Growing Conflict In Myanmar: BGB put on high alert to stave off influx

Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has been put on high alert along the Myanmar border to prevent any influx of people from the neighbouring country that has witnessed renewed fighting between the armed rebel groups and Myanmar junta.

The Rakhine state's Arakan Army, which observed an informal ceasefire since November last year on humanitarian grounds, along with the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta'ang National Liberation launched a coordinated offensive on Oct 27 in northern Shan state, according to media reports.

In the fighting so far, around 70 have died, over 90 wounded and more than 200,000 have become internally displaced since 27 October, according to a statement from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on November 17.

Over 5,000 Myanmar nationals have taken shelter in Mizoram after fleeing from the violence in the junta-run nation.

The conflict in Rakhine is not in the bordering areas, according to foreign ministry officials.

But additional forces have been deployed along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border to make it fully secure, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told The Daily Star yesterday.

BGB has been put on high alert since November 10, said a foreign ministry official.

"We don't want any fallout of the Myanmar conflict into our territory," he said.

Thanks to violence by the Myanmar military, more than a million Rohingyas have fled the Rakhine state and have taken shelter in Bangladesh, a move that has put immense pressure on the economy and environment.

"It is unfortunate that the conflicts in Rakhine have escalated in Rakhine State. We are expecting de-escalation at the soonest. We want to see peace and repatriation of the Rohingya as soon as possible," Momen said.

Stability in Myanmar's Rakhine state is important as Bangladesh pushes for Rohingya repatriation. If there is no peace, Rohingyas will not agree to return.

"We are particularly alarmed by renewed fighting between the military and Arakan Army in Rakhine state after an informal 12-month ceasefire, which poses grave risks to both the ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya communities," said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Given past patterns, the UN is concerned that as the military loses ground on multiple fronts, its response risks unleashing an even greater force, through indiscriminate and disproportionate air strikes and artillery barrages.