Rakhine Families Reportedly Settled on Former Rohingya Land in Southern Maungdaw

Rohingya residents say new houses and farmland are being allocated to Rakhine families in areas where Rohingya communities lived before 2017, raising fresh concerns over land rights and whether displaced families will ever be able to return to their original villages.

by RK Desk

Maungdaw, Arakan State, 30 August 2026: Rakhine families are being resettled in parts of southern Maungdaw Township where Rohingya communities lived before the mass displacement of 2017, according to local Rohingya residents who say new houses are being constructed under the administration of the United League of Arakan and Arakan Army.

Residents told Rohingya Khobor that construction began recently in Bagone Nar, a former Rohingya settlement whose residents were displaced during Myanmar military operations in 2017.

“The old Rohingya village was burned during the 2017 military operation,” one resident said. “Now houses are being built there for Rakhine families.”

Rohingya Khobor could not independently verify the construction activity or obtain a response from the ULA/AA regarding the allegations.

Residents said the former village market had recently been cleared with bulldozers and that new houses were being built on land to the east and west of the market.

According to several local sources, some of the incoming families are from Rathedaung Township and other parts of Arakan State.

“Each family is being given a small plot, around 20 by 40 feet,” one Rohingya resident said. “Families from Rathedaung and southern Arakan are being brought here.”

Rohingya Khobor could not independently confirm the size of the plots or the number of families being relocated.

Farmland Also Reportedly Allocated

Residents also alleged that farmland previously used or owned by Rohingya families is being allocated to newly arrived Rakhine households.

Some families are reportedly being given around two acres of farmland, while tractors and other agricultural equipment are also being provided to support new cultivation.

These claims could not be independently verified.

For Rohingya residents, however, the reported redistribution raises a central question about the future of displaced families whose homes and farmland remain in Maungdaw.

“We had our homes, farms and land here for generations,” one Rohingya farmer said. “Now we are watching other people being brought to settle on the land where our communities once lived.”

The allegations are consistent with a broader pattern documented elsewhere in northern Arakan.

In June, the Burma Human Rights Network reported that the ULA/AA was establishing settlements for Rakhine families on confiscated Rohingya land in northern Maungdaw and alleged that Rohingya civilians had been forced to help construct some of the new settlements.

A recent United Nations human-rights report also documented allegations that the Arakan Army had seized Rohingya land and prevented displaced Rohingya from returning to their homes.

Those broader findings do not independently confirm the specific developments reported in Bagone Nar.

Rohingya Families Report Forced Relocation in Buthidaung

Rohingya residents in Buthidaung Township also told Rohingya Khobor that families displaced by fighting have been prevented from returning to some of their original villages and instead moved to designated locations.

Some families said they had been allocated plots measuring around 20 by 40 feet on the eastern side of the Mayu River and were expected to construct shelters themselves.

One displaced Rohingya farmer said his family did not believe it had a genuine choice.

“We were told to leave our old village,” he said. “We were afraid that we would be arrested if we refused. We had no choice but to move.”

Rohingya Khobor could not independently verify whether the relocation was formally ordered by the ULA/AA or whether residents were threatened with arrest.

However, previous independent reporting has documented forced displacement and restrictions on Rohingya returning to villages in Buthidaung.

A UK government country-information assessment citing human-rights documentation reported that the AA had prevented Rohingya internally displaced people from returning to dozens of villages in Buthidaung and had ordered some communities to relocate.

Families Say They Must Build Their Own Shelters

Residents said displaced families receive limited assistance after being moved.

“They give us a place, but we have to build the house ourselves,” one farmer said. “Many families have no money. Some are selling whatever they have just to buy food and construction materials.”

Others said restrictions on collecting bamboo and timber from nearby forests make shelter construction even more difficult.

“People who have money can buy bamboo, wood and other materials,” another resident said. “But most families are already struggling to find enough food. How can they build a house?”

Residents also raised concerns over the design of the new settlement areas.

They said shelters were being placed close together, increasing fire risk, while sanitation and wastewater systems were inadequate.

Rohingya Khobor could not independently inspect the sites.

Other Former Rohingya Villages Named

Local residents said Bagone Nar was not the only area where they believed Rakhine families were being settled on or near former Rohingya land.

They named Maung Gyi Taung, Tat Min Chaung and Kyein Chaung, also known locally as Thami Khali, among other locations where settlement or land reallocation was reportedly taking place.

The specific claims concerning those villages could not be independently verified.

But separate reporting over the past two years has documented similar allegations in both Maungdaw and Buthidaung.

In 2025 and 2026, Rohingya-focused and human-rights organisations reported new Rakhine settlements being established in former Rohingya villages and on confiscated farmland, including in areas where Rohingya residents had been displaced and prevented from returning.

How Many Rohingya Have Been Displaced?

Local sources told Rohingya Khobor that tens of thousands of Rohingya have been displaced from Buthidaung since the AA expanded control over the township.

Some community sources estimated the number at close to 100,000.

Rohingya Khobor could not independently verify that figure.

Independent reporting has, however, documented large-scale displacement from Buthidaung and Maungdaw since fighting intensified in 2024.

Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have documented mass displacement, killings, arrests and restrictions affecting Rohingya during and after the AA’s capture of Buthidaung.

Human-rights reporting has also found that many displaced Rohingya have been unable to return to their villages.

Land Rights Now Central to Any Future Return

The reported settlement activity has implications far beyond the immediate displacement.

For Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, the right to return is closely connected to the question of whether their original villages, homes and farmland will still be available to them.

International standards on refugee return require that displaced people be able, where possible, to return to their places of origin or receive effective remedies where property has been destroyed or occupied.

Rohingya organisations have repeatedly demanded restoration of land and property rights as part of any future repatriation process.

If former Rohingya villages are permanently resettled and farmland redistributed while the original residents remain displaced, future return would become significantly more difficult.

“We lost our homes first. Now we are losing our farmland as well,” one Rohingya farmer said. “If this continues, our children may have nowhere to return to.”

Another resident said the concern was no longer only about immediate shelter.

“We are worried about our future,” he said. “If our villages, farms and land are given to others, what will be left for us?”

The specific allegations from Bagone Nar and other named locations require further independent verification.

But they emerge against a documented wider pattern of displacement, land seizure and restrictions on Rohingya return in areas now controlled by the ULA/AA.

For Rohingya, that makes land not simply an issue of property.

It is becoming a central question of whether return to their homeland will remain physically possible at all.