‘Attacks on Rohingyas sought to prevent them from returning’

GENEVA: The attacks on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar were carried out with the premeditated aim of not only expelling them but also to prevent them from returning, said a UN human rights team which has investigated the violence.

“These brutal attacks were well organised, coordinated and systematic,” said the report prepared by the UN team on Wednesday, adding that “the strategy was to inoculate deep fear and trauma on a physical, emotional and psychological level”, Efe news reported.

The Rohingya refugees began fleeing Myanmar from August 25 when Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) militants attacked police checkposts and killed 12 security personnel, triggering a military crackdown.

More than half a million Rohingyas fled Rakhine since the offensive started, amid allegations by witnesses s of civilian killings. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees called it a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

The UN refugee agency said earlier it was on full alert for new escalation in the Myanmar crisis after more than 11,000 Rohingya Muslims crossed the border into Bangladesh on Monday.

Meanwhile, nearly 200 medical teams in Bangladesh on Tuesday began massive cholera vaccination campaigns, which involved the administration of some 900,000 doses to Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazaar and in the southeast of the country.