Arakan Now Refutes Arakan Bay News Report on Relocation of Kyauk Chaung, Leik Ya and Kyun Pauk Phyu Su Residents

Photo: Arakan Bay News

Arakan Now | 2 Jan 2026

Arakan Now has found significant inaccuracies in a report published by AB News on 2 January 2026, which claimed that residents of Kyauk Chaung, Leik Ya and Kyun Pauk Phyu Su were relocated by the Arakan Army to safer locations due to the security threats from armed groups.

Based on interviews with local residents and sources who attended meetings with AA officials, Arakan Now has learned that the relocations were not voluntary and didn’t occur due to immediate external security threats as reported by AB News. Instead, the residents alleged that the AA deliberately emptied Rohingya villages under a false flag.

According to residents who spoke to Arakan Now, on December 19, 2025, a meeting was reportedly held with the residents of the villages —mainly children, women, and elderly people—from Kyauk Chaung Village Tract, as well as villagers from neighboring Leik Ya Village Tract. According to a source who attended the meeting, the AA officials allegedly ordered villagers to leave their homes by 31 December or cross into Bangladesh within one week.

The source said AA officials warned that anyone who failed to leave and remained in the villages would be forcibly relocated under AA arrangements. The source added that an AA officer explicitly threatened that villagers who disobeyed the order would be shot.

As a result of these alleged threats and forced eviction orders, residents of Kyauk Chaung and Leik Ya Village Tracts reportedly fled en masse to Bangladesh. A small number of families remained in both village tracts.

On 31 December, those remaining families were reportedly relocated by the AA to Yae Twin Pyin (Kuwar Bill). According to ABC News, the relocation involved 27 households with a total population of 92. However, AB News described the relocation as a safety measure that residents interviewed by Arakan Now strongly disputed.

Arakan Now therefore assesses AB News' portrayal of relocation as a misleading and lack of sufficient on the ground verification.

Arakan Now remains committed to reporting based on direct testimonies, independent verification.