Maungdaw residents told DVB that the Arakan Army (AA) has allowed 274 Muslim families, who had been displaced from their homes due to fighting between the AA and the military in Maungdaw, to return home on Monday. Maungdaw is located in northern Rakhine State near the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. It came under AA control on Dec. 8.
“The AA inspected our households and arranged [boats for us] to return. It is much better to be returning home than to be displaced,” a Maungdaw resident told DVB. The AA runs three separate camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the Buddhist, Muslim and Hindu communities of Maungdaw. Buddhist and Hindu residents were allowed to begin returning to their homes on Jan. 1.
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