The Arakan Army (AA), the armed wing of the United League of Arakan (ULA), is reportedly resettling ethnic Rakhine families in former Rohingya villages within Buthidaung Township, which were forcibly cleared and depopulated.
According to sources, dozens of Rakhine families originally from Sin Khaung Village in Thandwe Township, along with other Rakhine people from within Thandwe Township who were relocated to the Settinpyin displacement camp in Rathedaung Township following Thingyan (Burmese New Year), are now being permanently resettled by AA in Shar Bazar Rohingya village (also known as Maung Gyi Taung Village) in Buthidaung Township.
A Rohingya individual from AA’s office in Nyaung Chaung region, who spoke to AEN on condition of anonymity, said:
“In Shar Bazar village, which was cleared of its original inhabitants, AA has resettled 135 Rakhine families from Thandwe and Rathedaung.”
He added that 80 more Rakhine families were permanently settled last week in Ta Min Chaung, another Rohingya village. AA reportedly plans to complete the resettlement of Rakhine people into these formerly Rohingya villages across Buthidaung Township within the next three months.
Sources close to AA’s local offices also report that AA is not only resettling Rakhine families from other parts of Rakhine State in the vacated Rohingya villages but also preparing to repatriate Bengali-Rakhine people from Bangladesh into the area.
Shar Bazar village (Maung Gyi Taung), in Buthidaung Township, has existed since before 1905, before the establishment of Buthidaung town itself. The village’s mosque, now destroyed, was known to be older than the town of Buthidaung.
Before the Myanmar military’s 2017 crackdown on the Rohingya population, Shar Bazar village had over 1,000 Rohingya homes. About two-thirds of the residents fled to Bangladesh due to the violent campaign by the military. The remaining third were forcibly evicted and the village cleared under AA control in 2024–2025, according to reports.
Villagers from Maung Gyi Taung are among those who fled to Bangladesh during the AA’s military takeover of Buthidaung Township in 2024–2025.
According to information obtained by AEN, after taking control of Buthidaung Township, the AA forcibly cleared and depopulated over 30 Rohingya villages in the area.
