By: Hafizur Rahman
Maungdaw, Arakan State – July 21, 2025
The Arakan Army (AA) has forcibly taken control of farmland, forests, and prawn ponds belonging to Rohingya civilians in Maungdaw District, displacing hundreds of families and handing over the land to Rakhine settlers, according to testimonies from affected residents.
Eyewitnesses and displaced villagers told Rohingya Khobor that AA fighters have been systematically expelling Rohingya from their ancestral lands under fabricated accusations of ARSA involvement. Once the land is seized, Rakhine families are brought in to cultivate rice, vegetables, and operate prawn farms—with AA reportedly providing them with tractors, tools, seeds, and food supplies.
“They kicked us out and took everything,” said a Rohingya man from Buthidaung Township who fled his village in June. “Now they let Rakhine people plant rice and vegetables on our land. We’re not even allowed to walk past our own fields. We’re hungry, unemployed, and afraid.”
Residents estimate that nearly 40 Rohingya-majority villages across Maungdaw and Buthidaung have been depopulated, with Rakhine settlers now living and farming there under the protection of AA patrols. In many cases, houses have been demolished or repurposed, and families have been left to survive in makeshift shelters without food or income.
A Rohingya woman shared her ordeal:
“We can’t even go to town to look for work. We’re confined to our villages. Anyone who questions what’s happening is accused of being with ARSA. Some are arrested, some just disappear.”
In Taungpyo and northern Maungdaw, similar reports describe AA seizing Rohingya-owned prawn ponds and forest lands. Villagers allege that large amounts of timber have been cut from Rohingya-managed forests and transported across the border—feeding into what they believe is a broader strategy of resource extraction and ethnic cleansing.
“This isn’t just land theft—it’s erasure,” said a Rohingya youth who recently fled to the hills. “They are replacing us one village at a time.”
The Arakan Army’s increasing consolidation of power in northern Arakan State has brought renewed hardship for Rohingya communities, who were already reeling from years of displacement, segregation, and systemic denial of citizenship. Since gaining control of large areas from the Myanmar military in late 2024, AA has enforced harsh restrictions on movement, trade, and communication—effectively isolating Rohingya civilians from aid and accountability.
Human rights observers warn that the seizure of land and forced resettlement of other ethnic groups mirrors previous patterns of state-sponsored dispossession, now replicated by an armed non-state actor.
Despite the scale of the abuse, local and international agencies face significant obstacles in accessing these regions. The information blackout, fear of retaliation, and absence of legal recourse have left most victims voiceless.
Rohingya Khobor calls on international institutions to urgently investigate and document the ongoing dispossession of Rohingya lands in Arakan State and to hold perpetrators accountable through diplomatic, legal, and humanitarian mechanisms.
