Myanmar violence displaces 22,000
Agency says Muslims are main targets
SITTWE, Myanmar – Victims of Myanmar’s latest explosion of Muslim-Buddhist violence fled to already packed displacement camps along the country’s western coast, with a top U.N. official saying the unrest has forced more than 22,000 people from their homes.
State television reported the casualty toll has risen to 84 dead and 129 injured over the past week in nine townships in Rakhine state. The figures have not been broken down by ethnic group, but New York-based Human Rights Watch has said Rohingya Muslims bore the brunt of the unrest and the true death toll may be far higher.
On Sunday, wooden boats carrying some refugees arrived outside the state capital, Sittwe. The people trudged to the Thechaung camp, already home to thousands of Rohingya who took refuge there after a previous wave of violence in June.
“I fled my hometown, Pauktaw, on Friday because there is no security at all,” said 42-year-old fisherman Maung Myint, who arrived on a boat carrying 40 other people, including his wife and six children. “My house was burned to ashes and I have no money left.”
Another Muslim refugee said she fled her village, Kyaukphyu, on Thursday after attackers set her home on fire.
“We don’t feel safe,” said 40-year-old Zainabi, a fish seller who left with her two sons, aged 12 and 14. “I wish the violence would stop so we can live peacefully.”
Human Rights Watch released dramatic satellite imagery of Kyaukphyu on Saturday showing a vast, predominantly Rohingya swath of the village in ashes. The destruction included more than 800 buildings and floating barges.
It was unclear what sparked the latest clashes, but ill will between Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine state goes back decades and has its roots in a dispute over the Rohingya’s origins. Although many Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations, they are seen as foreign intruders who came from Bangladesh to steal scarce land.
Today, the Rohingya also face official discrimination, a policy encouraged by Myanmar’s previous military regimes to enlist popular support among other groups. A 1984 law formally excluded them as one of the country’s 135 ethnicities, meaning most are denied basic civil rights and are deprived of citizenship.