The struggles of Rohingya in camps, fearing home

AP photographer Manish Swarup has been capturing imagery of the struggles of the more than 680,000 Rohingya Muslims now living in sprawling refugee camps in Bangladesh. The Rohingya, a long-persecuted minority denied citizenship at home in Myanmar, began pouring across the border in late August after waves of attacks by Myanmar security forces and Buddhist mobs.

In this Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018, file photo, relocated Rohingya refugees arrive at the Balukhali refugee camp outside Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

An agreement signed by Bangladesh and Myanmar is supposed to send the refugees home. According to the deal, those who return will first live in transit camps that the Myanmar government says it has set up before eventually returning to their now-destroyed villages they fled in terror just a few months ago.

The gradual repatriations were supposed to begin Tuesday but Bangladesh officials announced a last-minute delay amid fears that the refugees may be forced to return. Bangladesh has not said how long the delay will last. Myanmar is anxious for repatriations to begin, hoping to soften the international condemnation it is facing for the crisis. On Tuesday, Myanmar again said it was ready to begin accepting returning refugees.

In this Jan. 15, 2018, file photo, a Rohingya boy stands in a queue outside a food distribution center at Balukhali refugee camp outside Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

Most refugees, though, say they are terrified to return to the place where just a few months ago soldiers and Buddhist mobs shot and killed thousands before setting fires to homes and farmland. They fear more attacks if they return.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, victims of earlier spasms of violence, already live in squalid displacement camps in Myanmar and have been unable to return to their villages for years.

In this Jan. 14, 2018, file photo, a Rohingya father and son peer out from a bus window as they arrive at the Balukhali refugee camp outside Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

In this Jan. 22, 2018, file photo, a Rohingya refugee checks his mobile in front of newly built shelters at Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

In this Jan. 18, 2018, file photo, a relocated Rohingya boy looks out from a bus window as he arrives at the Balukhali refugee camp outside Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

In this Jan. 21, 2018, file photo, a relocated Rohingya boy watches volunteers distribute food at the Balukhali refugee camp outside Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

In this Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, file photo, a Rohingya refugee reacts after seeing the long lines for aid material at Kutupalong refugee camp outside Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

In this Jan. 22, 2018, file photo, Rohingya refugees voice their protest in returning to Myanmar during a demonstration at the Kutupalong refugee gamp outside Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

In this Jan. 22, 2018, file photo, Rohingya women wait for aid at the Kutupalong refugee camp outside Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

In this Jan. 15, 2018, file photo, Rohingya women stand with their children as they wait for food at the Balukhali refugee camp outside Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military has begun basic training at military bases and schools across the country for draftees called up under the country’s recently activated conscription law, state-run media reported on Tuesday.

The authorities activated the conscription law in February in a bid to to replenish the ranks that have been depleted in nationwide battles against ethnic minority armed groups and armed pro-democracy resistance forces opposed to military rule. The struggle began when the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.

Over the past five months, the army has lost territory in northern Shan state and in Rakhine state in the west, and is under growing attack elsewhere. It appeared this week that it may also lose the important trading town of Myawaddy, in Kayin state on the border with Thailand.

Opening ceremonies for training were held in various regional commands and military schools in Mon and Shan states and Tanintharyi, Magway and Mandalay regions, as well as in the capital, Naypyitaw, the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper reported Tuesday.

It said the first batch of trainees were those who voluntarily reported to the army after the military government sent letters summoning them.

The conscription law’s activation has created fear, anxiety and defiance among young people and their parents. Some are leaving the country, while others are fleeing into border areas controlled by ethnic minorities or joining resistance groups.

Independent Myanmar media reported Tuesday that a few young people staged brief protests against conscription at three locations in Yangon, the country’s largest city. The protests on Monday were carried out as flash mobs to evade attacks or arrests by the authorities.

Under the law, men aged 18 to 35 and women 18 to 27 can be drafted into the armed forces for two years. The military has said about 14 million men and women of the total 56 million population of the country are eligible for military service and it will draft 5,000 people at a time and up to 60,000 people a year. Evading conscription is punishable by three to five years in prison and a fine.

Myanmar’s military is also reportedly tapping an unlikely source to fill its depleted ranks, turning to members of the the Muslim Rohingya minority, who seven years ago were the targets of a brutal counterinsurgency campaign incorporating rape and murder that saw an estimated 740,000 flee to neighboring Bangladesh as their villages were burned down.

Analysts say the move is meant not only to counter the army’s attrition though deaths, desertions and defections, but also constitutes a divide and conquers strategy meant to reignite tensions between ethnic groups in Rakhine.

Rohingya have lived especially in Rakhine for generations, but they are not officially recognized as an indigenous ethnic minority, instead being called Bengalis and described as illegal immigrants. They have been denied citizenship and other basic rights including freedom of movement, and are the targets of widespread social discrimination. The U.N. has estimated that 600,000 Rohingya are still living in Myanmar.

The main anti-military resistance force in Rakhine state is the Arakan Army, which is part of the movement seeking greater autonomy for the Rakhine ethnic group that dominates the area. Rakhine nationalists were among the leading persecutors of the Rohingya minority, but now the Arakan Army and the Rohingya have a common enemy in the military government to took power in 2021, making them uneasy allies.

Aung Kyaw Moe, a Rohingya who is deputy minister for human rights in the shadow National Unity Government, said last month that the military is creating a conflict between the Rohingya and Rakhine ethnic groups in hopes of regaining the military advantage in Rakhine.

“The military council is losing the battles nationwide. Especially in Rakhine, military camps are being abandoned almost every day, and the towns controlled by the military council are falling. In Rakhine, the military council is in need of a lot of human resources due to the depletion of the army. It seems that they have calculated that only by creating a conflict between Rakhine and Rohingya can the current situation be changed,” Aung Kyaw Moe said.

In this undated photo released on April 8, 2024 by The Military True News Information Team, trainees of first batch of military service attend an opening ceremony for their training session at a military compound in Mandalay, Myanmar. Myanmar’s military has begun basic training at military bases and schools across the country for draftees called up under the country’s recently activated conscription law, state-run media reported on Tuesday, April 9.(The Military True News Information Team via AP)

In this undated photo released on April 8, 2024, by The Military True News Information Team, trainees of first batch of military service have meals as an opening ceremony for their training session was held at a military compound in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar’s military has begun basic training at military bases and schools across the country for draftees called up under the country’s recently activated conscription law, state-run media reported on Tuesday, April 9.(The Military True News Information Team via AP)

Members of the Karen National Liberation Army and People’s Defense Force collect weapons after they captured an army outpost, in the southern part of Myawaddy township in Kayin state, Myanmar, March 11, 2024. (AP Photo/METRO)

Members of the Karen National Liberation Army and People’s Defense Force collect weapons after they captured an army outpost, in the southern part of Myawaddy township in Kayin state, Myanmar, March 11, 2024. (AP Photo/METRO)

Myanmar military begins basic training for draftees as resistance forces keep the pressure on

Members of the Karen National Liberation Army and People’s Defense Force examine two arrested soldiers after they captured an army outpost, in the southern part of Myawaddy township in Kayin state, Myanmar, March 11, 2024. (AP Photo/METRO)

Myanmar military begins basic training for draftees as resistance forces keep the pressure on