The grim history of Rohingya Muslims

1 The Rohingya are the world’s largest stateless community and of one of its most persecuted minorities.

2 They are not officially recognised as an ethnic group, partly due to a 1982 law stipulating that minorities must prove they lived in Myanmar prior to 1823 — before the first Anglo-Burmese war — to obtain nationality.

3 Most live in the impoverished western state of Rakhine but are denied citizenship and harassed by restrictions on movement and work.

4 Sectarian violence between the Rohingya and Buddhist communities broke out in 2012, leaving more than 100 dead and the state segregated along religious lines.

5 More than 120,000 Rohingya fled over the last five years to Bangladesh and Southeast Asia, often braving perilous sea journeys controlled by brutal trafficking gangs.

6 In October last year a small and previously unknown militant group — the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army — staged a series of well coordinated and deadly attacks on security forces.

7 Myanmar’s military responded with a massive security crackdown. Some 87,000 new refugees flooded into Bangladesh bringing with them harrowing stories of murder, rape and burned villages. The UN believes the army’s response may amount to ethnic cleansing.

8 The UN believes the army’s response may amount to ethnic cleansing, allegations denied by the government of Aung San Suu Kyi and the army.

9 In recent months the dayto-day fighting died down. Then last Friday the militants launched a new series of coordinated attacks, killing a dozen security personnel. More than 100 have died in the latest round of fighting.