The Irrawaddy Magazine |
- Arson and Bloodshed in Rakhine’s Maungdaw
- Molotov Cocktail Thrown at Myanmar Embassy in Indonesia
- North Korea Conducts Sixth Nuclear Test
- Putting Myanmar’s ‘Buddhist Extremism’ in an International Context
- Yemeni al Qaeda Leader Calls for Attacks in Support of Myanmar’s Rohingya
| Arson and Bloodshed in Rakhine’s Maungdaw Posted: 03 Sep 2017 04:18 AM PDT MAUNGDAW, Rakhine State — Having fled their own village weeks ago, about 150 Mro, a sub-ethic group of Arakanese, were preparing to escape the violence gripping northern Rakhine again. They had taken refuge at Arakanese village Kai Gyee in southern Maungdaw after six farmers were brutally killed at the start of August in their 50-household village, known as Kai Gyee Mro, near the Mayu mountain range. Police found another body a few days later, and presumed another missing villager dead. The government tied the deaths to Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), whose attacks on police stations on Aug. 25 left at least 59 of the militants and 12 security personnel dead. Since then, clashes between ARSA—deemed a terrorist organization by the government—and the Myanmar Army have devastated communities in the area. Latest UN estimates suggest about 58,600 Rohingya Muslims—called "Bengalis" by many in Myanmar to imply they are interlopers from Bangladesh—have fled into that neighboring country. Many of these refugees say the Myanmar Army is burning their homes and killing them. The government says ARSA is culpable for the burnings.  Meanwhile, more than 13,500 Arakanese and Hindus have been evacuated to shelters, according to the government. With civilian causalities and regular clashes between Myanmar security forces and ARSA, the 150-strong group of Mro was preparing to leave the Arakanese village on Aug. 31 for a shelter in Maungdaw under the protection of security forces when The Irrawaddy met them. "We have never seen anything like this before. We do not dare to stay in this village anymore because all of Arakanese already left the village. We are also going to move again today," said U San Tun, head of Kai Gyee Mro village. "We could not sleep well at night," he added. "We could clearly hear the drumming and chanting voices from Muslim villages located right behind us."  The Mro had led lives relatively free from regional politics. Their village, at the foot of the mountains, depends on crops and paddies deep in the forest. It can only be accessed by a trek of about two hours. Most of the villagers do not speak the Myanmar language, but their predicament is echoed across the Maungdaw region. Residents of the village in which they have taken refuge have fled to Border Guard Post 3-mile checkpoint near Tha Si village or state capital Sittwe, where some have relatives. Civilian Deaths ARSA has killed 15 members of Myanmar's security forces since its early morning offensive on Aug. 25, according to the government, while the Tatamadaw says it has killed 370 and captured nine militants tied to ARSA, as well as confiscated nine firearms, and 23 improvised explosive devices (IEDs). ARSA's claim that it would not target civilians has been sullied by the deaths of seven Hindus, three ethnic Daingnet, and four Arakanese in recent days, which were at the hands of militants, according to witnesses. Thirty-three shelters protected by security forces have been established in the region. The Irrawaddy heard a first-hand account of a suspected ARSA attack from Kamala, one of 12 Hindu family members who were returning home from working as casual laborers in Myin Hlut village in southern Maungdaw on Aug. 26 when they were caught in clashes between ARSA and the military. Kamala of No. 4 Quarter in downtown Maungdaw recalled seeking refuge in a district court building that was undergoing construction when "about 100" militants wielding guns, machetes, and slingshots shouted at them, "Hindus are there…we must kill them first," she said through a translator.  The militants wore black clothes and masks, she said, and screamed, "Allah has come to take you." Six of the family was killed, including her husband and one of her children, she said, while she was shot in the chest, fell unconscious and left for dead. Four children and another woman managed to escape to a neighboring village where security forces were deployed. Kamala was hospitalized in Buthidaung Township where she met The Irrawaddy and was transferred to Sittwe on Saturday for further medical treatment. Village Lockdown Residents of the Muslim village of Maung Ni, in the six-village tract of Shwe Zar near Maungdaw town, are restricted from gathering in groups larger than five and from going outside between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Village administrator Havene Husong told The Irrawaddy that no homes had been burned in the tract of some 20,000 people—many of whom are Muslim—unlike other villages in the region. People are sharing food with each other, he said, as the market is opened for only a few hours per day and fishermen have been stopped from going out. Some displaced people from Myo Thu Gyi village located outside of the tract whose homes were burned came to stay with relatives in Maung Ni. It was