The Arakan Army has captured a key township near a major Chinese special economic zone in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, the ethnic rebel group said Tuesday, in the latest setback for the country’s military junta in the country’s three-year civil war.
The seizure of Ramree on Monday comes after three months of fighting, the Arakan Army, or AA, said. It marks the first town to fall to the group in Rakhine’s majority ethnic Bamar south.
The Arakan Army is part of an alliance of three ethnic armies that have pushed the junta back in the western and northern parts of the country, suggesting a turning point in the war that began soon after the junta took control of the government in a February 2021 coup d’etat.
Ramree shares an island with Kyaukphyu township, home to the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone, or SEZ, and deep sea port complex – a Chinese-led venture for which Beijing had requested heightened security. The project was approved in 2023 by the junta and attempts to recruit locals for work have been met with controversy and distrust.
In January, following AA rocket attacks on the Danyawaddy naval base, which lies adjacent to the port project, residents told RFA Burmese that the rebel army had gained control of some of the SEZ.
On Tuesday, the AA said in a statement that the capture of Ramree came despite junta troop reinforcements, as well as daily airstrikes and shelling by the army, navy and air force. It warned residents who fled their homes during the fighting to refrain from returning immediately, as landmines remain in the area.
An elderly man was injured in a junta artillery attack on Monday, after the AA had occupied Ramree, a resident told RFA on condition of anonymity due to security reasons. The resident said that more than 10,000 people had fled their homes since the AA launched its offensive on Ramree on Dec. 8.
Military airstrikes have destroyed more than 200 houses and buildings, including a township hospital, he said.
Pushing on to Kyaukphyu
Residents said that they remain concerned about possible military attacks by the navy and air force, despite the AA’s control of the township.
Pe Than, a veteran Rakhine politician and former lawmaker, said now that the AA has seized Ramree, he expects it will push on to Kyaukphyu township.
"Danyawaddy navy base is located in Kyaukphyu and if the navy fires shells from there, it could kill a lot of civilians in the area,” he said.
The AA is now in control of most of the areas within the Kyaukphyu SEZ, meaning it will likely have a say on how Chinese development proceeds, said a resident who has closely watched the progress of Chinese projects in the region.
"AA territory is now within 8 kilometers (5 miles) of Kyaukphyu, so if China wants to continue with its projects, it will have to hold discussions with the AA,” he said. “Otherwise, the projects may encounter some problems.”
The military, meanwhile, has enforced its defense lines near the Shwe natural gas pipeline project on Kyaukphyu’s Maday Island, residents said.
The junta has yet to issue a statement on the capture of Ramree. Attempts by RFA to contact Hla Thein, the junta’s spokesperson for Rakhine state, went unanswered Tuesday, as did efforts to contact the Chinese Embassy in Yangon.
AA spokesman Khaing Thukha said on March 4 that the AA intends to “fight for the liberation of all of Rakhine state to be able to build the future of the Rakhine people,” who are ethnically distinct from the Bamar people.
In November, the AA ended a ceasefire agreement with the military that had been in place since the coup. Since then, the ethnic army has captured the Rakhine townships of Minbya, Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Ponnagyun, Myebon and Ramree, as well as Pauktaw township in neighboring Chin state.
Border checkpoints reopened
The AA, along with the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA, and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA – the Three Brotherhood Alliance – launched an offensive known as “Operation 1027” against the military in northern Shan state, which borders China, and 16 cities before agreeing to a ceasefire in China-brokered talks with junta representatives on Jan. 11.
An ex-military official later said it was not sustainable and less than a week after the agreement, both sides were accused of violating it in a skirmish.
At the end of last month, the two sides met again in the Chinese city of Kunming for talks that focused on reopening parts of the border with China that had been shut down during the fighting and preserving the ceasefire.
On Monday, the MNDAA group of ethnic Kokang rebels reopened the Chinshwehaw and Wanding border checkpoints in the townships of Chinshwehaw and Kyu Koke, which had been closed since the beginning of Operation 1027. The two gates serve as crucial trade channels with China.
While people are allowed to use the checkpoints, moving goods across the border at the two locations remains “uncertain,” said MNDAA Information Officer Li Kyarwen.
“People with proper documentation can now cross the border,” he said. “However, the import and export of goods is still undetermined. Further clarification is needed."
Nyo Tun Aung, the deputy chief of the AA, disclosed in a press conference that the junta and the Three Brotherhood Alliance discussed reopening the checkpoints on Feb. 29 and March 1.
However, Li Kyarwen would not confirm whether the decision to reopen Chinshwehaw and Wanding was a direct result of the talks.
Translated by Aung Naing and Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.