Rebel Group Claims Control of Myanmar's Border with Bangladesh

One of the rebel groups fighting the Myanmar (formerly Burma) military junta has claimed full control of the 271-kilometre (170-mile) border with Bangladesh in the west of the country.

A spokesman for the Arakan Army told The Associated Press that the group had captured the Myanmar army's last outpost in the strategic town of Maungdaw on Sunday.

Khaing Thukha said late Monday that the outpost's commander, Brigadier General Thurein Tun, was captured during the operation.

The Arakan Army has said it controls all of northern Rakhine State (formerly known as Arakan), where the group wants to establish an autonomous government.

Since November 2023, the Arakan Army has seized 11 of Rakhine's 17 townships, along with one in neighboring Chin State.

The Rakhine region has become a flashpoint in Myanmar’s civil war, in which pro-democracy guerrillas and armed groups from ethnic minorities seeking autonomy are fighting the military junta that took power in 2021 after ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

The advance of the Arakan Army, the military wing of the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group, has raised fears of a resurgence of organized violence against members of the Muslim Rohingya minority, similar to that which in 2017 sent at least 740,000 people fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh.

The group has been accused of serious human rights abuses, particularly during its capture of the town of Buthidaung in mid-May.

The Arakan Army is said to have forced some 200,000 residents, mostly Rohingya, to flee the town and then set many of the buildings on fire.

In September, the military junta invited the armed groups to hold peace talks, a proposal that was not heeded at the time.

In late November, a first rebel group, the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), opened the door to peace talks under Beijing's auspices to end fighting that began in 2023 near the Chinese border.

Last week, a second rebel group, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance (MNDAA), an ally of the TNLA, said it was open to talks with the junta.

The alliance, which has been fighting for years for autonomy for the Chinese-speaking Kokang minority, controls large areas of Shan state, including the strategic city of Lashio and the highway to China that is vital to Myanmar's economy.