According to reliable sources, the United League of Arakan (ULA)/Arakan Army (AA) has been resettling Rakhine families in vacant Rohingya villages within Buthidaung Township after forcibly evicting Rohingyas from these areas.
Following AA’s military operations in Buthidaung Township that began around March 2024, many Rohingya villages were reportedly burned, and Rohingyas were forcibly expelled by AA troops. After taking full control of Buthidaung Township, AA reportedly forced the evacuation of around 30 Rohingya villages. These now-vacant original Rohingya villages are being repopulated with Rakhine families under AA’s program, and many Rakhine communities have also been expanding their territory into these former Rohingya areas, according to local sources and AEN reports.
Villages and village tracts such as Pyan Shay, Kyet Mauk Taung, Dabyuchaung, Palaetaung, Maung Gyi Taung, Aung Lan Pyin, Tharay Kone Tan, Maung Hla Ma, Nga Kyin Tauk, Mee Kyaung Khaung Hswe, Kone Tan, Laung Chaung, Atwin Nget The, Pyapin Yinn, Htan Shauk Khan, Ywat Nyo Taung, Kuntaing, Tharyet Kin Manu, Mee Kyaung Zay, Fata Ali, Darpine Saya, Myit Nya, Nga Yant Chaung, and Kyinout Thee are among the dozens of villages where forced evictions and resettlement have occurred, according to the local Rohingya community.
Since early May, hundreds of Rakhine families — including those displaced by conflict from areas like Thandwe — have been resettled under AA’s arrangement in vacated Rohingya villages such as Shab Bazaar (Maung Gyi Taung), Tat Min Chaung, and Kyain Chaung/Thamikhali.
Sources close to the AA regional offices have confirmed to AEN that the group continues to resettle Rakhine families in vacated Rohingya villages across Buthidaung Township. Meanwhile, local Rakhines are also reportedly expanding into nearby Rohingya farmlands and seizing land.
For example, Rakhine residents from Aung Lan Pyin have expanded into adjacent Rohingya farmland, and lands in the area known by Rohingyas as “Rosana Bil” are reportedly being taken over by Rakhine families from nearby Laung Chaung village.
A source close to the AA stated, “What’s happening now in Buthidaung is that the empty Muslim villages are being resettled, and nearby Rakhine villages are expanding into them or merging with them.”
According to a Rohingya elder from downtown Buthidaung, over 100,000 Rohingya people have fled their homes in the township due to AA’s military offensives and forced displacement operations.
The Rohingya community says that villages such as Lambabil, Shawdorfarra, Hadimmarfara, Daburunyaungfarra, Mawnarfara, Shab Bazaar, Maurisarbil, Olibarfara, Shaikhrikhuna, Yawngfarra, Budana, Kumi Khali, Rosana Bil, Oriya Farra, Bazar Farra, Kiyazinga Farra, Seetowar Farra, Hawya Siri, Yawnggya Taung, Forni Barsha, Tharakkuni, Fata Ali, Zartifarra, and Rajabira existed even before 1824 — before Buthidaung Township was formally established — and were recorded under Muslim (Rohingya) names in British colonial land records. These villages had continued to exist under the same names through the British, Japanese, and pre-independence eras, as well as during the governments of AFPFL and the BSPP.
However, during the military regime that seized power in 1990 (SLORC), many of these village names were changed by the authorities, according to Rohingya communities.
Since the AA launched its military offensive in Buthidaung, these Rohingya villages have been burned, invaded, and cleared under force, with the apparent intention of making the Rohingya population flee. As a result, Rohingya organizations are now calling for international legal action against ULA/AA leaders, alleging targeted and deliberate displacement.
