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Burma: 21,000 Rohingya Muslims flee to Bangladesh amid 'attempted genocide' | Burma: 21,000 Rohingya Muslims flee to Bangladesh amid 'attempted genocide' |
(about 2 hours later) | |
New figures show around 21,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Burma in recent weeks amid accusations of an attempted genocide. | New figures show around 21,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Burma in recent weeks amid accusations of an attempted genocide. |
The International Organisation for Migration said: "An estimated 21,000 Rohingya have arrived in Cox's Bazar between October 9 and December 2." | The International Organisation for Migration said: "An estimated 21,000 Rohingya have arrived in Cox's Bazar between October 9 and December 2." |
The government of Burma has criticised media reports of violence against the Rohingya, and lodged a formal protest against a UN official in Bangladesh who said the state was carrying out "ethnic cleansing". | The government of Burma has criticised media reports of violence against the Rohingya, and lodged a formal protest against a UN official in Bangladesh who said the state was carrying out "ethnic cleansing". |
At the weekend, the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak led a protest rally against what he called the "genocide" of the Rohingya minority, saying "enough is enough". | At the weekend, the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak led a protest rally against what he called the "genocide" of the Rohingya minority, saying "enough is enough". |
And the UN's rights agency has said the Rohingya may be victims of "crimes against humanity", and that Burma "has largely failed to act on the recommendations made in a report by the UN Human Rights Office". | And the UN's rights agency has said the Rohingya may be victims of "crimes against humanity", and that Burma "has largely failed to act on the recommendations made in a report by the UN Human Rights Office". |
Burma does not allow foreign journalists and investigators access to the western Rakhine province where the worst abuses are alleged to have taken place. | |
But refugees interviewed in Bangladesh relayed horrifying stories of gang-rape, torture and murder at the hands of state security forces, according to the AFP News Agency. | |
An analysis of satellite images by Human Rights Watch found hundreds of buildings in Rohingya villages have been razed. | |
The conflict stems from a breakdown in relations between Burma's Theravada Buddhists and the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group, which has resulted in one of the worst refugee crises in the world. | |
The election victory of Burma's Nobel peace laureate and now de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi spawned hopes that the government would act to foster a safer environment for the Rohingya, and last week she vowed to work for "peace and national reconciliation". | |
In practice, though, the country's military has retained control of all aspects of state leadership which relate in any way to "security", and that includes policy towards the Rohingya. | |
Bangladesh has also proved reluctant to accept the Rohingya people, resisting calls to open its borders to the half a million still inside Burma and increasing border patrols. | |
Islam is by far the majority religion in Bangladesh, and there has been outrage in the country at the treatment of their fellow Muslims across the border. | |
On Tuesday police stopped thousands of hardline Muslims from marching to the Myanmar embassy in Dhaka to protest at the ongoing "genocide" of Rohingya. | |
Shiblee Noman, an assistant commissioner of Dhaka police, told AFP about 10,000 Muslims joined the march, which was halted at central Dhaka's Nightingale Crossing. | |
"They were peaceful," he said. | |
More than 230,000 Rohingya are already living in Bangladesh, most of them illegally, although around 32,000 are formally registered as refugees. |