UCR rejects AAC statement on 1942 Arakan massacre

Photo: Collected

Arakan Now | 18 May 2026

The United Council of Rohingya (UCR) has issued a statement rejecting the Arakan American Community (AAC) recent statement on the May 13, 1942 massacre in Arakan (Rakhine), accusing the group of presenting a one-sided historical narrative and erasing Rohingya suffering.

In a rebuttal dated May 18, 2026, the UCR said the AAC statement portrayed Rakhine civilians as the sole victims of the 1942 violence while ignoring historical accounts documenting mass killings of Rohingya Muslims.

“Historical erasure and one-sided narrative”

According to the UCR, British records and independent historians, including Moshe Yegar and Jacques Leider, confirmed that tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims were killed by Rakhine Buddhist militias armed with British-supplied weapons during the period.

“The violence was committed by Rakhine extremists, not solely by Rohingya-related groups,” the statement said.

Rejection of “Bengali Muslim groups” label

The UCR also criticised the AAC’s use of the term “armed Bengali Muslim groups,” saying it vilifies Rohingya ancestors while ignoring that many were long-term residents of Arakan rather than migrants.

The statement further claimed that hundreds of Rohingya villages were destroyed and that survivors faced displacement, land confiscation, and later state-sponsored discrimination.

Indigenous identity and citizenship

The UCR said Rohingya people have lived in Rakhine for centuries and accused successive Myanmar governments of using the “indigenous” versus “non-indigenous” narrative to deny Rohingya citizenship and basic rights.

The group said the policy has been described by the United Nations as potentially genocidal.

Accusations of selective condemnation

The statement also accused the AAC of selectively condemning extremism by focusing on “Mujahid-related movements” while ignoring what it described as state-backed Rakhine nationalist violence against Rohingya civilians in 1942, 1978, 1992, 2016, 2017, and 2024.

“True historical accountability requires acknowledging all perpetrators, not fabricating or selectively presenting history,” the statement said.

Call for equal recognition of suffering

In its conclusion, the UCR described the AAC statement as “a politically motivated distortion of history” that erases Rohingya suffering and fuels ethnic hatred.

The group said genuine reconciliation in Arakan/Rakhine requires acknowledging all civilian victims and ensuring accountability for all armed groups and state actors “without selective memory.”

“A just peace in Arakan/Rakhine depends on equal recognition of suffering, not competitive victimhood,” the statement added.

The statement was issued by the United Council of Rohingya (UCR), representing Rohingya refugee communities in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.