Buddhist villagers fled their homes yesterday as renewed sectarian violence hit western Myanmar, officials said, blaming Muslim Rohingya people from a “neighboring country” for the unrest.
Police and army reinforcements have been deployed to Rakhine State — which borders Bangladesh — to quell the violence after villagers’ homes were set ablaze early yesterday, one government official said.
Unrest flared on Friday when at least four Buddhists were killed in riots in Rakhine, which is home to large numbers of Rohingya, a Muslim group described by the UN as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.
Photo: AFP
Armed Rohingya came early in the morning “to destroy and burn down the villages,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “They came from the neighboring country by boats.”
Myanmar, which considers the stateless Rohingya as foreigners and not one of the nation’s ethnic groups, has an estimated 750,000 Rohingya, living mainly in Rakhine, according to the UN.
Another 1 million or more are believed to live in exile in other countries.
“We can confirm so far that about 386 houses were burnt down ... and some buildings were also destroyed by Rohingyas,” the official said.
A second official confirmed the build-up of security forces as the state media said a night curfew would remain until further notice and announced a ban on five or more people gathering in some villages.
“The military commands have been increased ... We can be attacked by Rohingyas in the future inside the country. We all should be in alert,” said the second official, who also did not want to be named.
Tensions have flared in Rakhine since 10 Muslims on a bus were killed by an angry Buddhist mob on June 2, believing mistakenly that the perpetrators of the recent rape and murder of a Rakhine woman were on board.
Religious clashes occur periodically in Myanmar, and Rakhine State — which has a large Muslim minority population — is a flashpoint for tensions.
Buddhists make up about 89 percent of the population of Myanmar, with Muslims officially representing 4 percent.
The violence threatens to overshadow reconciliation efforts following a series of dramatic political reforms that came after the end of almost half a century of military rule last year.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a