Satellite reveals destruction in Rohingya villages
YANGON: High-definition satellite images show 820 newly identified structures destroyed this month in five Rohingya Muslim villages in the Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine state, where the military is carrying out counter-insurgency operations, said Human Rights Watch (HRW).
In a statement yesterday, the US-based group urged the government to invite the United Nations to assist in an impartial investigation.
“These alarming new satellite images confirm that the destruction in Rohingya villages is far greater and in more places than the government has admitted,” said Brad Adams, the group’s Asia director.
The president’s spokesman Zaw Htay accused HRW last week of exaggeration after the release of an initial set of satellite imagery that showed 430 destroyed buildings in three villages.
He also accused the international media of misreporting the situation in Rakhine, where the government has mounted a massive, ongoing security operation since nine police officers were killed by unidentified assailants who attacked guard posts in Maungdaw village bordering Bangladesh last month.
The government has acknowledged using helicopter gunships in support of ground troops in the operations.
The state’s implication has been that the attacks were carried out by sympathisers of the minority Rohingya Muslims, who face intense discrimination, repression and violence in Rakhine state.
They have frequently been targeted by the Buddhist Rakhine majority who view them as illegal migrants.
The state denies them citizenship, even though they have lived in the region for generations.
More than 100,000 Rohingya still live in camps after being driven from their homes following clashes with the Rakhine people in 2012.
HRW said that the new satellite imagery – recorded on Nov 10 and Nov 17-18 – brought to 1,250 the number of destroyed buildings documented by it.
Ko Ko Linn, an activist of Arakan Rohingya National Organisation, said over 100 people had been killed, hundreds had been arrested and at least 1,000 houses in Maungdaw had been burned.
The claims are impossible to verify, as are the government allegations because of access restrictions on journalists and aid workers.
On Friday, the UN warned of a worsening rights situation in Rakhine state. Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes amid the security operation.
Humanitarian assistance has been suspended and civilians are reported to be caught up in military action. There are also reports of human rights abuses, including the alleged rape and sexual assault of women and girls. — AP