Maungdaw, Arakan State: A clash broke out between Rohingya and Natala settlers, who are a multi ethnic group from Burma proper, in the Nasaka area 5 of Lounddon village on September 1, said a villager authority in Lounddon.

Natala villagers living near Lounddon village went to the paddy field of villagers to catch fish. The villager (Rohingya) of Lounddon asked them not to catch fish in the paddy cultivation area, the villager authority said.

The Rohingya villagers asked the Natala villagers not to catch fish in the paddy fields as the fields had paddy seeds and some were re-cultivated with paddy saplings. If anyone entered the field, the plants or seeds would be destroyed, according to a farmer from the village.

But, the Natala villagers did not heed the objection of Rohingya villagers and entered the paddy field. The two groups quarreled and started fighting with bamboos and sticks. No one was injured in the clash but clothes were torn, the farmer said.

The farmers with village authority members went to the nearby Nasaka outpost of Lounddon to complain, but, the Nasaka personnel didn’t take any action against the Natala villagers, said the village authority head.

But, in the evening, some Nasaka personnel came to the village and arrested five farmers who were involved in the clash and released them the next day after taking Kyats 5000 each, said the village headman.