The Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) is a Rohingya insurgent group and political organisation. It was founded in 1982 following a large scale military operation conducted 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 ...

(Myanmar Armed Forces). The group discontinued its armed rebellion in 1998 but rearmed itself following the

2021 Myanmar coup d'état A coup d'état in Myanmar began on the morning of 1 February 2021, when democratically elected members of the country's ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were deposed by the Tatmadaw—Myanmar's military—which then veste ...

History

1990s

In the early 1990s, the military camps of the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) were located in the Cox's Bazar District in southern

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 ...

. RSO possessed a significant arsenal of light machine-guns, AK-47 assault rifles, RPG-2 rocket launchers, claymore mines and explosives, according to a field report conducted by correspondent Bertil Lintner in 1991. The military expansion of the RSO resulted in the government of Myanmar launching a massive counter-offensive to expel RSO insurgents along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. In December 1991,

soldiers crossed the border and accidentally attacked a Bangladeshi military outpost, causing a strain in Bangladeshi-Myanmar relations. By April 1992, more than 250,000 Rohingya civilians had been forced out of northern

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 ...

(Arakan) as a result of the increased military operations in the area. In April 1994, around 120 RSO insurgents entered Maungdaw Township in Myanmar by crossing the Naf River which marks the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar. On 28 April 1994, nine out of twelve bombs planted in different areas in Maungdaw by RSO insurgents exploded, damaging a fire engine and a few buildings, and seriously wounding four civilians. On 28 October 1998, the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation merged with the

Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front The Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front (ARIF) was a Rohingya insurgent group active in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). The group was made up of Rohingya fighters led by Nurul Islam, a Yangon-educated lawyer. The group was created after unit ...

and formed the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO), operating in-exile in Cox's Bazaar. The

Rohingya National Army The Rohingya National Army (RNA) was a Rohingya insurgent group active in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. It was the armed wing of the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation. History On 28 October 1998, remnants of the Rohingya Solidarity ...

(RNA) was established as its armed wing.

2000s to 2010s

One of the several dozen videotapes obtained by

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

from

Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

's archives in Afghanistan in August 2002 allegedly showed fighters from Myanmar training in Afghanistan. Other videotapes were marked with "Myanmar" in Arabic, and it was assumed that the footage was shot in Myanmar, though this has never been validated. According to intelligence sources in Asia, Rohingya recruits in the RSO were paid a 30,000 Bangladeshi taka ($525 USD) enlistment reward, and a salary of 10,000 taka ($175) per month. Families of fighters who were killed in action were offered 100,000 taka ($1,750) in compensation, a promise which lured many young Rohingya men, who were mostly very poor, to travel to

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, where they would train and then perform suicide attacks in Afghanistan. Regional experts in Rakhine State previously disputed the existence of the RSO as an active militant force after the early 2000s. The government of Myanmar blamed the RSO for attacks on border posts in October 2016 until the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army claimed responsibility.

2021

Following the

by the Tatmadaw, the RSO announced its rearmament in March 2021. The RSO opposes the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), whom the RSO blames for attacks against Rohingya community leaders in Bangladeshi refugee camps.

References

External links

* {{Insurgent groups in Myanmar Rebel groups in Myanmar Islam in Myanmar Rakhine State

Insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregu ...

Islamist groups