Statement on the strong condemnation of the barbaric acts of Myanmar Army

No.33/2020 16 July 2020 Statement on the strong condemnation of the barbaric acts of Myanmar Army, killing innocent civilians and committing atrocities and flagrant war crimes in Arakan The Arakan Army has already declared a unilateral ceasefire together with members of Three Brotherhood Alliance of the Kokang (MNTJP/MNDAA) and the Ta'ang (PSLF/TNLA) until 31 August 2020. Clashes in Arakan obviously began to lessen in June and July 2020 as we have been honoring our statement. Nevertheless, the Myanmar Army has been sending major reinforcements in every area of Arakan under the banner of "Clearance Operations" and constantly launching the massive offensive assaults. They started to launch the offensive attacks to the surrounding of Kyauk-Tan village in Rathedaung Township with artilleries and aerial bombardments at 1:30 pm on 16 July 2020. In addition, the excessive joint forces of the Military Army and Police Force have been laying siege to villages and conducting a campaign to arrest civilians in the Arakan region at night. They have lawlessly looted, ransacked and vandalized the properties of villagers after taking our unilateral ceasefire as an opportunity. Simultaneously, in Kyaukphyu, Ann, Toungup, Myebon, and Thandwe townships, they have been brazenly committing war crimes such as the arbitrary arrest of innocent civilians, frame-up and entrapping with fabricated witnesses, furtive arrest, imprisonment, torture and forced confession, firing light and heavy weapons into the villages, gang rape, erasing the corpses, gross violations of human rights, committing serious crimes amount to ethnic cleansing, and brutally murdering with racial hatred. Similarly, Myanmar state-owned media has been brazenly covering up blatant war crimes of the Myanmar Army. The shameless publications to shift the blame on our organization in their state-owned media indicate that the government of Myanmar has failed to take responsibility, accountability, and rule of law promotion for the general public. We strongly condemn the heinous acts of the Myanmar Army with military aggressiveness that are brutally killing innocent civilians in Arakan. The United League of Arakan / Arakan Army (ULA/AA) stands firmly by its own oppressed peoples of Arakan and remains unwavering its commitment to carry out the political goals of the Arakanese National Liberation Movement against the Burmese colonial rule and invasion of Arakan. We are working hand in hand with the people of Arakan to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity while imparting the evidence of atrocities committed by the Myanmar Army to international organizations that are devoted to preserving universal truths and global justice. We, the ULA/AA, hereby declare that we will continue to fight for political freedom to safeguard life and property of all the Arakan’s inhabitants. United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) This is a translation from Burmese into English of the Statement issued by the date on 16 July 2020 ( https://bit.ly/391ADHc )