By: Camp Correspondent
April 25, 2025 | Northern Rakhine State
The Arakan Army (AA) has allegedly begun a systematic effort to alter the demographic structure of northern Rakhine by replacing Rohingya families with Rakhine Buddhists, Hindus, and other ethnic groups in several townships, including Buthidaung and Maungdaw.
Local sources tell Rohingya Khobor that new settlers—identified as Rakhine (Buddhist), Hindu, Khami, and Myo communities—are being moved into Rohingya-majority villages that have recently come under AA control.
“We are being driven from our homes once again,” said a Rohingya resident from Maungdaw who requested anonymity. “They want to erase us and fill our villages with people who are not from here.”
Imported Populations and Forced Replacements
Reports suggest that some of the new settlers have roots in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts, having migrated decades ago and now being resettled in northern Rakhine with support from AA forces. Others are Rakhine villagers from remote hill areas, now being relocated into former Rohingya villages.
Eyewitnesses describe a methodical effort to:
- Destroy or repurpose Rohingya homes,
- Occupy key farmlands and water access points, and
- Push Rohingya families into already crowded and resource-scarce neighboring villages.
No formal eviction orders have been issued, and no resettlement assistance has been provided to displaced Rohingya families.
“They just come and tell us to leave—no law, no documents, no aid. If we refuse, we are threatened or harassed,” said a Rohingya schoolteacher now sheltering in an abandoned rice mill.
Fears of Ethnic Engineering and Permanent Displacement
Human rights observers warn that these actions could signal the beginning of a planned demographic transformation, potentially turning the Rohingya homeland into mixed or majority non-Rohingya zones, without any legal basis or community consent.
“This is not just displacement; it’s replacement,” said a community elder from Buthidaung. “They are erasing our villages one by one.”
While Myanmar’s military junta remains silent, the AA’s political wing, the United League of Arakan (ULA), has also issued no public clarification on the resettlement initiative.
International Inaction, Local Devastation
The fluid and dangerous situation in northern Rakhine continues to worsen as displaced Rohingya families face:
- Lack of food, shelter, and medical aid,
- Restricted movement under AA-enforced curfews, and
- Fear of further forced relocation or violence.
Rights groups are calling for urgent international monitoring, including from the United Nations, ASEAN, and OIC to investigate and halt ethnic reengineering efforts and to ensure protection of the Rohingya community’s right to return, rebuild, and exist safely in their ancestral villages.
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