Thousands flee Rakhine villages in renewed army crackdown

Thousands of villagers from Kyauk Tan, Aung Thar Kyaw, Htee Swea, Nwar Hla Kyaw, La Mone Taing, and Nwar Tin Koke of Myanmar's Rakhine state have fled their homes after the local administrator ordered them out of homes as the army planned "clearance operations" once again there saying it is against "insurgents."
Similar order of massive eviction of Rohingyas was seen in 2017 during the military clearance operations in Buthedaung and Maungdaw villages. As a result, over half million people were driven out and hundreds of households of the villagers were set afire.
International media said this time the fighting has started after Myanmar army ordered villagers out of homes in Kyauk Tan village tract, Myanmar Army and Arakan Army were fighting near Kyauk Tan village and in the hills near Aung Thar Zay villages, Rathedaung township from June 25, the Myanmar army is still continuing the
    fighting. The villagers reported thousands of residents from Kyauk Tan, Aung Thar Kyaw, Htee Swea, Nwar Hla Kyaw, La Mone Taing, and Nwar Tin Koke were running out of the villages.
 "The fighting has started after Myanmar army ordered villagers out of homes in Kyauk Tan village tract since June 24. They are firing shells and artilleries. However, we are the worst sufferer of the historic impacts of so called "clearance operations", the Myanmar authorities used it in 2017 last time. During those operations, hundreds of thousands of people fled from their homes. Rohingyas faced mass killings and arson, Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh during that military crackdown. Their number stands at 1.1 million in Bangladesh...the Myanmar government has denied all these allegations even in the international court," Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen told the Daily Observer on Sunday.
"We urged the international community, specially the strong members of United Nations Security Council to stop support to the Myanmar government, unfortunately, nowadays, they are (big powers) getting more close with them (Myanmar) and engaging with them in more business there, the International rights bodies have also kept mum in this regard," Momen said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations said in a statement on Sunday it was concerned by intense fighting in Kyauktan, including reports people were trapped and houses damaged. It called on all parties to "respect international humanitarian law, fulfil their responsibilities and take urgent measures to spare civilians and civilian infrastructure".
Myanmar's government spokesman said late on Saturday that an evacuation order issued by border-affairs officials had been revoked. Border affairs acknowledged issuing the order through the local administrator but said it affected fewer villages, Reuters said.
On Saturday, government spokesman Zaw Htay said in a statement on Facebook the government had instructed the military not to use the term "clearance operations". He also said the letter ordering people to flee had been revoked.
This year the Myanmar army has been fighting the AA, a group from the largely Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group that is seeking greater autonomy for the western region, also known as Arakan. Japan, Russia, India and China have invested billions of dollars for business in the region.
On Saturday, the British, Australian, U.S. and Canadian embassies in Myanmar said they were "deeply concerned by the reports of the Myanmar Military's clearance operations along the Kyauktan village tract" and "the worsening humanitarian and security situation across the region."
"We are aware of the historic impacts of such operations disproportionately affecting civilians," the statement said. It called on "all armed actors to exercise restraint while in areas inhabited by local communities, some of whom may not, by no fault of their own, be able to seek refuge elsewhere."
Zaw Zaw Htun, the secretary of the Rakhine Ethnic Congress, a humanitarian group, said at least 1,700 had fled to the neighbouring Ponnagyun township. Another 1,400 are sheltering in a nearby village and are in dire need of food and other supplies, said regional parliamentarian Oo Than Naing from Rathedaung township.
Journalists are barred from most of Rakhine state, and the government has imposed an internet shutdown on most of the region, making information difficult to verify.
However, Bangladesh Foreign Ministry is observing the situation very keenly, Foreign Ministry's official said.