YANGON, Burma -- The
United Nations has confirmed that at least 48 Muslims appear to have been
killed when Buddhist mobs attacked a village in an isolated corner of western
Burma, a massacre that has been the vehemently denied by the government since
it was first reported by The Associated Press just over a week ago.
Presidential
spokesman Ye Htut said he "strongly objects" to the U.N. claims and
that the facts and figures were "totally wrong."
Burma, a predominantly
Buddhist nation of 60 million people which is also known as Myanmar, has been
grappling with sectarian violence since June 2012.
The incident in Du Chee
Yar Tan, a village in northern Rakhine state, appears to be the deadliest in a
year, and would bring the total number of mostly Muslims killed in violence nationwideto more than 280. Another 250,000 people have fled their homes.
Northern
Rakhine - home to 80 percent of the country's 1 million long-persecuted Muslim
Rohingya population - is off-limits to foreign journalists and humanitarian aid
workers have limited access, adding to the difficulties of confirming details
about the violence. Attacks began Jan. 9 and peaked in the early hours of Jan.
14, according to residents.
Buddhist Rakhine mobs,
seeking retaliation for the abduction and killing of a police officer by
Rohingya villagers, entered under the cloak of darkness with knives, sticks and
guns and went on a killing spree, residents in the area told the AP on
condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals. Many of the victims were
women and children, hacked to death by the mobs, they said.
The humanitarian aid group
Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, said it has treated 22
patients, some with wounds It appealed to the government for safe access to the
affected populations, many of whom are still in hiding.
Though the village has
been sealed off by security forces, Matthew Smith of Fortify Rights, an
independent human rights group, said some residents have been able to return
during the day and, as of Wednesday, reported that some bodies were seen in abandoned
homes. He called for an end to mass arrests, saying that in the hours that
followed the killings, riot police started rounding up all male Rohingya,
including children over the age of 10, in surrounding areas.
An investigation by the
United Nations confirmed that a massacre had taken place. The U.N. released a
statement late Thursday saying
there were credible reports that at least 48 people had been killed in two
separate bouts of violence.
The U.N. based its
findings on interviews with a cross-section of witnesses, victims and local
officials on the ground. But rights workers stressed that the full truth will
only come out if the government authorizes a full investigation, preferably to
be carried out with outside assistance.
"I deplore the loss
of life in Du Chee Yar Tan and call on the authorities to carry out a full,
prompt and impartial investigation and ensure that victims and their families
receive justice," said Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights.
"By responding to
these incidents quickly and decisively, the government has an opportunity to
show transparency and accountability, which will strengthen democracy and the
rule of law in Myanmar," she said.
The first reports about
the massacre occurred as Burma was hosting foreign ministers of the 10-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nations as chair of the regional bloc.
It was supposed to be an
event showing how far the country had come since ending a half-century of
military dictatorship two years ago and handing over power to a nominally
civilian government. The government of President Thein Sein, himself a former
army general, has won international praise for implementing political and
economic reforms, but it has also been criticized for failing to investigate
and prosecute those responsible for killings linked to sectarian violence.
In many cases security
forces have either stood by and watched as Buddhist mobs went after Muslims
with machetes and clubs. Other times they have been accused of actively taking
part.
Presidential spokesman Ye
Htut denied the AP report during the ASEAN meeting, insisting Du Chee Yar Tan
was calm, with no killings, aside from that of the police sergeant. Almost
daily articles denying that the massacre took place appeared in state-run
newspapers in the days that followed.
A statement on the
Ministry of Information website on Thursday said
that Chief Minister of Rakhine state Hla Maung Tin visited the area earlier the
week, together with a U.N. team, and told people about "false news
published and aired by foreign media that children and women were killed in the
violence."
The only mob attack that
took place, he said, was by Rohingya villagers on the police sergeant.
There are around 1 million
Rohingya in Burma. The United Nations has called them one of the most
persecuted minorities in the world.
