Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
Local sources reported that over the past few days, residents of the Rakhine ethnicity have destroyed homes, mosques, and schools belonging to Rohingya refugees in three villages in the city of Maungdaw in the Arakan State: “Thi Ho Kyun,” “Noir Yon Taung,” and “Ky Chi Pyin.”
Eyewitnesses confirmed to the Arakan News Agency that materials used in building these structures, such as metal roofs and wood, were looted and transported to nearby villages after the Rohingya fled their properties following the outbreak of fighting in April 2024.
The looting operations included dismantling homes, mosques, and a refugee camp established during the rule of the National League for Democracy (NLD), in addition to a government school in the village of Ky Chi Pyin, where residents from the nearby village of Aung Mingalar seized its contents.
This comes at a time when residents of these villages from the Rohingya community have not yet been allowed to return to their homes, although the Arakan Army (separatist) allowed some other displaced people to return following the clashes in Maungdaw.
Historically, the three villages had been burned and destroyed by the Myanmar army in 2017 before the Rohingya residents returned and rebuilt their homes by 2020. But since their re-displacement by the Arakan Army in April 2024, they have not been allowed to return, leaving their properties susceptible to looting and seizure.
Since the Arakan Army took control of the city of Maungdaw on December 8 last, they continued their violations against the Rohingya, including closing their homes after malicious complaints and seizing them, and also confiscating their valuable properties while displacing many families.
Strict restrictions were imposed on the Rohingya, as their movement between villages was banned, following restrictions via a network of security checkpoints at the entrances and exits of each Rohingya village, and pedestrian and motorcycle owners from the Rohingya were charged fees to allow them to cross bridges.
The Arakan Army launched a military campaign in November 2023 against the Myanmar army to control the state, managing to take control of 14 out of 17 cities. This conflict has subjected the Rohingya to violence, forced displacement, and persecution from both sides, having also faced a genocide campaign by the Myanmar army in 2017, which drove nearly a million of them to flee to Bangladesh.
