Is Myanmar junta now recruiting Rohingyas to fight rebels?

Seven years after it killed thousands of people in their community, Myanmar’s junta has found itself needing the help of Rohingyas. After what the UN describes as “textbook ethnic cleansing,” the junta has reportedly recruited hundreds of Rohingyas to join its military.

According to a report by BBC, which includes interviews with Rohingyas living in the Rakhine State, several refugees have been conscripted in recent weeks to fight for an embattled junta.

Myanmar has not been home to Rohingyas despite generations of them living in the country for years. In 2017, widescale violence and human rights violations forced thousands of Rohingyas to flee the Buddhist-dominant nation and seek refuge in Bangladesh.

‘I had to go’

Mohammed, a 31-year-old Rohingya with four children, woke up to a camp leader’s call in the middle of the night in February who told him that he had to undergo military training.

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“I was frightened, but I had to go,” said Mohammed who lives near the capital of Rakhine, Sittwe, in the Baw Du Pha camp.

He recalled the camp leader saying, “These are army orders. If you refuse they have threatened to harm your family.”

BBC has spoken to several Rohingyas like Mohammed who have confirmed that they also have been approached by army officials, ordering them to report for military training.

How are Rohingyas being trained?

Mohammed says that he and several other Rohingyas have been taken to the army base of the 270th Light Infantry Battalion in Sittwe.

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“We were taught how to load bullets and shoot. They also showed us how to disassemble and reassemble a gun,” he said.

A video has surfaced of the military training that shows Rohingyas being trained to use BA 63 rifles.

Following his two-week-long training, Mohammed was sent back home only to be called again just two days later. He, along with 250 other soldiers, was put in a boat and transported five hours upriver to Rathedaung.

“I had no idea why I was fighting. When they told me to shoot at a Rakhine village, I would shoot,” he said.

After fighting for 11 days straight, Mohammed and his troop found themselves desperately short of food after a shell fell on their supply hut.

While Mohammed was left severely injured, several of his fellow Rohingyas had died in the attack.

Junta denies using Rohingyas in battle

Myanmar’s military, however, claims that it has not recruited Rohingyas to assist in the war.

Junta spokesperson General Zaw Min Tun told BBC, “We want to ensure their safety, so we have asked them to help with their own defence.”

Meanwhile, Rohingyas say that soldiers and local government officials visited their camps earlier this year to announce the conscription of younger men in exchange for food, wages and even citizenship.

Citizenship, which has been one of the most contentious issues in the Rohingya crisis, was retracted by the junta after the conscripted men were taken away to fight in the conflict.