09/05/2023
Only those who will live in the 15 villages that will be allocated by the Coup Council will be readmitted
BNA (News)
Maungdaw, May 9.
Those who will return from Bangladesh will have to live in the 15 villages that will be allocated by the coup council, and only those who will be living in those villages will be accepted, senior coup council officials said.
"The union policy has already been drafted. In the south of Maungdaw, it cannot be resettled at all. Only those who can live in the 15 villages that will be resettled in the north will be readmitted," a coup council official from Rakhine told BNA.
In Maungdaw area, the coup council is preparing to readmit those who fled to Bangladesh due to the Myanmar army's land clearance operation in 2017.
The returnees will only be resettled in 15 villages in the north of Maungdaw, and only those who will live in those villages will be resettled. The coup council has drawn up a policy that will be accepted.
"Those who will return are demanding that they must be granted citizenship to return and they must be given back their original places and farmlands, but we cannot do anything at the lower level," a coup council official from Rakhine told BNA.
More than 400 villages were burned down in Maungdaw area, but only 15 villages in the northern part of Maungdaw have been instructed by the Union level of the coup council to resettle.
The coup council's confidential instructions received by BNA stated that those 15 villages are Hla Po Khaung, Thae Chaung, Kyauk Lai Kar, Thet Kay Pyin, Dar Gyi Sar, Sabae Kone, Doe Tan, Binka Gong Na, Krine Chaung Taung, Kyauk Pyin Seik (East), Kyauk Pyin Seik (West), Kyauk Pyin Seik (South), Pwint Pru Chaung, Kyun Pauk Pyin Su and Mi Chaung.
"Those who come back can live in the villages of their choice in these 15 villages. They will be allowed to build their homes as they wish. The government will pay the cost. When the homes are not completed, they will have to live in the Hla Po Khaung temporary camp. The farmland will also be distributed according to households," a coup council official told BNA.
The Myanmar government announced that from August 25th to September 15th, 2017, 145 villages from Maungdaw Township, 12 villages from Buthidaung Township, 19 villages from Rathetaung Township, a total of 176 villages fled completely, and only half of 34 villages from Buthidaung Township fled.
(Photo: Muslims from Maungdaw Township being forcibly evicted by coup council troops/BNA)