insurgent camp supposedly belonging to the ARSA, as part of a two-day "area clearance operation" by the government. Authorities confiscated gunpowder, ski masks and wooden rifles suspected to have been used for training.

On 25 August 2017, the group claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks on police posts and an attempted raid on an army base. The government announced a death toll of 77 Rohingya insurgents and 12 security forces in northern Maungdaw following the attacks. The government stated that they had attacked a police station in the Maungdaw District with a handmade bomb alongside the coordinated attacks on several police posts. The ARSA claimed they were taking "defensive actions" in 25 different locations and accused government soldiers of raping and killing civilians. The group also claimed that Rathedaung had been under a blockade for more than two weeks, starving the Rohingya, and that the government forces were preparing to do the same in Maungdaw.

On 26 August 2017, over 4,000 ethnic Rakhines fled their villages as fighting between the ARSA and the Tatmadaw escalated.

The government in August 2017 accused the ARSA of killing 12 civilians, including Hindus and Muslims, some of whom were suspected by the ARSA of being government informants.

ARSA in a statement on 28 August released a statement, calling government allegations against it as "baseless" and sought to represent its cause as defense of Rohingya rights. Bangladesh meanwhile has proposed joint military operations with Myanmar against ARSA.

Ideology

ARSA's links to foreign Islamist movements are controversial and unclear. The ARSA has sought and obtained fatwas (religious rulings) from clerics, in countries such as Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh, to legitimise its campaign against the Myanmar security forces. In addition, recruits are required to swear an oath to the Quran and loyalty to the Rohingya cause. Despite this, the group's leader, Ata Ullah, has denied links to foreign Islamist movements.

ARSA identifies itself as a Rohingya insurgency group and Ata has stated that "Our primary objective under ARSA is to liberate our people from dehumanized oppression perpetrated by all successive Burmese regimes".

Press statements

On 17 October 2016, the group (under the name Harakah al-Yaqin) released a press statement online. In a roughly five minute video, the group's leader, Ata Ullah, flanked by armed fighters reads from a sheet of paper:

Citizens of Arakan [State], citizens of Myanmar, and citizens of the world.

It is no longer a secret that the Rohingyas are the most persecuted ethnic minority on earth. Throughout the last six decades, we have been subjected to genocidal mass-killings, and all kinds of atrocities at the hands of successive tyrannical Burmese regimes.

Yet the world has chosen to ignore us! Then again, the "resourceful" world has apparently failed to save us!

We [Harakah al-Yaqin], the sons of Arakan[ese] soil, who are compelled by our dire situation to follow our own destiny through uprising, self-determination and self-defence, stand as an independent body which is free from all elements of terror in any nature, seek fundamental but legitimate rights and other [forms of] justice for all Arakanese, including our fellow innocent Rohingyas and other civilians dying from the continuous military assaults.

We categorically state that our people have chosen to free themselves from their oppressors, from the tragic deaths in the Bay of Bengal, in the Thai jungles and at the hands of human traffickers. We have also resolved to defend our mothers, sisters, elderly, children and ourselves.

We shall not rest until all our desired goals are achieved with the genuine help of the civilised world.

Six other videos were released online by the group between 10 and 27 October 2016.

On 29 March 2017, the group released a press statement under a new name, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). The document included demands made to the Burmese government.

External links

• Faith Movement Arakan Press Statement (YouTube)
• Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army's Twitter page