United League of Arakan

United League of Arakan
ရက္ခိုင့်အမျိုးသားအဖွဲ့ချုပ်
AbbreviationULA
ChairmanTwan Mrat Naing[1]
SpokespersonKhine Thu Kha
Vice ChairmanNyo Twan Awng[2]
Secretary GeneralTwan Morn Naing
Founded2016
Armed wingArakan Army
Membership (2025)100,000+
IdeologyArakanese nationalism
Confederalism
Anthem
  • အာရက္ခနိုင်ငံတော်
  • Arakha Land
Party flag
Website
www.ulaparty.com (archived copy)

The United League of Arakan (ULA; Burmese: ရက္ခိုင့်အမျိုးသားအဖွဲ့ချုပ်) is an Arakanese political organisation based in Laiza, Kachin State, Myanmar. Its armed wing is the Arakan Army.[3][4] Major General Twan Mrat Naing is the ULA's chairman and Brigadier General Nyo Twan Awng is in the secretary. The United League of Arakan is the member of the Federal Political Negotiation and Consultative Committee (FPNCC), the political negotiation team formed by seven ethnic armed groups in Myanmar.[5][6]


The United League of Arakan established the Arakan People's Revolutionary Government to administer the areas that AA controls. The APRG performs duties such as issuing travel permits to Mizoram, India, distributing food to IDPs, policing, and implementing healthcare systems.[7][8][9][10]

History

The 1st United League of Arakan conference, attended by delegates from various countries, was held from 10 to 16 January 2016, seven consecutive days in a liberated area.[11] The ULA was organised by the 21 central committee members who Chairman, General Secretary, Secretary (1), Secretary (2), Secretary (3), Special Advisory Group. Twan Mrat Naing is responsible the chairman of United League of Arakan and Nyo Twan Awng is in charge of the secretariat. No other names announced.

Controversy

The Singaporean police force arrested those who were involved in the United League of Arakan's movements and they were deported back to Myanmar on 10 July 2019.[12] Myanmar police detained and arrested Arakanese youths repatriated from Singapore at Rangoon airport. In the Myanmar police force complaint the United League of Arakan led by Aung Myat Kyaw, who was the younger brother of Twan Mrat Naing, and three others Tun Aye, Than Tun Naing and Soe Soe was established in Singapore in 2013. There were about 86 members. Police allege that the members monthly pay the fees and they supported the monthly fees to the United League of Arakan and Arakan Army.[12][13]

However, the United League of Arakan was formed only in 2016, according to the Mrauk-U survey book. The book was written by Maung Maung Soe who received the Myanmar National Literature Award for 2017.[14]

From 16 to 17 April 2025, the ULA held a Sangrai festival in Thanchi Upazila in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts. This sparked concerns about potential sovereignty issues.[15][16]

Rohingya crisis

Since 2024, the ULA is continually attempting reconciliation with the Rohingya minority in its administered areas. This includes allowing freedom of movement in central Rakhine and Paletwa. However, considering the past actions of AA towards the Rohingya, and accusations of atrocities, the Rohingya community remains split in regards to the ULA's efforts.[17] To address issues within the Muslim community living in ULA-controlled areas, the APRG set up a Muslim Affairs Council and an advisory body in Maungdaw District.[18] The advisory body, which the locals refer to as a "jury," is headed by a Rohingya official, U Bassel.[19] U Bassel claims that there is no major ethnic conflict in Buthidaung and Maungdaw after AA took control.[20]

During the 2025 Eid al-Adha, the ULA repealed a 5% tax on donated Qurbani animals. After having villages submit reports with the number of animals and the names of donors, the animals were donated to Rohingya, Kamein, and other Muslim communities. in Maungdaw Township, Buthidaung Township, Kyauktaw Township, Mrauk-U Township, Minbya Township, Pauktaw Township, and Rathedaung Township. 50 sacks of rice were also distributed to each village.[21][22]

According to The Irrawaddy, there are at least 5,000 Muslims in the ULA/AA civil service, including ward and village administrators in Maungdaw and Buthidaung alone.[23][24]

On 30 August 2025, Twan Mrat Naing visited the Maungdaw Myoma Mosque with Muslim community leaders. The mosque was eventually reopened on 12 September 2025.[25][26][27]

