“I May Be Killed Any Moment” 67 We have already seized control of 10 to 15 outposts from [the military junta], praise be to God. We will not lose confidence despite facing persecution. … We are not finding solutions anywhere; that is why we have chosen to fight. We will continue fighting with weapons until we reclaim our rights. … We have enough weapons, praise be to God. We have members who are trained. Everyone undergoes training before we entrust them with arms.363 Ayub Khan told Fortify Rights in 2023 about hostilities between ARSA and RSO in the refugee camps, saying: “We fight with ARSA in the camps. … Four or five got killed by us. This was in defense.”364 Later in 2024, Fortify Rights further documented RSO’s engagement with the Myanmar junta. For example, one Rohingya resident from Maungdaw Township told Fortify Rights: The RSO and the military have mutual contact and movement in broad daylight. The leaders of the RSO were brought to the [Myanmar military’s] Na Kha Ka–5 Battalion for the meeting. It was happening in broad daylight. … The military junta and the RSO were fighting against the AA [Arakan Army].365 The same man had direct contact with RSO leadership on multiple occasions and told Fortify Rights that the military junta provided RSO with “a three-story building” in the Myoma Ka Nyin quarter in Maungdaw town, Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State, adding that it “was given to the RSO by the junta military to make their office.” 366 He said Rohingya people questioned how RSO could align with the same military that committed genocide against them and explained that RSO is framing the newfound allegiance as strategic.367 According to testimony, RSO members sometimes refer to themselves as the “Maungdaw militia” to avoid criticism from “the international community” about its alignment with the junta’s military.368 The same man told Fortify Rights: “The RSO supported the junta forces. Therefore, in [the AA’s] point of view, [Rohingya] are no longer civilians but have become their enemies.”369 Another Rohingya told Fortify Rights: The RSO members wore military [junta] uniforms and stayed together [with the military junta]. I saw about eight to ten military [junta] soldiers who were the senior officers then. They trained the [Rohingya] people from different villages recruited on the school campus. They recruited about 400 to 500 people from the Maungdaw territories. I saw guns with the RSO members when they came out of the school. [RSO members] had G-3 and AK-47 [guns]. They said that they received these guns from the military junta.370 There is a need for further investigation into the evolved command structures of RSO and ARSA and its factions as well as the level of sustained violence between them, the Myanmar military junta, and others in Rakhine State—including the AA—to determine the existence of an ongoing armed conflict of a non-international character. However, there is sufficient evidence of a history of armed conflict between these groups as well as an intention by these groups to engage the Myanmar military and each other. Second, Fortify Rights documentation demonstrates that non-state actors, including ARSA, RSO, and others, committed many of the underlying acts constituting war crimes against protected persons. 363 “Jamuna TV in Rebel Base in Rakhine!” Jamuna TV, March 31, 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yas8ylWDvEM. 364 Fortify Rights interview with F.E., location withheld, Bangladesh, 2023. 365 Fortify Rights interview with A.A.Z., Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh, August 11, 2024. 366 Ibid. 367 Ibid. 368 Fortify Rights, “International Criminal Court: Investigate Arakan Army Massacre of Rohingya Civilians, Hold Perpetrators Accountable,” August 27, 2024, https://www.fortifyrights.org/mya-inv-2024-08-27/. 369 Fortify Rights interview with A.A.Z., Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh, August 11, 2024. 370 Fortify Rights interview with A.A.A., Cox’s Bazar District, Bangladesh, August 15, 2024.