not clear who burned the houses, said Havene Husong. "People can solve the food shortage here if the authorities let us open the market a bit earlier," he said. Security forces have blocked entrances to the creeks, market and closed border gates. Muslim villager Ro Shid said locals have not clashed with authorities, though in the volatile atmosphere, many stay indoors, even forgoing food shopping to avoid possible conflict with non-Muslims that could exasperate the current situation in Maungdaw. A Muslim resident who asked for anonymity told The Irrawaddy his entire village has rejected the ARSA attacks. "This kind of conduct is not acceptable," he told The Irrawaddy. "Now trust has collapsed between the Rakhine and Muslim communities again. Firstly, we must rebuild trust to restore a normal situation," he said, acknowledging that restoring a peaceful climate would take longer than the aftermath of previous communal conflict. Calls for Evacuation People living in rural areas have been calling to be evacuated amid the ongoing violence. The government has airlifted civil servants in some villages where they fear of being assaulted by Muslim militants active in the area. Guran Gaw, a Hindu resident of Maungdaw who was sheltering in a downtown school, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that nearly 300 Hindus were stranded in La Tha village on the outskirts of the town, where they felt vulnerable to the threat of militant attacks.  Militants told the Hindus "we will kill you if you try to flee from this village," he said. Another Hindu, Shu Bun, also known as Kyaw Kyaw Naing, and several other Hindus said they saw on Aug. 26 militants shoot a Hindu man and torch Hindus' houses. The Irrawaddy was unable to independently verify the account. According to Shu Bun, 30 Hindus have been missing since the clashes flared. On Sep. 1, Myanmar security forces escorted 300 Hindus from La Tha and 199 Hindus from Nga Yan Chaung village, according to the government. Several Hindu sources, were concerned, however, that Hindus of Kha Maung Siek village in northern Maungdaw needed evacuating. Altogether, the government says so far it has evacuated about 13,530 non-Muslims, including 9,402 from 43 villages in Maungdaw, and 2,326 from 34 villages in Buthidaung. Some 1,800 are Hindus and the rest Arakanese. Reduced to ash Latest government updates state ARSA militants have torched 32 villages in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, including two quarters in downtown Maungdaw, in order to taint Myanmar's name on the international stage. Satellite imagery from Human Rights Watch (HRW) shows burnings taking place at 17 separate sites across northern Rakhine from Aug. 25-30, including the torching of 700 buildings in Rohingya village Chein Khar Li in Rathedaung Township, a near total destruction of the village. But the government has not provided any evidence to support these allegations, stated HRW, nor did they prove similar allegations during the burning of Rohingya areas between October and December 2016. The rights group determined Myanmar security forces deliberately set those fires. The Irrawaddy witnessed the smoldering remnants of hundreds of houses surrounding Maungdaw town and in its downtown quarters. Eyewitnesses described the situation as worse than previous arson attacks after Oct. 9 militant assaults on border posts.  Near the entrance of downtown Maungdaw is the some 1,230-house Myo Thu Gyi village, one of the largest Muslim villages in the area, with a population of about 8,600. The homes flanking the main road; the market; the school; and the government office have mostly been reduced to heaps of ash. Mass Exodus Tens of thousands of Arakanese, Hindus, and Muslims are fleeing the violence. Local reporters in Maungdaw told The Irrawaddy that businesspeople, government workers, and others are leaving. "Only men who can defend themselves are staying in the town," said a local reporter under the condition of anonymity. "The rest [of the Arakanese] are moving to more peaceful towns in Rakhine." The Irrawaddy met eight families appealing for funds from the public near Buthidaung jetty on Thursday afternoon in order to buy tickets to Sittwe.  Thick grey clouds rolled above the town, releasing a downpour that stirred the displaced people to fix tarpaulin over the heads of their children. Kha Yay Myaing village resident of southern Maungdaw, Daw Ma Oo Sein, who was among the crowd, said her son was killed by ARSA militants on the way to Border Guard Post 3-mile checkpoint. Other family members escaped, she said. "I don't want to stay in this place anymore," she added. "Life is more precious than property." The post Arson and Bloodshed in Rakhine's Maungdaw appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Molotov Cocktail Thrown at Myanmar Embassy in Indonesia Posted: 03 Sep 2017 04:08 AM PDT JAKARTA — A molotov cocktail was thrown at the Myanmar embassy in Indonesian capital of Jakarta in the early hours on Sunday, Jakarta police said, causing a small fire. This comes amid mounting anger in the Southeast Asian nation, home to the world's biggest Muslim population, over violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. A police officer