Muslim neighbourhood razed in Burma unrest

Updated

Human Rights Watch says it has evidence an entire neighbourhood inhabited by Muslim Rohingyas in western Burma has been burned to the ground during a week of sectarian violence.

HRW has published satellite pictures which it says shows hundreds of houses have been destroyed.

Thousands of displaced people were clustered in boats and on bare ground near overcrowded camps in western Burma on Saturday as the toll from vicious communal violence rose above 80, officials said.

Seething resentment between Buddhists and Muslims erupted this week in new unrest in Rakhine state which has seen whole neighbourhoods razed and caused boatloads of people to flee from Rohingya minority areas.

The latest fighting, which has prompted international warnings that the nation's reforms could be under threat, has killed 36 women and 46 men, according to a government official who asked to remain anonymous.

"Altogether 82 people died and 129 people were injured," he said.

It was unclear how many from each community were killed.

Tens of thousands of mainly Muslim Rohingya are already crammed into squalid camps around the state capital Sittwe after deadly violence in June and Rakhine state officials said the latest bloodshed had caused an influx of boats carrying around 6,000 people to the city.

"The local government is planning to relocate them to a suitable place. We are having problems because more people are coming," Rakhine government spokesman Hla Thein said.

Human Rights Watch released satellite images showing "extensive destruction of homes and other property in a predominantly Rohingya Muslim area" of Kyaukpyu - where a major pipeline to transport Myanmar gas to China begins.

The images show a stark contrast between the coastal area as seen in March this year, packed with hundreds of dwellings and fringed with boats, and in the aftermath of the latest violence, where virtually all structures appear to have been wiped from the landscape.

HRW said 633 buildings and 178 houseboats and barges had been torched in the area, one of seven townships affected by the latest strife.

HRW deputy Asia director Phil Robertson urged the government to protect the Rohingya, who it said were under "vicious attack".

"Unless the authorities also start addressing the root causes of the violence, it is only likely to get worse," he said.

Violence spreading

The United Nations earlier said 3,200 had made their way towards shelters in Sittwe, with several thousand more on the way.

Before night fell, boatloads of Rohingya were visible outside one camp in a coastal area on the outskirts of Sittwe, according to residents.

"The security forces are not allowing them to come in. Some people are on the shore and some are still on their boats," camp inhabitant Kyaw Kyaw said.

He added the group of several thousand people, including women and children, was believed to be from just two towns.

State media reported that almost 3,000 homes and 18 religious buildings had been torched during the latest fighting, which erupted on October 21 and spread to areas that had been largely untouched by the earlier conflict.

More than 170 people have been killed in the state since June, according to the authorities, who have imposed emergency rule in an attempt to control the violence.

But rights groups fear the real toll could far exceed official figures.

Chris Lewa, head of the Arakan Project, which campaigns for Rohingya rights, said the recent spate of clashes were "far deadlier" than the June unrest.

"Rakhine State has now spiralled into complete lawlessness," she said.

"Violence is spreading to the south and east with the clear purpose of expelling all Muslims, not just Rohingya."

Rakhine government spokesman Win Myaing said the situation was now "calm" after security forces were deployed.

He had earlier said many of the casualties suffered stab wounds in the fighting, and that the army had been forced to fire into crowds when warning shots failed to disperse them.

In Sittwe's general hospital, most of the 27 Rakhine patients were being treated for gunshot wounds, and injured men said the army had fired at Rakhines to stop them from reaching Rohingya communities.

Burma's 800,000 Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh by the government and many Burmese - who call them "Bengalis" - and face discrimination that activists say has led to a deepening alienation from Buddhists.

On Friday the UN warned the hostilities could jeopardise the country's widely-praised reforms, which include the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament.

The stateless Rohingya, speaking a Bengali dialect similar to one in neighbouring Bangladesh, have long been considered by the UN as 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.

ABC/AFP

Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, religion-and-beliefs, myanmar

First posted