Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
Arakan Buddhist militias (the Arakan Army) have prevented Rohingya villagers in northern Maungdaw, in Arakan State, western Myanmar, from returning to their homes more than 14 months after their forced displacement, raising fears of a systematic plan to erase the Rohingya presence and replace them with Rakhine settlers.
Local reports said that on June 18, 2024, Arakan militias forced residents of several villages, including Thi Htut Ai, to leave their homes immediately while they were preparing to slaughter animals for Eid al-Adha. Families fled, leaving behind houses, livestock, and belongings.
Although most Rakhine villagers were allowed to return after the fall of the last Myanmar military battalions, at least three Rohingya villages Kulizbanga, Baka Gona, and Hawar Bil remain in a state of forced displacement.
Local residents accused Rakhine groups, with the help of Arakan militias, of looting their properties, stressing that they are living in dire humanitarian conditions in other villages and demanding to be allowed to return home.
One villager told Arakan News Agency: “We have been living in temporary tents for more than a year. Our children have no education, our sick have no treatment. All we want, simply, is to go back to our homes and our land inherited from our parents.”
A displaced Rohingya who visited Hawar Bil revealed that the village has been almost entirely resettled with Rakhine settlers, warning of a plan to erase the Rohingya presence. This was supported by a leaked video of the brother of Arakan Army commander Tun Myat Naing, in which he called for gradually replacing the populations of Buthidaung and Maungdaw with Rakhine.
Since seizing Maungdaw city on December 8, the Arakan Army has continued violations against the Rohingya, including sealing homes after false complaints, confiscating property, and displacing many families.
They also imposed strict restrictions on the Rohingya, banning movement between villages through a network of security checkpoints at every Rohingya village entrance and exit, and levying fees on Rohingya pedestrians and motorcycle owners for crossing bridges.
The Arakan Army launched a military campaign in November 2023 against Myanmar’s military to seize control of the state, taking 14 out of 17 towns. The conflict has engulfed the Rohingya, who have suffered violence, forced displacement, and persecution from both sides after already enduring a military-led “genocide” in 2017 that forced nearly one million to flee to Bangladesh.