patrolling a street behind the embassy spotted a fire on the second floor of the building at around 2.35 a.m. Jakarta time and alerted the police officers guarding the front gate of the embassy, according to a statement by Jakarta police on Sunday. After the fire was extinguished, police found a shattered beer bottle with a wick attached to it, the statement said, adding that the unknown perpetrator is suspected to have driven away from the scene in an MPV car. Jakarta police is currently investigating the incident, said spokesman Argo Yuwono. Police are yet to find out the motive behind the attack. A group of activists on Saturday held a protest at the embassy calling Nobel Prize Committee to withdraw Nobel Prize from Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, state news agency Antara wrote. Protests continued on Sunday in Jakarta's city central, with dozens of people under Islamic groups and activist groups calling Indonesian government to be actively involved in solving the human rights violation against the Rohingya community. The treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar's roughly 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority that has long complained of persecution. Aid agencies estimate about 73,000 Rohingya have fled into neighboring Bangladesh from Myanmar since violence erupted last week. The post Molotov Cocktail Thrown at Myanmar Embassy in Indonesia appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| North Korea Conducts Sixth Nuclear Test Posted: 03 Sep 2017 02:22 AM PDT SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said it successfully tested an advanced hydrogen bomb on Sunday, marking a dramatic escalation in the isolated state's stand-off with the United States over its nuclear weapons program. Japanese and South Korean officials said an earthquake detected near the North's test site was around 10 times more powerful than previous detonations, and concluded the North had conducted its sixth nuclear test. There was no independent confirmation that the detonation was a hydrogen bomb. It was the North's first nuclear test since US President Donald Trump took office, and marked a direct challenge to Trump, who hours earlier had talked by phone with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the "escalating" nuclear crisis in the region. North Korea said in an announcement on state television that a hydrogen bomb test ordered by leader Kim Jong Un was a "perfect success" and a "meaningful" step in completing the country's nuclear weapons programs. The bomb was designed to be mounted on its newly developed intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the North said in the announcement, which came hours after the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported a 6.3 magnitude quake. A US official who studies North Korea's military and politics said it was too early to determine if a test supported the North's claim that has succeeded in developing a thermonuclear weapon, "much less one that could be mounted on an ICBM and re-enter Earth's atmosphere without burning up." The latest nuclear test comes amid heightened regional tension following Pyongyang's two tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in July that potentially could fly about 10,000 km (6,200 miles), putting many parts of the mainland United States within range. Japan immediately raised the prospect of further sanctions against the isolated North, with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga saying that curbs on its oil trade would be on the table. Under third-generation leader Kim, North Korea has been pursuing a nuclear device small and light enough to fit on a long-range ballistic missile, without affecting its range and making it capable of surviving re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere. One expert said the size of Sunday's detonation meant it was possible it could be a hydrogen bomb test. "The power is 10 or 20 times or even more than previous ones," Said Kune Y. Suh, a nuclear engineering professor at Seoul National University. "That scale is to the level where anyone can say a hydrogen bomb test." Air Raid Sirens Witnesses in the Chinese city of Yanji, on the border with North Korea, said they felt a tremor that lasted roughly 10 seconds, followed by an aftershock. China said it had detected a second, 4.6 magnitude quake with near identical coordinates eight minutes later. "I was eating brunch just over the border here in Yanji when we felt the whole building shake," Michael Spavor, director of the Paektu Cultural Exchange, which promotes business and cultural ties with North Korea. "It lasted for about five seconds. The city air raid sirens started going off." South Korea's military said the first earthquake "appeared to be manmade." A meeting of Seoul's National Security Council has been convened, national news agency Yonhap reported. "North Korea's mission is quite clear when it comes to this latest atomic test: to develop a nuclear arsenal that can strike all of Asia and the US homeland," Harry Kazianis, director of defense studies at the conservative Center for the National Interest in Washington, said. "This test is just another step towards such