Thousands in western Myanmar flee as army plans operations, monitors say | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
June 13, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 2025
Thousands in western Myanmar flee as army plans operations, monitors say

South Asia

Reuters
27 June, 2020, 10:45 pm
Last modified: 27 June, 2020, 10:48 pm

Related News

  • Bangladesh recalls ambassador from Myanmar
  • The dirty secrets behind Myanmar's rare-earths boom
  • Malaysia PM hails 'significant' engagement on Myanmar as Southeast Asian leaders meet
  • China’s Xi meets Myanmar junta chief, pledges to help rebuild post-earthquake
  • Myanmar-bound fertiliser smuggling bid foiled in Cox's Bazar, 11 held

Thousands in western Myanmar flee as army plans operations, monitors say

The letter, signed by the administrator of Rathedaung township, Aung Myint Thein, told village leaders he had been informed the operations were planned in the township's Kyauktan village and nearby areas suspected of harbouring insurgents

Reuters
27 June, 2020, 10:45 pm
Last modified: 27 June, 2020, 10:48 pm
File Photo: Army soldiers carry weapons in Tarlay, Myanmar March 28, 2011. Photo: Reuters
File Photo: Army soldiers carry weapons in Tarlay, Myanmar March 28, 2011. Photo: Reuters

Thousands of villagers have fled their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine state after a local administrator warned dozens of village leaders that the army planned "clearance operations" against insurgents, a lawmaker and a humanitarian group said.

But a government spokesman said late on Saturday an evacuation order issued by border-affairs officials had been revoked. Border affairs acknowledged issuing the order through the local administrator but said it affected fewer villages.

The warning to the village leaders came in a letter written on Wednesday, which was seen by Reuters and verified by a state government minister, Colonel Min Than.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

The letter, signed by the administrator of Rathedaung township, Aung Myint Thein, told village leaders he had been informed the operations were planned in the township's Kyauktan village and nearby areas suspected of harbouring insurgents.

The letter does not specify where the order came from, but Min Than, Rakhine state's border affairs and security minister, told Reuters it was an instruction from his border affairs ministry, one of three Myanmar government ministries controlled by the army.

"Clearance operation will be done by forces in those villages," the letter from the administrator said.

"While this is being done, if the fighting occurs with AA terrorists, don't stay at the villages but move out temporarily," it said, referring to the Arakan Army, the name of the Rakhine state insurgents.

The administrator could not be reached for comment by Reuters.

Min Than said the "clearance operation" described in the letter referred to military operations targeting "terrorists."

He said the administrator had misinterpreted the order from his ministry and that the operations would only take place in a few villages, not the dozens mentioned, but confirmed other details.

The operations could last up to a week, Min Than said by phone, adding that "those who remain will be those who are loyal to the AA."

On Saturday, government spokesman Zaw Htay said in a statement on Facebook the government had instructed the military not to use the term "clearance operations". He also said the letter ordering people to flee had been revoked.

He did not answer phone calls from Reuters seeking further comment. Reuters did not see the revocation instructions.

This year the Myanmar army has been fighting the AA, a group from the largely Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group that is seeking greater autonomy for the western region, also known as Arakan.

Dozens have died and tens of thousands been displaced in the conflict. Save the Children says 18 children were killed and 71 injured or maimed between January and March, citing local monitoring groups. The army says it does not target civilians.

"Clearance operations" is the term the Myanmar authorities used in 2017 to describe operations against insurgents from Rakhine's Muslim-minority Rohingya people. During those operations, hundreds of thousands of people fled from their homes. Refugees said the army carried out mass killings and arson, accusations the army has denied.

Rohingyas fled to neighbouring Bangladesh during that military crackdown, which the government said was a response to attacks by Rohingya insurgents.

In a joint statement on Saturday, the British, U.S. and Canadian embassies in Myanmar said they were "deeply concerned by the reports of the Myanmar Military's clearance operations along the Kyauktan village tract" and "the worsening humanitarian and security situation across the region."

