Rohingya accuse Arakan Army of extortion, forced labor
YANGON, Myanmar (MNTV) — Rohingya residents in western Myanmar’s Maungdaw Township have accused the militant outfit Arakan Army and its political wing, the United League of Arakan, of extorting large sums of money from Muslim villages while simultaneously forcing villagers into unpaid labor for road construction projects.
According to local residents cited by independent Rohingya media outlet Rohingya Khobor, authorities linked to the Arakan Army collected around 120 million Myanmar kyats ($57,100) from Rohingya business owners on May 21 for repairs to a highway connecting Maungdaw and Taungbro in Myanmar’s conflict-hit Rakhine State.
Residents said Rohingya business owners from several Arakan Army-controlled areas were summoned to a meeting earlier this month, where officials allegedly ordered villages to contribute between 10 million and 20 million kyats depending on local business activity.
“They told us road repair needed money, so every Muslim village had to contribute,” one resident told Rohingya Khobor.
Villagers alleged this was not the first such collection campaign. Residents claimed authorities had already collected nearly 100 million kyats on three previous occasions for the same road project, raising questions among locals over how funds were being used.
At same time, Rohingya residents said communities were being forced to provide unpaid manual labor for construction work despite repeated monetary collections.
According to villagers, Rohingya men from villages under what locals describe as “AA Area (3)” have been ordered since April to send groups of laborers to work on road construction sites.
Residents said workers are forced to spend days breaking large rocks from mountainous areas into smaller stones before loading them onto vehicles used for road repair operations.
“Rohingya villagers are breaking stones from the Mayu mountain area and working on the road themselves,” one local resident said. “People are asking where money is going because workers receive nothing.”
Villagers further alleged that laborers receive no wages and must bring their own food and drinking water despite physically demanding work conditions.
“Some people do not even have enough money to buy food,” another resident said. “They work while hungry and tired. If someone rests because they are weak, AA members shout at them.”
The Arakan Army has expanded its territorial control across large parts of Rakhine State during Myanmar’s ongoing civil conflict, positioning itself as the dominant armed authority in many Rohingya-majority areas near the Bangladesh border.
However, Rohingya groups and rights advocates have increasingly accused the armed group of discrimination, extortion and abuses against Muslim communities living under its control, adding to already severe humanitarian conditions faced by stateless Rohingya populations after years of violence, displacement and persecution in Myanmar.
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