known drug addicts who have nothing to do with ARSA or any other Rohingya armed group, and that ARSA has never entered the village.214 In another village tract, the AA summoned village elders to a meeting where they told them that ARSA movements had been reported in the area, necessitating AA ‘clearance operations’. They warned the villagers not to have any contact with ARSA or offer them any kind of support, because if they did so their villages would be burned to the ground.215 In a third village tract, AA soldiers’ conduct followed the same pattern. They entered the Rohingya village, ordered people out of their homes under the hot sun, and this time arrested four Rohingya men on suspicion of supporting ARSA. Villagers report that they have no connection with ARSA. Nobody has been able to contact the four men since they were taken away by the AA.216 Abduction, incommunicado detention, torture by the AA It is extremely difficult to track how many Rohingya men are currently in the custody of the AA and what happens to them after they are abducted by the AA, as they are held in incommunicado detention. BROUK believes they are at high risk of being tortured at the hands of AA soldiers. In January, BROUK received information that AA soldiers in Maungdaw township abducted and tortured a Rohingya youth for wearing a Palestinian flag t-shirt. The soldiers reportedly began shouting and berating the youth, believing that by expressing his support for Palestinians, he was comparing the Israeli military’s treatment of Palestinian people with the AA’s treatment of Rohingya. The soldiers then raided the shop where the youth bought the t-shirt and subjected the shopkeeper to the same treatment. Their whereabouts is unknown.217 In addition to the cases of AA arresting innocent Rohingya civilians on the false accusation of supporting ARSA218, BROUK has also received reports of AA abducting Rohingya men for the purposes of extortion in both Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships.219 Forced labour by the AA BROUK has continued to receive reports of forced labour exacted from Rohingya by the AA in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships. In January, the AA forced members of the Rohingya community to clear up the debris left behind after the arson attacks on Buthidaung town in April and May 2024. No other community was ordered to carry out this work.220 In May, BROUK documented forced labour demands by the AA in six Rohingya villages in different parts of Maungdaw township. Villagers reported that each family must send one member to perform forced labour at least four times per month. Rohingya are reported to be working in AA camps every day. The work is physically demanding and involves clearing away bushes in AA camps and the immediate surroundings, carrying water to the AA camps and cleaning the camp compound and latrines. The AA also forces Rohingya labourers to clear roadsides and carry out road renovation works.221 Forced recruitment / ‘military training’ by the AA 214 BROUK references ICJ11-OAC-AA-MDW-CP1, ICJ11-OAC-AA-MDW-CP2. 215 BROUK references ICJ11-OAC-AA-MDW-CP3. 216 BROUK reference ICJ11-OAC-AA-MDW-CP4. 217 BROUK reference ICJ11-OAC-AA-MDW-AD1. 218 BROUK references ICJ11-OAC-AA-MDW-CP1, ICJ11-OAC-AA-MDW-CP4, ICJ11-OAC-AA-BTD-AD1, ICJ11- OAC-AA-BTD-AD3. 219 BROUK references ICJ11-OAC-AA-MDW-AD2, ICJ11-OAC-AA-BTD-AD2. 220 BROUK references ICJ11-OAC-AA-BTD-FL1, ICJ11-OAC-AA-BTD-FL2. 221 BROUK references ICJ11-PM2c-FS-MDW-1a-5. 37