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### In Myanmar’s Rakhine State, trust in armed group grows as election hopes fade

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‘People are less interested in electoral politics and increasingly interested in military actions.’

- Many Arakanese in Myanmar’s Rakhine State were optimistic in the lead-up to the country's first openly contested elections in a quarter of a century, in 2015. There’s a stark difference five years on, as 8 November polls are clouded by an escalating civil war and voting cancellations across most of the state.

Conflict between the military, known as the Tatmadaw, and the Arakan Army – one of several ethnic armed groups pushing for political autonomy within Myanmar – has displaced roughly 227,000 people since late 2018. Citing insecurity, the government has cancelled voting for approximately 1.2 million, or 73 percent, of the state’s voters. Read more

## News

Related Previous Articles

### People in Parts of Myanmar Are Living Under the World's Longest Internet Shutdown. It's Putting Lives in Danger

###### 16, November, 2020

I first accessed the internet in 2014. I was 18 years old and living in my family’s home in Myanmar’s westernmost Rakhine State. After a half-century of isolation during the military junta, my country was finally opening up. Read more

### To Fight the Coronavirus, Myanmar Needs a Cease-Fire in Rakhine

###### 3, September, 2020

Myanmar has reported only six deaths from COVID-19 so far, but its limited health infrastructure raises concerns about its potential ability to control a larger outbreak. Three years ago, a brutal military campaign pushed more than 700,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority to flee across the border to Bangladesh. Since late 2018, the state has faced another crisis: the escalating conflict between the rebel Arakan Army, which seeks autonomy for Rakhine, and Myanmar’s armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw.Read more.

### For Those Displaced in Myanmar's Rakhine State, COVID Adds Another Layer of Fear

###### September, 7, 2020

Before a COVID-19 outbreak hit Myanmar’s Rakhine State in mid-August, Thiri Kyaw, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, already had a lot to worry about.Displaced by civil war between the Myanmar military and the rebel Arakan Army, she has faced uncertainty about her daily survival since fleeing her village in March of last year. On top of this, she now fears what could happen if the coronavirus reaches the displaced person camp where she shares a small room with four of her family members.Read more

### Rakhine: Where the military is more feared than the coronavirus

###### September, 14, 2020

Yangon, Myanmar – On the night of September 3, Thar Hla* was restless, and it was not just because he was sharing a concrete floor with approximately 70 people. “After hearing loud firing, I felt like the quarantine centre wasn’t safe,” the 32-year-old told Al Jazeera by phone from his hometown in Kyauktaw in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State. “That night, no one could sleep.” Read more

### “Like Ants Fighting Elephants”: Student Activists in Myanmar Speak Out

###### November, 30, 2020

Toe Toe Aung knew he would be arrested when he stood in front of Myanmar’s Rakhine State government office on 9 September with two fellow university students. They held signs reading “No Murder Army” and “No Bloody Government”, and one waved the red flag of the Arakan Student Union. Read more

Previous Reports

##### Myanmar politics must be re-made, not restored

On the morning of February 1, my hopes disappeared when I learned that the civilian government had been overthrown in a military coup. Growing up under army rule, I did not have access to quality education or healthcare, and couldn’t use the internet until 2014. Terrified of the military, my parents always warned me to stay away from politics or activism. Now, I don’t want the next generation to grow up like I did. Read more

##### Striking workers across Myanmar brave personal risks to bring down junta

When Myanmar’s police forces surrounded the dormitory of a teacher training college in the northern city of Myitkyina last week, they arrested two teachers and beat one of them, breaking her hand. Read more

##### ‘We Shall Not Surrender’: Myanmar Rises Up Against the Junta

YANGON—After five years of democratically elected governance, the people of Myanmar are not ready return to military dictatorship. Despite a curfew and martial law, hundreds of thousands of protesters are filling streets across the Southeast Asian country. From the largest city, Yangon, to the delta, mountains, and coasts, people from all backgrounds are shouting “Let the military fall!” and waving the three-finger Hunger Games salute that has become a symbol of resistance across Southeast Asia. Read more

##### Myanmar military tries ‘divide and rule’ in bid to cement power

Since seizing power from the elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, Myanmar’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, has been working to entice rival ethnic political parties into its new administration, in a sign of the divide-and-rule tactics it has long used to control the country. Read more

##### Myanmar minorities fear renewed violence after military coup

The Myanmar military’s coup on Monday sent shockwaves across the country, bringing back memories of half a century of crushing isolation under direct military rule. Read more

##### Myanmar’s Military Didn’t Just Overthrow Aung San Suu Kyi's Government. It’s Cracking Down on All Forms of Dissent

Just before 5 a.m. Monday, three officers from Myanmar’s national police force showed up at Po Po’s home in Yangon. The officers, two of whom carried rifles, asked for her husband Min Thway Thit, a former leader of a prominent dissident student union. “They said they wanted to ask some questions,” says Po Po. “I asked whether they had a search warrant to enter his room, and they told me it wasn’t necessary.” Read more

##### Arakan Army extends administrative grip on Rakhine State

The United League of Arakan is advancing steadily towards its objective of assuming administrative control in Rakhine State, and has seen a high level of compliance from the state’s residents with the stay-at-home order it issued on July 20 in response to the third wave of COVID-19. Since the coup, the ULA and its armed wing, the Arakan Army, have accelerated their effort to expand their ability to govern the state and be seen as its legitimate governing body. Read more

##### In Myanmar’s Rakhine, families of the disappeared seek answers

One evening, as Ma Nway* and her family were having dinner, soldiers from Myanmar’s armed forces, known as the Tatmadaw, came to her house and asked for her husband. According to her account, they blindfolded him, took out their guns and beat him in front of her. Read more

##### “Like Ants Fighting Elephants”: Student Activists in Myanmar Speak Out

Toe Toe Aung knew he would be arrested when he stood in front of Myanmar’s Rakhine State government office on 9 September with two fellow university students. They held signs reading “No Murder Army” and “No Bloody Government”, and one waved the red flag of the Arakan Student Union. Read more

##### In Myanmar’s Rakhine State, trust in armed group grows as election hopes fade

Many Arakanese in Myanmar’s Rakhine State were optimistic in the lead-up to the country's first openly contested elections in a quarter of a century, in 2015. There’s a stark difference five years on, as 8 November polls are clouded by an escalating civil war and voting cancellations across most of the state Read more

##### Rakhine: Where the military is more feared than the coronavirus

Yangon, Myanmar – On the night of September 3, Thar Hla* was restless, and it was not just because he was sharing a concrete floor with approximately 70 people. “After hearing loud firing, I felt like the quarantine centre wasn’t safe,” the 32-year-old told Al Jazeera by phone from his hometown in Kyauktaw in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State. “That night, no one could sleep.” Read more

##### To Fight the Coronavirus, Myanmar Needs a Cease-Fire in Rakhine

YANGON, Myanmar—On Aug. 16, Myanmar’s health ministry announced the country’s first locally transmitted COVID-19 case in a month in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state. By Sept. 1, the number of confirmed cases across the state had risen to 393, while as of Sept. 3, the whole country has recorded 1,111 cases since the coronavirus pandemic began. Read more