Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
Arakan Army has ordered displaced Rohingya families living in Buthidaung township, Arakan state, western Myanmar to leave immediately. They have been told they are no longer allowed to stay in the area.
“After losing everything and facing so much hardship, we somehow managed to resettle in the township,” a displaced man from Ward 1 told Arakan News Agency. “Now they are forcing us to leave again. We don’t know where to go”, he added.
After Buthidaung town and many surrounding villages were burned during the recent conflict, thousands of Rohingya were forced to flee. Many took shelter in places like Sein Yin Pyin, Phone Nyo Lake, and other temporary camps. Now, with this new order, even those families are being forced to leave again. Residents say they have nowhere else to go and are calling on authorities to stop the forced removals and allow them to stay in peace.
On the other side, Arakan Army is still not allowing Rohingya from Htan Shaw Kan and Ah Twin Hnget Thay villages in Buthidaung Township to return to their homes, even though fighting in the area has stopped.
Instead, the AA told them to move to Thin Daung village, each family is given only 15 square meters of land to build a tent. Residents say the space is too small for a family to live in properly.
“There is no fighting now, but we are still not free to go back home,” one displaced villager told Arakan News Agency. “We just want to live in peace on our own land”. The displaced families are calling on the AA and all authorities to let them return to their villages safely and live in peace.
In November 2023, the Arakan Army launched a military campaign against the Myanmar military to seize control of the state, seizing control of 14 of the 17 towns. The conflict has also affected the Rohingya, who have been subjected to violence, forced displacement, and persecution by both sides. They were also subjected to a “genocidal” campaign by the Myanmar military in 2017, which forced nearly a million of them to flee to Bangladesh.
