Rohingya Shrimp Farm Owners Demand Their Land Back as AA Profits from Their Hard Work

By: Camp Correspondent

Maungdaw, Rakhine State – February 24, 2025

Local reports by MDN reveal that the military junta in northern Maungdaw unlawfully seized shrimp farms owned by Rohingya communities. Recently, the Arakan Army (AA) has taken control of these farms and is now renting them from the junta for personal gain, in collusion with local authorities from villages such as Magala Gyi and Kauk Le Khar.

Rohingya residents claim that they have worked on these shrimp farms for years, and now, with the farms under AA control, they have lost access to their primary source of livelihood.

“We had worked on those shrimp farms for years, but now we don’t even have access to them. The AA and local authorities have taken control, and we have nothing left,” said a local Rohingya man.

Earlier, the police chief in northern Maungdaw unlawfully confiscated these shrimp farms from their rightful Rohingya owners and rented them out to others.

Those who protested were intimidated and silenced. Now, despite the original owners still existing, the properties are in the hands of the AA, who benefit from the farms without returning them to the Rohingya people.

One affected farmer stated, “We are just asking for what is rightfully ours. The AA and the military junta have no right to take our farms. We are suffering, and we just want to live in peace and work on our land.”

Additional reports indicate that the AA leadership is collaborating with local authorities in Kauk Le Khar to secretly profit from these shrimp farms by either pocketing money or renting them out.

A woman whose family once owned one of the shrimp farms lamented, “We are desperate. Our children are hungry, and we have no way to provide for them. These shrimp farms were our livelihood. We are begging the AA and ULA to return them to us so we can survive.”

In response, Rohingya shrimp farm owners have appealed through MDN to AA/ULA leadership to restore their properties.

They stress that returning the farms is crucial to alleviating their suffering amid a severe lack of employment and rising hunger.