Some of the Rohingya are
descended from families that have been there for generations. Others arrived
more recently from neighboring Bangladesh. All have been denied citizenship,
rendering them stateless.
For decades, they have
been unable to travel freely, practice their religion, or work as teachers or
doctors. They need special approval to marry and are the only people in the
country barred from having more than two children.
Burma: government denies Buddhist mob killed Muslim women and children
Deputy information minister, Ye Htut, says government has no information about alleged killings in Du Char Yar Tan village
Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims are considered by the United Nations to be
one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Photograph: Soe Than
Win/AFP/Getty Images
The Burmese government denied on Friday that a Buddhist mob had
ripped through a town in an isolated strife-torn corner of the country
this week, attacking Muslim women and children. Villagers and a rights
group said more than a dozen people may have been killed and hundreds
have fled their homes.
The deputy information minister, Ye Htut, told reporters on the
sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign
ministers' meeting in Bagan: "We have had no information about
killings."
Burma,
a predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million people, has been
grappling with sectarian violence for nearly two years. More than 240
people have been killed and another 250,000 forced to flee their homes,
most of them Muslims from the western state of Rakhine.
The northern tip of the state, where Tuesday's violence occurred, is home to 80% of Burma's Rohingya Muslims, considered by the United Nations
to be one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. The region is
also one of the most isolated in the country, with access to foreign
journalists and humanitarian aid workers often denied or heavily
restricted.
Chris Lewa of the Thailand-based Arakan Project, an advocacy group
that has been documenting abuses against Rohingya for more than a
decade, said details about the violence in Du Char Yar Tan village were
still emerging, with many conflicting reports.
The death toll could be anywhere from 10 to 60, said Lewa, whose
sources range from a village administrator to witnesses. One described
the mutilated bodies of three acquaintances – two women and a
14-year-old boy – found in their homes.
Tensions have been building in the region since last month, when
monks from a Buddhist extremist movement known as 969 arrived and
started giving sermons by loudspeaker advocating the expulsion of all
Rohingya.
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One
resident said an initial flare-up followed the discovery of three
bodies in a ditch near Du Char Yar Tan village by several firewood
collectors.
Believing they were among several Rohingya who went missing after
being detained by authorities, they alerted friends and neighbours, who
returned with their mobile phones to take pictures, said the man, who
works as a volunteer English teacher. He spoke on condition of anonymity
because he feared reprisals.
That night, five police officers went to the village to confiscate
the phones and check family lists, but the crowd turned on the officers,
beating and chasing them off, said the man. The police returned at 2am,
saying one of the officers had gone missing, accusing villagers of
either abducting or killing him.
Soldiers and police surrounded Du Char Yar Tan, breaking down doors
and looting livestock and other valuables, the English teacher said.
Worried they would be arrested, the men fled, leaving the women,
children and elderly people behind.
Lewa said her sources reported that Rohingya women and children had been hacked to death, but the numbers varied widely.
That some of the victims appeared to have been stabbed with knives,
not shot or beaten, "would clearly indicate the massacre was committed
by [Buddhist] Rakhine villagers, rather than the police or army", the
Arakan Project wrote in a briefing on Thursday.
The English teacher said 17 women and five children were killed. Another resident put the toll at 11.
Ye Htut said the reports might be a cover-up, because of the policeman going missing.
Shwe Maung, a Muslim MP who represents Buthidaung Township for the
Union Solidarity and Development party, told the local news agency
Irrawaddy he had received conflicting reports about the numbers of
casualties.
He said: "A lot of people are missing. Normally when they are missing family members, Rohingya people think they are dead."
Some of the Rohingya in northern Rakhine descend from families that
have been there for generations. Others arrived more recently from
neighbouring Bangladesh. All have been denied citizenship, rendering
them stateless.
(http://www.cbsnews.com/news/un-dozens-of-rohingya-muslims-massacred-by-buddhists-in-rakhine-burma/)
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