Myanmar’s Arakan Army insurgents captured the west coast town of Gwa from the military, a major step toward their goal of taking the whole of Rakhine state, and then said they were ready for talks with the junta.
Gwa is on the coast in the south of Myanmar’s western-most state, 185 kilometers (115 miles) northwest of the main city of Yangon, and a gateway to the rice-basket Irrawaddy River delta.
The AA said their fighters took control of Gwa on Sunday afternoon as junta troops fled but the military was trying to counter-attack with the help of its air force and navy guns.
“The fighting is raging in some areas near Gwa. The junta council has sent reinforcements and they’re trying to re-enter,” the AA said in a statement late on Sunday.
Residents reported blazes from junta artillery and airstrikes.
“Heavy weapons have landed in the town and everything is on fire,” said one resident who declined to be identified for safety reasons.
Early on Sunday, a barrage of small-arms fire was heard as the AA launched their push, followed by air attacks, the resident said.
“The small-arms fire has gone but now they’re bombing,” he told Radio Free Asia.
The AA said it believed 700 junta soldiers had been killed in weeks of battle for the town, based on bodies found, information from prisoners and documents seized. It did not give any information about casualties on its side or about civilian casualties.
It was not possible to independently verify the AA’s casualty figure and a spokesman for the junta that seized power in a 2021 coup did not respond to phone calls from RFA seeking comment.
All sides in Myanmar play up their victories and their enemies’ losses while minimizing their own in public statements.
The AA, one of Myanmar’s most powerful insurgent groups, has been accused of killings and other serious rights violations against the mostly Muslim Rohingya community. It denies that.
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‘Political means’
The capture of Gwa is another big step in a matter of days for AA troops, who are fighting for self-determination in Rakhine state.
They took a major military base in Ann town on Dec. 20 and have now captured 14 of the state’s 17 townships, pushing the military into shrinking pockets of territory.
The military is reinforcing its troops in the townships it controls – Sittwe, Kyaukphyu and Munaung, residents said this month.
Neighboring China has economic interests in Myanmar, among them plans for a port in Kyaukphyu, where it also has energy facilities, including oil and gas pipelines that run to its Yunnan province.
China, keen to end Myanmar’s conflict, has pressed two rebel groups in Shan state in the northeast to agree to ceasefires and talks.
The AA praised China’s “active leadership” in promoting border stability and said it would talk at any time.
“We always remain open to resolving the current internal issues through political means rather than military solutions,” the AA said.
It did not refer to a ceasefire and said it believed its offensive over the past year would contribute to the “liberation” of all of the oppressed Myanmar people.
The junta chief has also called for talks as his forces grapple with setbacks.
The AA said it recognized and welcomed any foreign investment that contributed to development and said it would take care of investors.
The Institute for Strategy and Policy (ISP-Myanmar), an independent research group, said this week that the AA controls 10 of the 11 Chinese projects in Rakhine state.
The fall of the state capital of Sittwe to the AA would represent the end of military rule there, political analyst Than Soe Naing told RFA
“Then the AA will have to talk about issues related to China’s interests,” he said.
Edited by RFA Staff.