A/HRC/39/CRP.2 Government allegations regarding the burning of Rohingya villages by ARSA 1066. The Government has alleged that ARSA set fire to multiple Rohingya villages, and that the widespread fires that led to the destruction of Rohingya villages in northern Rakhine State were a result of ARSA’s own actions.2407 Indeed, in its own internal investigation of the 2017 crisis, the Tatmadaw stated that ARSA was responsible for the burning of Rohingya houses and that the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who fled Myanmar did so on instruction, and because they feared ARSA. 2408 ARSA denies these allegations.2409 1067. The Government has provided no credible evidence to support its version of events. To the contrary, the Mission has established that the burning of Rohingya villages was systematically undertaken by Tatmadaw soldiers, together with other security forces and ethnic Rakhines, as well as other ethnic and religious minorities, through the use of “launchers” and other means.2410 2. A foreseeable and planned catastrophe 1068. The 2017 ARSA attacks and ensuing “clearance operations” did not occur in a vacuum. They were foreseeable and planned. (a) The 2016 violence Overview 1069. On 9 October 2016, ARSA launched a small first offensive against three Border Guard Police posts in northern Rakhine State. Nine police officers were killed. Security forces, led by the Tatmadaw, responded by conducting “clearance operations” across an “area clearance zone” between Taungpyoletwa and Maungdaw, in central Maungdaw Township. 1070. In the weeks that followed, Rohingya victims who fled to Bangladesh revealed that these operations had been characterised by serious human rights violations, including torture, rape and sexual assault, killings, and the destruction of homes and mosques. The same tactics and violations were seen in this operation as later in 2017, albeit on a smaller scale. The means and methods of attack, which would later form the modus operandi of the August 2017 operations, were already present. By December 2016, satellite imagery analysis undertaken by Human Rights Watch estimated that 1,500 structures had been burned in eleven separate locations in Maungdaw Township.2411 Active military operations continued for at least two months, and the Myanmar Government declared an end to the operation on 16 February 2017.2412 Ultimately, some 87,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh. 1071. A Government Investigation Commission, led by the Vice-President, and the security forces’ own inquiries cleared the security forces of wrongdoing, endorsing the “lawfulness and appropriateness of the response”.2413 Verified incidents of the 2016 “area clearance operations” 1072. The 2016 “area clearance operations” took place across a large area of northern Maungdaw, with at least 11 different locations affected. The Mission focused its fact-finding 2407 2408 2409 2410 2411 2412 2413 Information Committee, “Breaking News 7: After being declared as terrorist group, extremist terrorists continue making violent attacks” (Facebook post, 28 August 2018), https://www.facebook.com/InfomationCommittee/posts/786695324836909; Multiple Facebook posts, now defunct, of the Commander-in-Chief, on file with the Mission. Facebook posts, now defunct, of the Commander-in-Chief, on file with the Mission. ARSA, Statement, ARSA/PR/06/2017, on 28 August 2017. See this chapter, section D.1.a: Patterns of serious human rights violations by the Myanmar security forces. Human Rights Watch, “Burma: Military Burned Villages in Rakhine State” (13 December 2016), https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/12/13/burma-military-burned-villages-rakhine-state. The Republic of the Union of Myanmar - President’s Office, “Tatmataw ends area clearance operations in northern Rakhine”, http://www.president-office.gov.mm/en/?q=print/7288. See chapter X: Impunity and accountability. 255