A rebel group in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of three candidates of de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s governing party, demanding the release of detained student protesters in return for letting them go.
The governing National League for Democracy (NLD) said the three – Min Aung, Ni Ni May Myint and Chit Chit Chaw – were abducted last week while campaigning ahead of the country’s November 8 election.
The Arakan Army (AA), which is battling government troops in the region, said in a statement posted online on Monday the three candidates would be “detained and investigated as required by circumstances till a certain time”.
The group, which recruits from the largely-Buddhist ethnic Rakhine community and is fighting for greater autonomy for the region from the central government, has accused the NLD of complicity with military “atrocities” against civilians in the conflict that has intensified over the past year.
It said, however, it was willing to free the abductees in return for the release of students arrested during recent protests and other “innocent people” detained by authorities.❐