"We are aware of the historic impacts of such operations disproportionately affecting civilians," the statement said. It called on "all armed actors to exercise restraint while in areas inhabited by local communities, some of whom may not, by no fault of their own, be able to seek refuge elsewhere."

In anticipation of the new operation, Min Than said 80 people had fled Kyauktan to elsewhere in Rathedaung township and that the army had prepared shelter and food.

Zaw Zaw Htun, the secretary of the Rakhine Ethnic Congress, a humanitarian group, said at least 1,700 had fled to the neighbouring Ponnagyun township.

Another 1,400 are sheltering in a nearby village and are in dire need of food and other supplies, said regional parliamentarian Oo Than Naing from Rathedaung township.

A military spokesman did not answer phone calls seeking comment about the operations. Reuters could not independently verify how many people had fled their homes.

The UK-based rights group Burma Human Rights Network said residents of 39 villages had begun to flee since the order was issued in Kyauktan on Wednesday, citing local sources.

The Kyauktan area is home to tens of thousands of people, from both Rohingya and Rakhine communities, according to the Rakhine Ethnic Congress.

Journalists are barred from most of Rakhine state, and the government has imposed an internet shutdown on most of the region, making information difficult to verify.

World+Biz

Myanmar / Rakhine State / Rohingya abuse / Myanmar Army Rohingya Clearance Operation

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Infographics: TBS
    Lengthy legal road ahead to repatriate Saifuzzaman's wealth from UK
  • From fact-checker to fact-checked: CA Press Wing’s turn in the hot seat
    From fact-checker to fact-checked: CA Press Wing’s turn in the hot seat
  • Wreckage of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner showing part of its registration "VT-ANB" in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Amit Dave
    Air India Dreamliner crashes into Ahmedabad college hostel, kills over 290

MOST VIEWED

  • Keir Starmer declines to meet CA Yunus: FT report
    Keir Starmer declines to meet CA Yunus: FT report
  • Wreckage of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner showing part of its registration "VT-ANB" in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Amit Dave
    Air India Dreamliner crashes into Ahmedabad college hostel, kills over 290
  • Saifuzzaman Chowdhury. Photo: Collected
    UK crime agency now freezes assets of ex-land minister Saifuzzaman: AJ
  • File Photo of Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus: UNB
    Prof Yunus to receive Harmony Award from King Charles today
  • Infofgraphics: TBS
    DGHS issues 11-point directive to prevent spread of Covid-19 in Bangladesh
  • Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur. TBS Sketch
    Bangladesh mulls settlements with tycoons over offshore wealth: BB governor tells FT

Related News

  • Bangladesh recalls ambassador from Myanmar
  • The dirty secrets behind Myanmar's rare-earths boom
  • Malaysia PM hails 'significant' engagement on Myanmar as Southeast Asian leaders meet
  • China’s Xi meets Myanmar junta chief, pledges to help rebuild post-earthquake
  • Myanmar-bound fertiliser smuggling bid foiled in Cox's Bazar, 11 held

Features

Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

1d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

2d | Features
File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

3d | Features
Photo collage shows political posters in Bagerhat. Photos: Jannatul Naym Pieal

From Sheikh Dynasty to sibling rivalry: Bagerhat signals a turning tide in local politics

5d | Bangladesh

More Videos from TBS

Banks' estimates were wrong: Bangladesh Bank spokesperson

Banks' estimates were wrong: Bangladesh Bank spokesperson

6h | Podcast
What exactly happened to the ill-fated Boeing aircraft?

What exactly happened to the ill-fated Boeing aircraft?

7h | TBS World
Govt to set up Debt Office as loan burden to hit Tk29 lakh cr by FY28

Govt to set up Debt Office as loan burden to hit Tk29 lakh cr by FY28

7h | TBS Insight
Curfew imposed for second night in Los Angeles

Curfew imposed for second night in Los Angeles

8h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net