The French newspaper Le Monde published an article highlighting the plight of the Rohingya, trapped in a conflict they neither control nor initiated, yet exploited by all sides. This instrumentalisation has deepened their suffering and pushed any prospect of return to their homes further out of reach.
According to the report, translated by Arabi21, the central question remains whether the Rohingya will ever return to their homeland. The civil war in Myanmar, which has engulfed Rakhine State, and the use of Rohingya by the Burmese military council to fight the Arakan Army insurgency, have widened the rift between the Buddhist Arakanese majority and the Muslim Rohingya minority. This has sown the seeds of new conflicts that threaten the region’s future stability.
The newspaper noted that since the ethnic cleansing operations carried out by the Burmese army in 2016 and 2017, around 500,000 Rohingya have remained in the north western part of Rakhine State, bordering Bangladesh and forming their ancestral land. About 145,000 have lived as internally displaced persons in camps, mostly around the state capital Sittwe, while the Buddhist Arakanese population of the state numbers around three million.
It added that the civil war following the February 2021 coup has redrawn the map of control in Rakhine State. The Arakan Army, a powerful ethnic armed group seeking autonomy, took up arms against the Burmese military council in November 2023. Following a sustained and organised offensive, the group had, by early 2026, seized control of 14 out of 17 administrative districts in the state. Only the capital Sittwe, the port area of Kyaukphyu where a Chinese special economic zone is planned, and the nearby island of Cheduba remain outside its control.
The new ruler
The newspaper said this dramatic advance ignited new conflicts with Rohingya communities throughout 2024 and 2025. In areas where they are concentrated, entire villages were burned, as occurred around Buthidaung in the spring of 2024, and residents were forced to submit to the dictates of the new authority. Non governmental organisations, including Fortify Rights, which issued several reports in 2025, pointed to severe restrictions on movement, alongside forced labour, compulsory work, and perhaps most alarming, cases of enforced disappearance.
For its part, the Arakan Army claims it seeks to strengthen cooperation with Muslim leaders in areas under its control, but insists it must adopt strict measures to confront what it describes as security risks.
The report explained that after its defeat in Rakhine State, the military council redrew its strategy. It began recruiting Rohingya into its ranks under the compulsory conscription law launched in February 2024, or as auxiliary fighters against the Arakan Army. Most of these new recruits come from the vicinity of Sittwe and are sometimes forced into service in exchange for pay or promises of citizenship.
Le Monde described this as a bitter irony, with Rohingya serving those who previously persecuted them. As has often occurred in Myanmar’s history, the Buddhist Arakanese and Muslim Rohingya communities are once again locked in confrontation. This time, however, the army is deliberately exploiting the conflict to advance its own objectives.
The newspaper added that the conflict in Rakhine State has fuelled further displacement. An estimated 141,500 additional Rohingya fled to Bangladesh between the 2021 coup and December 2025, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, bringing the Rohingya population in the Cox’s Bazar camps to 1.2 million.
It noted that these camps, long dominated by Rohingya groups described as semi criminal and semi militant, have themselves become fertile ground for exploiting Rohingya resentment. This anger has been directed not at the Burmese military, but at the new Arakanese authorities in Rakhine State. In November 2024, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation, historically the two largest armed Rohingya groups, announced an alliance to confront the Arakan Army.
Bangladeshi concerns
The newspaper reported that these groups have begun openly recruiting refugees. Training has taken place in camps along the Bangladesh Myanmar border under the protection of the Bangladeshi Border Guard and, according to experts, with partial supply from the Burmese army. Their objective is to carry out raids against the Arakan Army. The most recent of these attacks, on 11 January, led to clashes in the northern border area between the two countries, where the Arakan Army repelled an assault by around fifty fighters with decisive force.
In conclusion, the newspaper pointed to mounting concerns in Bangladesh. Following the fall of Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, the government of Muhammad Yunus found itself compelled to open channels of dialogue with the Arakan Army, seeking to use the Rohingya issue as leverage to push for the return of refugees to Myanmar. However, the International Crisis Group warned that any Rohingya uprising carries grave risks, not only for civilians, but also for the Arakan Army and Bangladesh itself, and could lead to new massacres in Rakhine State and further waves of displacement towards Bangladeshi territory.
