Operation Dragon King ( my, နဂါးမင်း စစ်ဆင်ရေး), officially known as Operation Nagamin in English, was a

military operation A military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state, or a non-state actor, in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state or actor's favor. Operations may ...

carried in 1978 out by 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 ...

and immigration officials in northern Arakan, Burma (present-day

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 ...

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 ...

), during the socialist rule of

Ne Win Ne Win ( my, နေဝင်း ; 10 July 1910, or 14 or 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002) was a Burmese politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma ...

Background

The Rohingya people are an

ethnic minority The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

that live in northern Arakan, Burma (present-day

), who have suffered historical persecution by the Burmese government and

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

majority. After General

and his Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) seized power in a coup in 1962, the government systematically dissolved Rohingya political and social organizations. The end of the

liberation war Wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) to establish separat ...

in neighbouring

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 ...

strengthened the Burmese government's fears of "foreign invaders" infiltrating their country. So in 1977, the government began its preparations for Operation Dragon King, which commenced at the start of the following year.

Events

The official purpose of Operation Dragon King was to register citizens in northern Arakan and expel so-called "foreigners" from the area prior to a national

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

. Immigration officials and military personnel conducted the operation together, with the latter being accused by Rohingya refugees of forcibly evicting villagers through intimidation, rape and murder. The operation began on 6 February 1978, beginning in the village of Sakkipara in the

Sittwe District Sittwe District ( my, စစ်တွေခရိုင်) is a district of the Rakhine State in western Myanmar. The capital lies at Sittwe. Administrative divisions Sittwe District consists of the following townships: * Pauktaw Township * Po ...

, where there were mass round ups of civilians. In the span of over three months, approximately 200,000 to 250,000 refugees, mostly Rohingya Muslims, fled to

. The government of Burma estimated that 150,000 fled during the operation, and proclaimed that the mass exodus signified that Rohingyas were in-fact "illegal immigrants". The

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...

(ICRC) and the government of Bangladesh provided emergency relief to the refugees, but were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the humanitarian crisis. Bangladesh requested assistance from the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, and a

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

relief mission was sent to the region. On 31 July 1978, the governments of Burma and Bangladesh reached an agreement regarding the

repatriation Repatriation is the process of returning a thing or a person to its country of origin or citizenship. The term may refer to non-human entities, such as converting a foreign currency into the currency of one's own country, as well as to the pro ...

of Rohingya refugees, and 180,000 returned to Burma following the agreement.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dragon King, Operation History of Myanmar (1948–present) Internal conflict in Myanmar Conflicts in 1978 1978 in Burma

Background

Events

See also

References