Bangladesh pushes back people eeing violence in Myanmar
SITTWE, Myanmar — Northwest Myanmar was tense yesterday after violence engulfed its biggest city on the weekend, with rival mobs torching houses, police ring into the air and Muslims eeing by boat to neighbouring Bangladesh.
At least eight people were killed and many wounded, authorities say. The ghting erupted on Friday in the Rakhine State town of Maungdaw and spread to the capital Sittwe and nearby villages. The United Nations said yesterday it had started evacuating staff from the area after the government announced a state of emergency and dawn-to-dusk curfews.
Reporters saw plumes of black smoke over parts of Sittwe, a port town of mainly wooden houses where Buddhists and Muslims have long lived in proximity. Some Buddhists were seen carry- ing bamboo stakes, machetes, sling-shots and other makeshift weapons after houses were seen set on re.
“We have now ordered troops to protect the airport and the Rakhine villages under attack in Sittwe,” Zaw Htay, Director of the President’s Of ce, said. “Arrangements are under way to impose a curfew in some other towns.”
About 100 Rohingyas tried to ee the violence by boat into Bangladesh but were pushed back yesterday morning, said a Bangladesh border commander. “We have stepped up vigilance and will stop anyone trying to come across the border,” he said.
That followed about ve boatloads carrying about 200 Rohingyas who were pushed back out to sea on Sunday, said Anwar Hossain, a major with Bangladesh’s border guard.
Rohingya activists have long demanded recognition in Myanmar as an indigenous ethnic group with full citizenship by birthright, claiming a centuries-old lineage in Rakhine. But the government regards them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenship.
In recent days, they have been described as “invaders” or “terrorists” by some Burmese on social networking sites to express anti-Rohingya sentiments.
The authorities have blamed Rohingya mobs for the violence. Rohingya activists and residents accuse ethnic Rakhine of terrorising their communities. Witnesses in Sittwe said homes were torched on Sunday in at least four places.
By late Sunday, tension appeared to be spreading. State-run MRTV announced curfews in three other Rakhine towns, including Thandwe, the gateway to Myanmar’s tour- ist beaches, and Kyaukphyu, where China is building a giant port complex.
Reuters saw residents of a mainly Rakhine village near Sittwe on Sunday set ablaze houses they said were Muslim-owned.
“We are burning Rohingya houses because they live near our village and try to attack us,” said an unidenti ed ethnic Rakhine man.
Planeloads of soldiers arrived in Sittwe on Saturday but residents said the security forces were ineffectual.
An elderly Muslim man living with his family reported that Buddhist vigilantes armed with “swords and sticks” were roaming the streets on motorbikes.
“The security forces are helping them destroy Muslim houses,” the man, a retired government of cial who also requested anonymity, said by telephone from his house near Sittwe airport.