UCAN REPORT
Renewed violence exceeds June clashes
Minority Muslim Rohingyas in displacement camps in Rakhine state
Renewed sectarian violence in Rakhine State has left at least 112 people dead since Sunday, said a local official.
Attacks between minority Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhists have caused the deaths of 51 men and 61 women from both sides with 72 people injured, said local government spokesman Win Myaing.
Hospital workers in Sittwe, the state capital, report a steady stream of wounded arriving from riot-hit towns and villages including Mrauk-U, an ancient temple site, and Kyaukphyu, where Chinese developers are building a new deep-water port and oil and gas pipelines.
The clashes were close to being under control by this morning after army reinforcements were brought into the worst-hit areas, said Win Myaing.
An estimated 6,000 people have fled their homes amid ongoing arson attacks.
“We were basically besieged by Rakhine [Buddhist] mobs and we had to leave our village for our lives,” said Khin Maung, a Rohingya from the town of Kyauktaw.
Newly displaced Rohingyas forced to flee their villages would be relocated to Maungdaw, a Rohingya-majority town near the border with Bangladesh, officials were quoted as telling local media.
“As the international community is closely watching Myanmar’s democratic transition, such unrest could tarnish the image of the country,” said a statement from the office of President Thein Sein, published in the state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper today.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon yesterday issued a statement calling on Myanmar authorities to take urgent and effective action to bring Rakhine state under control.
“The widening mistrust between the communities is being exploited by militant and criminal elements to cause large scale loss of human lives, material destruction, displaced families as well as fear, humiliation and hatred affecting the people from all walks of life,” Ban’s spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, said in the statement.
Nearly 100 people were killed and close to 70,000 people displaced following the first sectarian clashes in the area starting in June.
Authorities have forcefully segregated the two communities but tensions have been running high following recent Buddhist protests led by monks opposed to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation setting up a liaison office in Myanmar.
Muslim leaders in Yangon said earlier this week they would not celebrate the Eid holiday today in protest at a perceived lack of government protection.
SHARED FROM UCAN NEWS
Attacks between minority Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhists have caused the deaths of 51 men and 61 women from both sides with 72 people injured, said local government spokesman Win Myaing.
Hospital workers in Sittwe, the state capital, report a steady stream of wounded arriving from riot-hit towns and villages including Mrauk-U, an ancient temple site, and Kyaukphyu, where Chinese developers are building a new deep-water port and oil and gas pipelines.
The clashes were close to being under control by this morning after army reinforcements were brought into the worst-hit areas, said Win Myaing.
An estimated 6,000 people have fled their homes amid ongoing arson attacks.
“We were basically besieged by Rakhine [Buddhist] mobs and we had to leave our village for our lives,” said Khin Maung, a Rohingya from the town of Kyauktaw.
Newly displaced Rohingyas forced to flee their villages would be relocated to Maungdaw, a Rohingya-majority town near the border with Bangladesh, officials were quoted as telling local media.
“As the international community is closely watching Myanmar’s democratic transition, such unrest could tarnish the image of the country,” said a statement from the office of President Thein Sein, published in the state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper today.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon yesterday issued a statement calling on Myanmar authorities to take urgent and effective action to bring Rakhine state under control.
“The widening mistrust between the communities is being exploited by militant and criminal elements to cause large scale loss of human lives, material destruction, displaced families as well as fear, humiliation and hatred affecting the people from all walks of life,” Ban’s spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, said in the statement.
Nearly 100 people were killed and close to 70,000 people displaced following the first sectarian clashes in the area starting in June.
Authorities have forcefully segregated the two communities but tensions have been running high following recent Buddhist protests led by monks opposed to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation setting up a liaison office in Myanmar.
Muslim leaders in Yangon said earlier this week they would not celebrate the Eid holiday today in protest at a perceived lack of government protection.
SHARED FROM UCAN NEWS
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