The Arakan Army (AA) does not cooperate militarily with anti-regime groups under the umbrella People’s Defence Force (PDF) banner, but “it does assist in social issues,” the AA spokesman has said amid ongoing speculation about the Arakanese ethnic armed group’s place in the opposition movement.

“There are no anti-regime forces in Arakan State,” AA spokesman U Khaing Thukha said at an online press conference on Monday. “Local resistance groups are active in Chin State and Magway Region, which share a border with Arakan State. Although the AA does not cooperate militarily with the anti-regime groups, it does assist in social issues.”

The AA has a “close relationship” with some Chin resistance fighters in Mrauk-U Township, but it does not cooperate with them militarily, he added.

“We have a close relationship with Chin PDFs at the upper reaches of the Lay Mro Creek in Mrauk-U Township. But we don’t have cooperation with Chin PDFs militarily,” he said.

At a previous press conference, U Khaing Thukha heaped praise on the PDF units fighting against the Myanmar junta.

Anti-regime activists from large swaths of the country have formed local armed resistance forces that are collectively known as the PDF, with their post-coup foundings based on a shared opposition to the military dictatorship.