a goal. None of us should be shocked by Pyongyang's latest actions." Earthquakes triggered by North Korean nuclear tests have gradually increased in magnitude since Pyongyang's first test in 2006, indicating the isolated country is steadily improving the destructive power of its nuclear technology. After the fifth nuclear test in September, USGS measured a magnitude of 5.3, while South Korean monitors said the blast caused a 5.0 magnitude earthquake. North Korea, which carries out its nuclear and missile programs in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions and sanctions, "recently succeeded" in making a more advanced hydrogen bomb that will be loaded on to an ICBM, state news agency KCNA reported hours before Sunday's test. "All components of the H-bomb were homemade and all the processes…were put on the Juche basis, thus enabling the country to produce powerful nuclear weapons as many as it wants," KCNA quoted Kim as saying. Juche is North Korea's homegrown ideology of self-reliance that is a mix of Marxism and extreme nationalism preached by state founder Kim Il Sung, the current leader's grandfather. It says its weapons programs are needed to counter US aggression. A hydrogen bomb can achieve thousands of kilotons of explosive yield—massively more powerful than some 10 to 15 kilotons that North Korea's last nuclear test in September was estimated to have produced, similar to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. Hourglass-Shaped Device Kim Jong Un, who visited the country's nuclear weapons institute, "watched an H-bomb to be loaded into new ICBM" and "set forth tasks to be fulfilled in the research into nukes," KCNA said. Pictures released by the agency showed Kim inspecting a silver-colored, hourglass-shaped warhead in the visit accompanied by nuclear scientists. The shape shows a marked difference from pictures of the ball-shaped device North Korea released in March last year, and appears to indicate the appearance of a two-stage thermonuclear weapon, or a hydrogen bomb, said Lee Choon-geun, senior research fellow at state-run Science and Technology Policy Institute. Tensions on the Korean peninsula have been high since last month when North Korea threatened to launch missiles into the sea near the strategically located US Pacific territory of Guam after Trump said Pyongyang would face "fire and fury" if it threatened the United States. North Korea further raised regional tensions on Tuesday by launching an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan, drawing international condemnation. Trump and Abe spoke by phone and said that in face of an "escalating" situation with North Korea that close cooperation between their countries and with South Korea was needed, Abe told reporters. The United States has repeatedly urged China, the North's sole major ally, to do more to rein in its neighbor. Impoverished North Korea and the rich, democratic South are technically still at war because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North regularly threatens to destroy the South and its main ally, the United States. The post North Korea Conducts Sixth Nuclear Test appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Putting Myanmar’s ‘Buddhist Extremism’ in an International Context Posted: 02 Sep 2017 10:42 PM PDT This article further develops an idea I had briefly discussed in an earlier piece written for New Mandala in February 2017. A recent phenomenon in Myanmar, which has been called by different names by commentators depending on their preference, has put the country in the international spotlight. It has been characterized, among others terms, as "Buddhist nationalist," "ultra-nationalist," "militant Buddhist" and "Buddhist extremist," the latter being used in the title of this article. Ma Ba Tha or the Organization for the Protection of Race and Religion, being the largest of the groups described by these various terms, has triggered a good deal of scholarly and journalistic attention. What is problematic with the articles such as the ones using the terms quoted above is that most of them overemphasize the role of these groups as promoters of Islamophobia. In order to advance our understanding of this worrying trend, I will make the case here that more attention needs to be given to another role Buddhist nationalist groups play, which has hitherto been glossed over or commented on only in passing: that is, that they are in fact voracious consumers, albeit uncritical and selective, of global media coverage on Islam. This is where the international factor comes in. Based on my reading of recent literature of the Buddhist nationalists in the Burmese language, I have observed at least three ways in which the international factor feeds into Islamophobia, as consumed and purveyed by these groups in Myanmar. First of all, incidents of violence perpetrated by Muslims, from Boko Haram to ISIS to the suicide bombings of "Islamic terrorists," have found their way into the literature of Myanmar's Buddhist nationalist groups. For instance, one speaker at the third annual assembly of Ma Ba Tha in June 2016 reported that "suicide bombings are becoming daily occurrences in countries like