https://arab.news/8qzhr
For years, the Rohingya have been portrayed as the world’s most persecuted people, stateless victims trapped between a genocidal military regime and an indifferent international community. Yet, amid the wreckage of Myanmar’s civil war, something new and largely unnoticed is emerging: the rise of a coalition calling itself the Four Brothers Alliance, a unification of Rohingya armed groups once bitterly opposed to each other.
This alliance, forged between the Rohingya Solidarity Organization, Arakan Rohingya Army, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, and Rohingya Islami Mahaz, marks a turning point. For decades, these groups have operated independently, often competing for recruits, resources, and legitimacy. Their rivalries have been one of the greatest obstacles to any coherent Rohingya political voice. Now, under immense pressure from the evolving conflict in Rakhine State, they are presenting a common front.
The timing could not be more consequential. Myanmar’s junta is losing control of large swathes of the country, while the Arakan Army and its political wing, the United League of Arakan, have established de facto governance over much of Rakhine. For the first time in living memory, the state that gave birth to the Rohingya genocide is no longer ruled by the perpetrators of that genocide. This power vacuum presents both an opportunity and a danger for the Rohingya people.
