The Arakan Army has invited correspondents to collect firsthand information on the battlefield in Rakhine State, said Khiang Thukha, the information officer of the AA.

“Journalist can follow our troops to document the experience in conflict zones,” he said.

The AA released a statement dated March 29 in which it invited non-aligned journalists and news agencies to cover news from the battlefield in Rakhine State, in addition to allowing international fact-finding commissions to observe and collect information about the conflicts.

The AA said that it wants to point out that news agencies can achieve credibility by covering true information about armed conflicts in Rakhine State after conducting interviews with local people. The AA spokesperson said that current news and information has been disseminated via the Tatmadaw and that it was not congruent with the real situation on the battleground.

Khiang Thukha said that the Tatmadaw troops treated people heavy-handedly and indiscriminately opened fire into villages without provocation which created big problems for innocent civilians, but the Tatmadaw said in their statement they merely were returning fire from the AA near villages.

“Local people told media agencies that there were no clashes between the Tatmadaw and the AA, it was an attack exclusively carried out by the Tatmadaw. Yet some news agencies filed the news stories the Tatmadaw released. That’s why we invited unbiased news agencies to gather news from the battleground to let people know the real situation,” he said.

The AA said it would take responsibility of the safety of the correspondents on conflict zones.

“We can guarantee the safety of journalist in our areas, but not in the military areas,” Khaing Thukha said.

The ongoing conflict between the Tatmadaw and AA that started early December in 2018 is still intensifying.