Syria, Somalia, Nigeria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh." More to the point, Maung Thwe Chun, one of the most influential lay figures in the Ma Ba Tha movement and a prolific writer, asked, "Who could say that there isn't going to be war given that Al Qaeda has declared jihad [on Myanmar]?" These quotations are just a smattering of a growing body of Buddhist nationalist thought on Islamic terrorism growing out of global media coverage. Secondly, the rise of xenophobic populism in the West, which has a significant Islamophobic element, has played well into the hands of Myanmar's "Buddhist nationalists," lending credibility and justification to their arguments and narratives. For instance, the poster child of extreme Buddhist nationalists, Ashin Wirathu—who is highly respected among Ma Ba Tha leadership—wasted little time in congratulating Donald Trump on his election, thanks in large part to the latter's anti-Muslim rhetoric in the campaign. Many others of a milder nationalist persuasion also did the same on Facebook and Twitter. Likewise, in an article in Thaki Thwe, one of Ma Ba Tha's journals, a leading member of the organization, Dr. Ashin Thawbaka, wrote that he admires the US president and says "thank you" to him because he "prioritizes the fight against terrorism, national security and nationalist politics." The ripple effects of rising populism are spread all over the world. Ian Buruma, editor of The New York Review of Books and Professor of Democracy, Human Rights, and Journalism at Bard College, writes that Trump's "America first approach, Islamophobia, support for torture, and attacks on the mainstream media are being used by anti-liberals and autocrats worldwide to justify closing their borders and crushing 'enemies of the people'–with violence if need be." Lastly, what happens in the Muslim world and the state of affairs for religious minorities exerts a huge influence on the attitudes of the Buddhist nationalists towards Muslims in the country. In the most recent blasphemy index published by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, the five worst performing countries have a Muslim majority: Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Qatar. In the latest Human Rights Watch report, countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Egypt, all members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have appalling records on human rights, including rights of religious minorities. One can argue that Myanmar trumps all these countries as a human rights violator, however, the point remains that Muslim-majority states are doing a rather poor job of defending minorities of all kinds within their own borders. Buddhist nationalists use the poor human rights records of Muslim-majority states to frame their arguments and construct their narratives; the irony, though, is that they are admitting that they are more like their critics, who they want to push a peg or two down the moral ladder. By bringing these points to the discussion, I am not defending cultural relativism, but only highlighting the quagmire of complexity into which events around the world are dragging people. Pushing the international factor out of the context misses a crucial part of the picture, and thus impoverishes the debate. For example, the author of a recent Economist piece, writes the following: "Buddhists account for almost 90 percent of Myanmar's population. There is no evidence that their share of the population is declining. The monkhood, or sangha, is as popular as ever with an estimated 500,000 members—almost 1 percent of the population. Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's leader, is a practicing Buddhist." The suggestion seems to be that it is irrational for such an overwhelming majority to fear such an unthreatening minority. The term "siege mentality" has been used to describe this supposedly irrational feeling. However, as I have already pointed out, with growing criticism from the Islamic world and declaration of jihad from Al Qaeda—although these have come only as a response to the persecution of a Muslim minority in western Myanmar internationally known as the "Rohingya"—the minority feeling among the Buddhist nationalists is hardly unfounded. Furthermore, this majority's minority complex is not unique to Buddhists in Myanmar. In Religion and Nationalism in Southeast Asia, Professor Joseph Liow describes a similar sentiment in Malaysia, where "the numerical majority has been accompanied by a "minority mindset" defined by insecurity toward the religious rights of the Muslim community, at least on the part of these Islamists and Muslim conservatives who sought—and were denied—a more assertive role for Islam in politics and national affairs." The emergence of groups like Ma Ba Tha, which have counterparts in even the so-called liberal parts of Europe such as France and Germany, is a localized response to rising Islamophobia in the world. The reception of these groups and operating space in their own countries will vary depending on a number of enabling factors. It is worth noting that just as white supremacists have been roundly condemned by some government officials, members of the public and the media in the US, Buddhist nationalists have