20 dead, UN ‘alarmed’ after new Myanmar unrest

YANGON, Myanmar – A new wave of communal unrest in western Myanmar has killed at least 20 people, officials said Thursday, October 25, forcing thousands to flee their homes and prompting the UN to express grave concern.

Hundreds of homes have been burnt in the fresh unrest in Rakhine state, which was convulsed by Buddhist-Muslim clashes in June that tore apart communities and left tens of thousands of mainly Muslim Rohingya languishing in camps.

More than 100 people have now been killed in the state since June, according to the authorities who have imposed emergency rule in the face of continued explosive tension in the region.

Rakhine state spokesman Myo Thant told AFP that the latest violence had left at least 20 dead so far, from both the ethnic Rakhine Buddhist and Muslim communities, in clashes since October 21.

He said the death toll could be as high as 50 but a final figure was difficult to confirm immediately as security forces struggled to reach remote areas where the clashes occurred.

The United Nations said in a statement it was “gravely concerned” at the resurgence of violence and called for calm while the United States pleaded for an “immediate halt” to the clashes.

“The UN is alarmed by reports of displacements and destruction,” said its chief in Yangon, Ashok Nigam, adding that the new unrest in Rakhine had “resulted in deaths and has forced thousands of people, including women and children, to flee their homes”.

He appealed for “immediate and unconditional access to all communities in accordance with humanitarian principles”, while special UN rapporteur on rights in Myanmar Tomas Ojea Quintana urged the government to investigate all allegations of violations in a report to the United Nations General Assembly.

Call for restraint

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington “urges parties to exercise restraint and immediately halt all attacks.”

About 75,000 people are estimated still to be displaced following the June unrest. The UN expressed fears over large numbers of people fleeing to the “already overcrowded” camps near the state capital of Sittwe.

Myo Thant said at least 80 ethnic Rakhine Buddhists are thought to have been injured in the latest flare-up, but he had no figures for wounded Muslims.

Earlier, he told AFP that houses were torched in another town on Thursday morning.

State media said late Thursday that almost 2,000 homes had been torched in clashes in four townships, giving a death toll of 12 from Sunday to Wednesday.

The announcement said there were “people and organisations masterminding the disputes” and warned that these would be prosecuted.

Soldiers were helping provide security to affected areas, including around the state’s main tourist attraction of Mrauk U and Kyaukpyu, where a major pipeline to transport Myanmar gas to China begins.

Myanmar’s 800,000 Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh by the government and many Burmese — who call them “Bengalis”.

Intercommunal bloodshed in Rakhine has cast a shadow over widely praised reforms by President Thein Sein, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament.

Rights groups fear the real death toll could far exceed official figures.

“The way in which the situation has developed is very worrying,” said Chris Lewa, head of the Arakan Project which campaigns for Rohingya rights.

“It seems that there is a desire to eliminate Rohingyas from all the townships where they are a minority, continuing what occurred in Sittwe.”

AFP journalists visiting Rakhine in recent days saw thousands of Muslim Rohingya trapped behind barbed wire and armed guards in a ghetto in the centre of the capital.

Tens of thousands more are housed in camps beyond the city limits as segregation between the two communities intensifies.

There have been a series of recent anti-Muslim protests by Buddhists in Myanmar against and the country’s main Islamic organisations have opted to cancel celebrations for the four-day Eid al-Adha holiday that begins on Friday.

The stateless Rohingya, speaking a Bengali dialect similar to one in neighbouring Bangladesh, have long been considered by the United Nations to be one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet.

Bangladesh on Thursday mobilised extra patrols along its river border with Myanmar amid reports of dozens of boats carrying Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing the clashes.

“We’ve stepped up vigilance to make sure they can’t enter our territory,” Border Guard Bangladesh commander Colonel Zahid Hasan told AFP.

Bangladesh drew criticism from the UN after it turned back boatloads of Rohingya, mainly women and children, after the June violence. But the nation said it would not accept any new refugees because it was already burdened with an estimated 300,000 Rohingya. – Agence France-Presse