Regime orders forced conscription of Rohingya in Rakhine State as Arakan Army siege looms
By English Editor August 13, 2026 The regime’s Arakan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs, Kyaw Thura, addresses a meeting at the Fire Services Department in Kyaukphyu Township in August 2025. (Credit: Regime) The regime’s Arakan State administration has ordered the forced recruitment of 20 Rohingya youths per month from five Rohingya wards, including Aung Mingalar, Impala, Kondan and Bumay, in Sittwe Township, ramping up efforts to use Rohingya conscripts to defend the state capital against the advancing Arakan Army (AA). During a meeting at the end of July, the regime’s Arakan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs, Kyaw Thura, instructed Rohingya elders from five urban wards in Sittwe to compile recruitment lists of males aged 18 to 35 under the military conscription law. 1. Forced Recruitment Quotas and Financial Extortion in Sittwe Residents in Sittwe reported that military authorities are also extorting local communities to fina...