The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hundreds die as Myanmar Rohingya crisis explodes
YANGON, MYANMAR — Hundreds have died in clashes between insurgents and security forces, a dramatic escalation of the Rohingya crisis that has haunted Myanmar’s transition to democracy and tainted leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s legacy.
The increasing death toll follows reports that tens of thousands more Rohingya Muslims have been displaced in the conflict.
According to Reuters, the Myanmar government said Saturday that more than 2,600 houses had been burned in Rohingya-majority areas of Myanmar’s northwest in one of the deadliest bouts of violence involving the Muslim minority in decades.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that 58,600 Rohingya had fled into neighboring Bangladesh.
In some of the worst fighting in decades, Myanmar’s army says 370 fighters tied to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army have been killed since the group first moved on dozens of police posts in the pre-dawn hours of Aug. 25. Fifteen members of Myanmar’s security forces and civil service and 14 non-Muslim civilians died in the attacks and ensuing clashes.
Though it emerged only a year ago with origins in the diaspora, ARSA claims it fights for the more than 1 million stateless Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, also known as Burma. The government calls it a terrorist organization.
The Rohingya, most of whom reside in Rakhine state on the border with Bangladesh, are deeply unpopular in Myanmar, which is 90 percent Buddhist. The government insists they are immigrants from Bangladesh despite generational roots.
A Rohingya activist and resident of Maungdaw — one of three towns affected by the fighting — who would only be identified as Anwar for safety reasons, said villages were emptying as security forces burned homes. The government says residents are torching their own property.
He dismissed army assertions that the bulk of the dead are ARSA fighters, and added that the death toll was expected to rise.
Members of the rights monitor Fortify Rights are in Bangladesh speaking with Rohingya refugees.
“Right now villages are burning, people are being killed, residents are fleeing for their lives,” Fortify Rights co-founder Matthew Smith said. “I will say it’s shocking, and some of the survivors are devastated by what they have experienced, what they have seen.”
Thousands of mostly Rohingya Muslim refugees trying to escape are stuck between the two countries, according to Lt. Col. Manzurul Hassan Khan, a Border Guards Bangladesh official.
Reports have circulated that Burmese security forces fired on fleeing refugees, but the government denies the allegations.
“No, no, no, absolutely not,” said Zaw Htay, spokesman for the office of Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader, who came to power last year after decades of military-backed rule.
“We are trying to control the situation and bring stability to the region,” he said.
Critics say Suu Kyi has failed to stand up for the Rohingya, while defenders argue she is hamstrung by a still-powerful military, which ruled Myanmar for half a century.