BBC News – Burma Rakhine clashes death toll at 56 – state officials

Thursday, 25 October 2012. At least 56 people have been killed and hundreds of homes torched since Sunday, as clashes spread in Burma’s Rakhine state, officials say.

Several were killed overnight as violence erupted despite a night-time curfew in at least two towns.

The latest clashes are the first serious outburst of violence since June when a state of emergency was declared in Rakhine after 90 people were killed.

But tensions remained high between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslims.

It is unclear what prompted the latest clashes. The Rakhine Buddhists and Muslims blame each other for the violence.

Clashes erupted in the Ratha Taung township late last night but this later spread to the Kyauk Taw township, where security forces opened fire, reports say.

Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing told BBC Burmese on Thursday that the total death toll since violence flared up again on Sunday had reached 56.

More than 1,000 houses have been torched since then and police have deployed reinforcements in the townships of Min Bya and Mrauk Oo, where curfews are now in effect.

It was the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by three Muslims in May that set off the initial unrest.

A mob later killed 10 Muslims in retaliation, although they were unconnected with the earlier incident, and the violence escalated after that.

In June, about 90 people were killed as clashes spread across the state.

The houses of both Buddhists and Muslims were burnt down and thousands of people fled. Muslims throughout Burma have abandoned plans to celebrate the festival of Eid al-Adha because of the violence.

There is long-standing tension between the ethnic Rakhine people, who make up the majority of the state’s population, and Muslims, many of whom are Rohingya. The Burmese authorities regard the Rohingya as illegal immigrants and correspondents say there is widepsread public hostility to them.

In August Burma set up a commission to investigate the violence between Buddhists and Muslims in the west of the country.

Authorities earlier rejected a UN-led inquiry.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20083287

BBC News – Aung San Suu Kyi: Burma pro-democracy leader visits US

Sunday, 16 September 2012. Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is travelling to the United States, her first visit to the country in two decades.

During her 18-day trip she will be presented with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honour in the US, among other awards.

She will also meet President Barack Obama and various Burmese groups.

Aung San Suu Kyi spent years under house arrest in Burma, but was elected to parliament in April.

The new civilian-led, but military-backed, government has enacted a series of political and social reforms, including the relaxing of media laws, the legalisation of protests and the releasing of hundreds of political prisoners.

In response, Western nations including the US have lifted sanctions imposed during the military rule.

The Nobel laureate is likely to face questions over deadly ethnic conflict in western Rakhine state earlier this year.

The violence, which pitted Burma’s majority Buddhists against minority Muslims, was sparked by the rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman. Dozens of people died and thousands were displaced.

Rights groups have expressed concern over the fate of the Rohingya, a mostly Muslim group who Burma says are not Burmese citizens but who have often been denied asylum in neighbouring countries.

Aung San Suu Kyi has remained relatively quiet on the issue, although has called in parliament for laws to protect the rights of ethnic minorities.

Asked in June whether Rohingya should be regarded as Burmese citizens, she said: “I do not know”, saying Burma should clarify its citizenship laws.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19617156

BBC News – UN urges Bangladesh to take in people fleeing Burma violence

Friday 15 June 2012. The United Nations has urged Bangladesh to accept refugees fleeing violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Burma.

Tens of thousands of refugees have fled Burma’s province of Rakhine by boat. About 30,000 are already in camps in Bangladesh.

As many as 1,500 are said to have been turned back in recent days.

The UN’s refugee agency in Geneva, the UNHCR, says women and children have been left adrift on boats in the river Naf without food or care.

“There are now a number of boats drifting in the mouth of the Naf River with desperate people onboard in need of water, food and medical care,” the UNHCR said in a statement.

“It is vital that these people are allowed access to a safe haven and shelter.”

The violence flared after the murder of a Buddhist woman last month, followed by an attack on a bus carrying Muslims which killed 10 people.

Burmese officials have said the fighting has killed 29 people and thousands of homes have been burnt down.

Stateless group

Most of the refugees travel to Bangladesh by boat through the river Naf which marks the border with Burma.

The majority of the mainly-Muslim Rohingya refugees already in Bangladesh are staying in two camps in Cox’s Bazar district.

Rakhine state is named after the ethnic Rakhine Buddhist majority, but also has a sizeable Muslim population, including the Rohingyas.

The Rohingyas are a Muslim group and are stateless, as Burma considers them to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

According to reports, rioting began on Friday last week in the town of Maung Daw, spreading to the state capital Sittwe and neighbouring villages.

Two days later, President Thein Sein declared a state of emergency there.

On Thursday Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi warned that the strife would continue without “the rule of law”.

Speaking in Geneva on her first trip to Europe since 1988, she said the situation should be handled “with delicacy and sensitivity”.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18460804