Burma: Satellite Images Show 'Destruction'

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 28 Oktober 2012 | 12.14

Human rights campaigners have called for action to end the violence in Burma after a week of sectarian unrest that has shaken the country.

Muslims trying to escape the clashes have taken to rickety wooden boats in an attempt to reach refugee camps but some have still not made it to land.

As nine boats remained unaccounted for, Human Rights Watch called on Burma's reformist government to protect Muslims from "vicious" attacks.

The New York-based group has released satellite images of what it claims is the "near total destruction" of a coastal community around Kyaukpyu.

It identified more than 811 destroyed buildings and houseboats across an area measuring 35 acres after alleged arson attacks on October 24.

Burma satellite image Kyaukpyu before this week's violence (Pic: Human Rights Watch)

Kyaukpyu, which is around 75 miles (120km) south of Sittwe, is crucial to China's most strategic investment in Burma - twin pipelines that will carry oil and natural gas to western provinces.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said: "Burma's government urgently needs to provide security for the Rohingya in Arakan State, who are under vicious attack.

"Unless the authorities also start addressing the root causes of the violence, it is only likely to get worse."

The UN has warned that Burma's fledgling democracy could be "irreparably damaged" by a week of communal violence.

It comes five months after machete and arson attacks killed more than 80 people and displaced at least 75,000 in the same region.

Calm does now appear to have been restored after the Home Minister warned the government could declare martial law and impose emergency rule.

Burma after alleged arson attacks Kyaukpyu pictured on October 25 (Pic: Human Rights Watch)

A committee of lawmakers led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has called for security reinforcements and swift legal action against those behind the fighting in which at least 67 people were killed.

Another 95 are believed to have been injured and 2,818 houses burned down.

The chaos suggests the quasi-civilian government is struggling to contain historic ethnic and religious tensions between Rohingyas and ethnic Rakhines that were suppressed during five decades of military rule that ended last year.         

Burma's estimated 800,000 Rohingyas are officially stateless, and regarded by the government of the majority Buddhist country as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Bangladesh does not recognise them either, and the United Nations has referred to them as "virtually friendless".

It is still unclear what set off the latest arson and killing that started last Sunday.

In June, tension flared after the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman that was blamed on Muslims, but there was no obvious trigger this time.

Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific deputy director, Isabelle Arradon, said: "These latest incidents between Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhists demonstrate how urgent it is that the authorities intervene to protect everyone, and break the cycle of discrimination and violence."


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