Blackbox Rakhine: Myanmar turns off the Internet | Asia | '
"I fear for all civilians in Rakhine," said Yanghee Lee, the UN Human Rights Commissioner for Myanmar. She claims to have learned that Myanmar's military is conducting a so-called security operation. "We all know what that means now," she said.
The government of Myanmar says capping the Internet connection is helping to keep peace and order. The Ministry of Communications left open how long the blockade should last. A spokesman said the Internet will be accessible again "when peace and order is restored in the region". Telephoning and sending voice messages are still possible.
In 2017, nearly a million Muslim Rohingya escaped from Rakhine into neighboring Bangladesh in a spectacular military exodus. Previously, after an insurgent Rohingya attack on security forces, soldiers torched several hundred minority villages under the pretext of a "security operation." There were rape and mass murder. The UN speaks of ethnic cleansing and genocide.
(Archive) Telephone shop in Yangon
Buddhists in the sights
Meanwhile, the operations of the military no longer target only the Muslim, but also the Buddhist population. The Buddhist Rakhines are the majority in the western part of the country, but in Myanmar itself they are a minority oppressed for decades.
Following an attack by insurgent Arakan Army (AA) at police stations in January, which finds their recruits in Rakhine's Buddhist population, the conflict with the military escalated. According to the UN, at least 30,000 people were displaced. Amnesty International again accuses the military of committing war crimes in Rakhine. According to Amnesty and other human rights groups, civilians are arbitrarily arrested, tortured and killed.
In part, human rights violations also fell on the Arakan Army's account, which calls for more self-determination for the Rakhine. The Rakhine feel oppressed by the central state. The state is one of the poorest in the country.
(Archive) Armed Buddhists in Myanmar
Internet as communication bridge
Since journalists and independent observers have been unable to move freely in the crisis region for at least two years, the Internet has been an important tool for learning what is going on in Rakhine. Much information was leaked to the outside world only through Facebook or Whatsapp. This communication bridge is now truncated.
At a press conference, the military claimed they had no information about the shutdown. The responsible ministry reports to the government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been stoically silent on allegations of human rights violations by the military since her party committed to a power deal with the generals.
Norwegian Telenor Telenor reports that the Myanmar Ministry of Transport and Communications has instructed all providers to temporarily discontinue their Internet services in nine districts in the conflict zone. The ministry referred to "disturbances of peace in the region" and Internet activities used to "coordinate" illegal activities in the region, it said. According to Telenor, the Internet services were discontinued last Friday.
(Archive) Facebook advertising in Myanmar
Four-step strategy of the military
Rakhine has been looking like a black box for years, where the military can do what it likes at the expense of the civilian population, seemingly unobserved. Aid organizations must fight for access to the conflict area with the authorities. Journalists are only selectively and in the context of guided press tours in the region left.
For decades, the Burmese military has been applying the "strategy of the four cuts": to bring the rebels to their knees by cutting them off from information, recruits, food and communication.
"I'm so worried, I'm falling on my knees in fear of my love in Rakhine," says Yasmin Ullah, a Rohingya living in Bangladeshi exile, on Facebook. "Now they are taking away their voices, the last protection they have."
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