been subjected to severe criticism in the local media, social media and in public campaigns. Furthermore, it is imprecise to characterize Ma Ba Tha simply as anti-Islamic. It is not that it is not anti-Islamic, but it is more anti-Rohingya than against Islam if its official statements are any guide. Islamophobia is a lot less popular than the anti-Rohingya feeling widely shared in the country, but the two are separate things, although inextricably linked. In other words, in the Buddhist nationalist literature I have reviewed, the Buddhist nationalists categorically reject the term "Rohingya" and their legal claim to the Myanmar state. In contrast, regarding the non-Rohingya Muslims, they recognize their legal status and the citizenship rights that come with it; what they dispute is their belonging to the Myanmar race or the Myanmar nation. In ending, I draw the following conclusions. The international factor must be given a much more prominent place in the debate on so-called Buddhist nationalism in Myanmar, to the extent that developments and events do not occur in isolation, but reinforce and inspire one another, which I argue to be the case. Doing so will caution us against searching for solutions in the context of Myanmar alone. Criticism against Myanmar is justified and must be sustained as long as its human rights record remains as abysmal as it currently is. Existence of human rights violators around the world does not give it reason to be one, but to try to stop being one. However, progress on this front in Myanmar will be more or less conditioned by progress in the rest of the world. International factors such as rising anti-Muslim populism in the West and prevailing human rights norms in the Islamic world will have an influence on the attitudes of the Burmese, including Buddhist nationalists' attitudes towards Muslims. The OIC have called on the Myanmar government to protect the rights of the Muslim Rohingya minority. However, as I have pointed out, members of the OIC in general themselves have such a poor record of protecting minorities that such calls come out as hypocritical and gain little purchase among the Buddhists. Things are not all bad though. The permissive space in which the Buddhist nationalists operate is always in flux and recent actions by the National League for Democracy government and civil society groups show that the excesses of these groups are not unchallenged. Anti-Islamic sentiments in the country are not set in stone, and we should avoid essentializing them as such. Aye Thein is a Research Fellow based at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford. He currently works on the "Understanding 'Buddhist Nationalism' in Myanmar: Religion, Gender, Identity and Conflict in a Political Transition" project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council of the UK. The post Putting Myanmar's 'Buddhist Extremism' in an International Context appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
| Yemeni al Qaeda Leader Calls for Attacks in Support of Myanmar’s Rohingya Posted: 02 Sep 2017 10:26 PM PDT DUBAI — A senior leader of al Qaeda's Yemeni branch has called for attacks on Myanmar authorities in support of minority Rohingya Muslims, the SITE monitoring center said on Saturday as thousands fled what they say is a government assault on their villages. Myanmar's roughly 1.1 million Rohingya pose one of the biggest challenges facing leader Aung San Suu Kyi, accused by Western critics of failing to support the Muslim minority that has long complained of persecution. In a video message released by al Qaeda's al-Malahem media foundation, Khaled Batarfi called on Muslims in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Malaysia to support their Rohingya Muslim brethren against the "enemies of Allah." Batarfi, who was freed from a Yemeni prison in 2015 when Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) seized the port city of Mukalla, also urged al Qaeda's Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) branch to carry out attacks. "So spare no effort in waging jihad against them and repulsing their attacks, and beware of letting down our brothers in Burma [Myanmar]," Batarfi said, according to the US-based monitoring center. About 58,600 Rohingya have fled into neighboring Bangladesh from Myanmar, according to UN refugee agency UNHCR. Myanmar officials accuse the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) of burning homes. The group claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks on security posts last week that prompted clashes and a large army counter-offensive. But Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh say the Myanmar army is conducting a campaign of arson and killings to drive them out. The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and regarded as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots that date back centuries. Bangladesh, where more than 400,000 Rohingya live since they began fleeing Myanmar in the 1990s, is also growing increasingly hostile to the minority. The post Yemeni al Qaeda Leader Calls for Attacks in Support of Myanmar's Rohingya appeared first on The Irrawaddy. |
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