Myanmar Army Reported Raping Rohingya Women and Forcing Villages ToFlee With Threats of Death

RB News 

November 30, 2016

Maungdaw, Arakan – A group of Myanmar soldiers entered into Maung Na Ma village tract in northern Maungdaw and arbitrarily arrested several Rohingya men on false allegations, reportedly raped Rohingya women in the village and forced villagers to flee the village.

In the afternoon on November 30th 2016 the military arrived in the south hamlet of Maung Na Ma village tract, called Miszitullah hamlet. They arrested three men who were all sons of Zahir Ahmed, falsely accusing them of having swords hidden in their homes. The military then took photos of the men holding the swords, which were reportedly brought to them by Rakhine villagers from Aung Mingala  hamlet and Na Ta La (ethnic Burmese) from Aung Thar Yar hamlet. 

The military was reported to have raped four women at this time, three daughters of a villager and the wife of an Imam from Maung Na Ma Gyi hamlet, according to a villager who spoke with RB News.

“Since last friday the military have been in and out of our village. They have been taking away our buffaloes, cows and other animals we have. On Saturday they arrested 16 innocent villagers. They are beating any males in the village older than 10 years old wherever they find them. If they aren’t satisfied with beating them they take them to the BGP (Border Guard police) headquarters,” the villager continued.

At 4pm the village administrator, Kyaw Kyaw Maung, was reported to have said “I can’t save all of you. You all have to leave from the village. The soldiers will come back at night and they will shoot all of you at that time.” 

The villagers then gathered what belongings they could carry and left the village before sunset to find refuge in neighboring villages. 

Before the villagers left some Rakhine villagers from Aung Mingalar and some Na Ta La villagers from Aung Thar Yar came holding swords and looted the town of buffaloes, cows, goats and rice paddies, according to Rohingya villagers. At this time Rohingya are left in Maung Na Ma village tract. 

Another group of soldiers based in Kyun Gaung hamlet in Laung Don village tract entered Sin Thay Pyin hamlet at around 10am on the same day. They used the hamlet’s mosque as a base and were reported to have destroyed the carpeting inside and desecrated the Holy Quran by ripping pages out of it and throwing them away. Some Na Ta La villagers from Zayid Pyin were reportedly with the military when they arrived in the hamlet. 

A Na Ta La villager named Lwin Moe went into the village and threatened the villagers that if all the men did not leave the soldiers would shoot them. When the soldiers came into the village the women and children had fled to a nearby village, in fear of the soldiers since they had raped many women there earlier on the 25th of November.

At 11:45AM a helicopter was spotted flying over the village a few times. The soldiers were hiding inside villages as the helicopter passed overhead. At 12PM the soldiers then stole an ox from Abdul Munaf and cook it. Other soldiers reportedly looted five goats from the streets and slaughtered and ate them as well. 

While some of the soldiers were cooking the looted animals others were reported to have looted home in the village at that time. The soldiers reportedly destroyed many valuables from a villager named Ali Johar and another house. They threw his belongings into a drinking pond and destroyed the walls of his home. 

Villagers said a woman from Kyun Gaung hamlet in Laung Don was gang raped during the night on November 29th, 2016.

Report contributed by MYARF.