Myanmar ethnic rebels say captured junta western command

It claimed that an ethnic rebel group from Myanmar had taken control of a military regional command in Rakhine state, dealing the junta a serious setback.

After weeks of warfare, the Arakan Army (AA) stated in a statement on its Telegram channel that it had “completely captured” the western regional command in Ann on Friday.

An enormous setback to the military would result from Ann becoming the second regional military command to be overrun by ethnic insurgents in five months.

Many of Myanmar’s 14 regional military commands are engaged in conflict with either long-standing ethnic rebel groups or more recent “People’s Defence Forces” that have emerged to oppose the military’s 2021 coup.

Fighting has rocked Rakhine state since the AA attacked security forces in November last year, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since the putsch.

AA fighters have seized swathes of territory in the state that is home to China and India-backed port projects and all but cut off state capital Sittwe.

The AA posted photos of a man whom it said was the Ann deputy regional commander, in the custody of its fighters.

AFP contacted the AA’s spokesperson for comment after failing to verify that information.

People on the ground in the Ann area, where phone and internet connectivity are inconsistent, were not reachable by AFP.

In decades of on-off fighting since independence from Britain in 1948 the military had never lost a regional military command until last August, when the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) captured the northeastern command in Lashio in Shan state.

Since independence, numerous ethnic armed groups have fought the military for autonomy and control of valuable resources in Myanmar’s borderlands.

Last month the UN warned Rakhine state was heading towards famine, as ongoing clashes squeeze commerce and agricultural production.

“Rakhine’s economy has stopped functioning,” the report from the UN Development Programme said, projecting “famine conditions by mid-2025” if current levels of food insecurity were left unaddressed.