(Bangkok) – Attacks and arson in late October by ethnic Arakanese against Rohingya Muslims in
Burma’s
Arakan State were at times carried out with the support of state
security forces and local government officials, Human Rights Watch said
today. New satellite imagery obtained by Human Rights Watch shows
extensive destruction of homes and other property in the predominantly
Rohingya Muslim areas of Pauktaw, Mrauk-U, and Myebon townships, all
sites of violence and displacement in late October 2012.
Rohingya and Arakanese residents of Pauktaw and Mrauk-U townships
described to Human Rights Watch the sectarian attacks and arson that
occurred in those areas on October 23 and 24, which in some cases
involved state security forces. Similar violence between Arakanese
Buddhists and Rohingya and non-Rohingya Muslims, also involving state
security forces, occurred in seven other townships in late October.
US President Barack Obama is
scheduled to make a one-day visit
to Rangoon on November 19 to meet with Burmese President Thein Sein and
opposition leaders.“President Obama should make clear to the Burmese
president that the attacks on the Rohingya need to stop if the Burma
government wants to avoid renewed sanctions and the suspension of
renewed military-to-military dialogues with the United States,” said
Brad Adams,
Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “This is crunch time because
Burma’s failure to contain sectarian violence in Arakan State and hold
accountable those responsible calls into question the Burmese
government’s stated goal of becoming a rights-respecting, multi-ethnic
state.”
In satellite images of four townships in Arakan State that experienced
violence in late October and in the state capital, Sittwe, which
experienced violence in June, Human Rights Watch identified a total of
4,855 destroyed structures. These images show zones of documented
destruction covering 348 acres of largely residential areas
predominantly home to Rohingya Muslims who have since fled and to Kaman
Muslims in Kyauk Pyu.
The images, which were captured on November 3 and 8, are not exhaustive
and reflect damages in only five of the thirteen townships that have
experienced violence in Arakan State since June.Rohingya from Pauktaw
now at camps near Sittwe told Human Rights Watch that for weeks they
faced hostile Arakanese mobs, sometimes led by Buddhist monks, who
threatened violence against them and anyone else found selling or
providing the Rohingya with food or other assistance. They said they
repeatedly notified local authorities of these threats, but insufficient
action was taken. In late October, just prior to the violence, Rohingya
were called to a series of community meetings held by local Arakanese
members of a nationalist political party and local government officials
apparently aimed at convincing the local Muslim population to abandon
their homes.
On October 23, when boats filled with several hundred armed Arakanese
descended on the riverside Rohingya villages in Pauktaw, the Rohingya
fled, fearing for their lives, and their villages were razed.
Displaced Rohingya and Kaman Muslims told Human Rights Watch that some
members of the state security forces provided them temporary protection
at various points in late October – for example by firing shots in the
air to fend off hostile Arakanese mobs, or by providing water and food
to their boatloads afloat offshore who were being denied permission to
come ashore in Sittwe. But these instances of protection were offset by
violence committed against the Rohingya and Kaman by other groups of
security forces. For example, on October 26, soldiers from Nasaka, a
government border guard force under the command of the army, severely
beat dozens of displaced Rohingya who had clambered off boats on to the
shores near Sittwe.
The new satellite imagery shows near 100 percent destruction of Yan
Thei village in Mrauk-U Township. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that
Arakanese mobs armed with swords, spears, homemade guns, bows and
arrows, and other weapons descended on the village on October 23, and
fighting ensued. The Rohingya were ultimately surrounded and
overwhelmed, and survivors fled by land to an area outside the village.
Gruesome casualties were sustained on both sides, including beheadings
and killings of women and children.
After October’s violence, there are now more than 110,000 internally
displaced persons in Arakan State, nearly all Rohingya Muslims. “People
are still coming every day,” a displaced Rohingya near Baw Du Ba
displaced person camp told Human Rights Watch.
Yan Thei Village, Mrauk-U Township: Pre-attack View of Village
Yan Thei Village, Mrauk-U Township, on 11 February 2012. Pre-attack view of village in satellite image.
Damage Analysis: Human Rights Watch; Image © DigitalGlobe 2012; Source: EUSI
Yan Thei Village, Mrauk-U Township: Post-attack View of Village
Yan
Thei Village, Mrauk-U Township, on 3 November 2012: Post-attack view of
village in satellite image with annotated building damages.
