The Arakan Liberation Army ( my, ရခိုင်ပြည် လွတ်မြောက်ရေး တပ်မတော်;

abbreviated An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...

ALA) is a Rakhine insurgent group in

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

(Burma). It is the armed wing of the

Arakan Liberation Party The Arakan Liberation Party ( my, ရခိုင်ပြည် လွတ်မြောက်ရေး ပါတီ; ALP) is a Rakhine political party in Myanmar (Burma). The party has an armed wing, the Arakan Liberation Army (ALA), which ...

(ALP). The ALA signed a ceasefire agreement with the

government of Myanmar Myanmar ( also known as Burma) operates ''de jure'' as a unitary assembly-independent republic under its 2008 constitution. On 1 February 2021, Myanmar's military took over the government in a coup, causing ongoing anti-coup protests. P ...

on 5 April 2012.

History

1968–1969

The Arakan Liberation Army (ALA) was founded on 20 November 1968 with the help of the

Karen National Union The Karen National Union ( my, ကရင် အမျိုးသား အစည်းအရုံး; abbreviated KNU) is a political organisation with an armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), that claims to represent the Ka ...

(KNU), which organised, trained, and supplied the ALA with ammunition and vehicles. On 26 November 1968, Khai Ray Khai, a member of the ALP's central committee, along with nine other associates, were arrested in

Sittwe Sittwe (; ; formerly Akyab) is the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Sittwe, pronounced ''sait-tway'' in the Rakhine language, is located on an estuarial island created at the confluence of the Kaladan, Mayu, and Lay Mro rivers emptyi ...

, the capital of

Rakhine State Rakhine State (; , , ; formerly known as Arakan State) is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady R ...

, by Burmese authorities. In December 1968, several arrests of the ALP's leaders led to the dissolution of the ALA and the ALP.

1971–1977

Between 1971 and 1972, former political prisoners from the ALP were released on amnesty. As soon as Khaing Moe Lunn, a former ALP political prisoner, was released, he departed to the village of Komura to meet with KNU leaders in order to re-establish the ALA. From 1973 to 1974, the ALA was re-established with help from the KNU, and 300 fighters were recruited and trained, with Lunn as commander-in-chief of the ALA. Between April and May 1977, 120 ALA fighters led by Lunn engaged with the

Indian Armed Forces The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by ...

and the

Tatmadaw Tatmadaw (, , ) is the official name of the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include th ...

(Myanmar Armed Forces) at the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

border. Ten ALA fighters were killed, including Lunn, over 70 were arrested by Indian and Burmese authorities, and 40 were disarmed and arrested. An additional 20 went missing during retreats from government forces, and 30 of the arrested were executed by shooting. A further 55 others were charged with

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

under Article 122 of the then constitution; 11 of them were

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, and the rest to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

. The group ceased to exist once again, as it became increasingly risky to operate illegally.

1980–present

In 1980, all ALA prisoners were released on amnesty. In 1981, the ALA was once again re-established and assisted by the KNU. The ALA was then led under the new leadership of Khai Ray Khai. Presently, the ALA campaigns on a nationalist agenda, and has been openly hostile towards the Rohingya ethnic minority in Rakhine State, claiming that they are not natives of the region, but illegal immigrants from

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

References

{{Insurgent groups in Myanmar Rebel groups in Myanmar Paramilitary organisations based in Myanmar