Martial law

On March 2025, the ULA revealed a "National Defense Emergency Provision" where military-age men and women would be chosen for conscription, and those who are not severely ill are prevented from leaving AA-controlled areas of Rakhine State. Traders are also not allowed to bring "extra people."[28]

References

  1. ^ "ULA Leadership". ULA. 5 September 2018. Archived from the original on 5 September 2018.
  2. ^ "ULA / AA". Arakan Army. 4 May 2018. Archived from the original on 20 June 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  3. ^ "AA/ULA welcomes Chinese investment in Rakhine". Mizzima. 24 July 2019. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  4. ^ Sandford, Steve (16 October 2019). "Myanmar's Arakan Army is Recruiting and Training to Fight Government". Voice of America. Archived from the original on 19 March 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  5. ^ "China meets with armed groups over Shan clashes". The Myanmar Times. 23 August 2019. Archived from the original on 4 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  6. ^ "ULA/AA". ISP Peace Desk. 6 November 2019. Archived from the original on 8 November 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  7. ^ AA bolsters civil service to rebuild Arakan State. Development Media Group. May 4, 2025
  8. ^ ULA distributes 1,164 rice bags to 2,188 households in Thandwe. September 3, 2025. Narinjara News Khaing Lu Hla
  9. ^ Man sentenced to 40-year prison term for raping 11 women in Arakan. Narinjara News. September 4, 2025.
  10. ^ Arakan Army issues temporary travel permits for people traveling to India. Mizzima. September 6, 2025.
  11. ^ "Organization". ULA. 5 September 2018. Archived from the original on 5 September 2018.
  12. ^ a b "AA leader's sister, brother-in-law arrested at Yangon Airport". Eleven Media Group. 21 October 2019. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  13. ^ "ရခိုင်အသင်း (စင်္ကာပူ) ခေါင်းဆောင်များ အမှု "မြောက်ဦးစစ်တမ်း"စာအုပ် သက်သေခံဝင်". The Irrawaddy Burma. 31 October 2019. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  14. ^ "၂၀၁၇ ခုနှစ်အတွက် အမျိုးသားစာပေဆုများ ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာ". MOI. 2018. Archived from the original on 17 November 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  15. ^ Arakan Army holds water festival 10km inside Bangladesh. April 21, 2025. Parbatta News
  16. ^ Arakan Army holds water festival 10km inside Bangladesh. April 18, 2025. The Chittagong Hill Tracts News
  17. ^ Rohingya Community Is Divided Over Arakan Army’s Plan for ‘Inclusive Administration’. The Diplomat. October 30, 2024. Rajeev Bhattacharyya. Deprecated link archived October 30, 2024, at archive.today
  18. ^ AA လက်ထက် ပထမဆုံး မူဆလင်အုပ်ချုပ်ရေးမှူး (သတင်းဆောင်းပါး). [The first Muslim governor during the AA era]. December 6, 2025. Thanlwin Khet News.
  19. ^ Interview: How Rohingya Muslims Participate in Rakhine Governance. October 1, 2025. The Irrawaddy.
  20. ^ Muslim community says ethnic hatred cannot be incited in Arakan. Kyaing Hein Lin. September 15, 2025. Narinjara News.
  21. ^ AA donates sacrificial animals to Muslim community during Eid. June 6, 2025. Narinjara News
  22. ^ Rohingya Muslims Celebrate Eid al-Adha in ULA/AA-Controlled Areas. June 8, 2025. Rohingya Khobor.
  23. ^ ဂုဏ်သိက္ခာရှိရှိ တာဝန်ထမ်းဆောင်ခွင့်ရတာ ကျနော် ဝမ်းသာတယ်. September 10, 2025. The IrrawaddyArchived September 11, 2025, at Ghost Archive
  24. ^ Mosque’s Reopening Reflects Thawing Interfaith Ties in Rakhine Under AA. September 25, 2025. The Irrawaddy. The Irrawaddy
  25. ^ Arakan Army Chief meets with Muslim leaders, reopens Maungdaw Jame Mosque Khaing Lu Hla. September 15, 2025. Narinjara News.
  26. ^ Historic Mosque in Maungdaw Reopens After 13 Years. September 14, 2025. Rohingya Khobor.
  27. ^ AA permits reopening of Maungdaw Myoma Mosque after decade-long closure. September 12, 2025. Naung Min Thu. Narinjara News
  28. ^ AA’s Political Wing Imposes Rakhine Travel Ban. The Irrawaddy. May 23, 2025
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