Damage Analysis: Human Rights Watch; Image ©: DigitalGlobe 2012; Source: EUSI
The displaced Rohingya populations from the sites of destruction
depicted in the new satellite images are in dire need of shelter, food,
water, sanitation, and medical care, Human Rights Watch said.The
displaced from Pauktaw have been forced to seek refuge in beachside
coastal areas outside Sittwe, in treeless, makeshift camps under the hot
daytime sun without adequate food, potable water, and other
necessities. One makeshift camp with an estimated 1,200 displaced
persons lacks latrines and the group is subsisting primarily on
donations from nearby Rohingya villages, which themselves struggle to
survive. Some of the displaced had tarps for shelter bearing the logo of
a United Nations agency that they said they purchased from local
merchants.
Burmese security forces have restricted the access of international
humanitarian agencies to the area and to even more remote coastal areas
where others from Pauktaw are seeking refuge. Since their arrival some
displaced persons reported they have been beaten by local security
forces.
The displaced Rohingya from Yan Thei are likewise in dire need of
aid, Human Rights Watch said. They are living in makeshift shelters
outside their now razed village. According to the displaced, there has
been no sustained international access at their camp, and government
officials are not permitting them to leave the area. Burmese government
officials have provided only a limited amount of aid.
Groups of displaced Arakanese Buddhists from Yan Thei have sought
refuge in two monasteries in Mrauk-U town, where they appear to have
received sufficient amounts of aid from the local Arakanese community.
Unlike with the Rohingya, the government is not restricting the
movements of ethnic Arakanese.
While violence had not affected Mrauk-U Township in June, there was
previous violence in Pauktaw. According to local accounts, approximately
14 homes in Pauktaw were burned down in June. Villagers told Human
Rights Watch the previous arson and subsequent threats and incidents of
violence were clear indications of the risk of future violence.
“The satellite images and eyewitness accounts reveal that local mobs
at times with official support sought to finish the job of removing
Rohingya from these areas,” Adams said. “The central government's
failure to take serious action to ensure accountability for the June
violence fostered impunity, and makes it responsible for later attacks
not only when security forces were directly involved but also when they
weren’t.”
The Rohingya have faced decades of state sponsored discrimination and
abuses. Burma’s 1982 Citizenship Law effectively stripped the Rohingya
of citizenship, rendering them stateless.
Human Rights Watch previously released satellite
imagery showing
extensive destruction of homes and other property in a predominantly
ethnic Kaman Muslim area of the coastal town of Kyauk Pyu, identifying
811 destroyed structures on the eastern coastal edge of Kyauk Pyu
following arson attacks conducted on October 23 and 24. The area of
destruction in Kyauk Pyu measures 35 acres and includes 633 buildings
and 178 houseboats and floating barges adjacent on the water, all of
which were razed.
Human Rights Watch investigations found that local security forces
killed ethnic Kaman Muslims in Kyauk Pyu while soldiers from the Burmese
army stood by and watched. Members of the Muslim community in Kyauk Pyu
also attacked and in some instances killed ethnic Arakanese before
fleeing by sea toward Sittwe.“The Burmese government needs to get
serious about addressing the root causes of the sectarian violence in
Arakan State, including Rohingya statelessness,” Adams said. “The
absence of accountability for this horrific violence gives a green light
to extremists to continue their attacks and abuses.”
Background
All four districts of Arakan State – Sittwe, Maungdaw, Kyauk
Pyu, and Thandwe – have experienced violence since June 2012. Violence
between Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims reignited on October 21
and continued to some extent all week in 9 of the state’s 17 townships:
Pauktaw, Mrauk-U, Myebon, Kyauk Pyu, Ramree, Kyauktaw, Minbya,
Rathedaung, and Thandwe. Four other townships experienced serious
violence in June and thereafter: Sittwe, Maungdaw, Buthidaung, and
Toungop. Many of the places targeted in October had not been attacked in
the earlier round of sectarian violence that consumed Sittwe and other
parts of northern Arakan State in June. The sectarian violence that
erupted in Arakan State in June devastated both Arakanese Buddhist and
Rohingya Muslim communities, both of whom lacked
protection from security forces.
