Myanmar villages burn as Rakhine unrest rages

Smoke rises out of what is Thought to Be a burning village near Maungdaw from Myanmar’s Rakhine state© AFP STR

May Yu River (Myanmar) (AFP) – Smoke billowed from at least three burning villages in the remote section of Rakhine state where Myanmar’s military is carrying out sourcing for militants, an AFP reporter saw Wednesday.

The violence, which spanned six days ago after Rohingya militants staged surprise raids on police posts, has shown little indication of abating, leaving at least 110 confirmed dead and sending tens of thousands fleeing.

The displaced include cultural Rakhine Buddhists and the persecuted  Rohingya Muslim minority, tens of thousands of whom have massed at the “zero line” boundary with Bangladesh which they’re barred from crossing.

The figures of two Rohingya women and two children washed up on Bangladeshi land on Wednesday, an official there told AFP, as villagers took to rickety boats or tried to swim along a frontier river.  

On Wednesday villagers in Rakhine continued to flee their own houses.

A Rohingya villager close to the town of Maungdaw, speaking on condition of anonymity, said residents fled his hamlet as safety forces approached and torched their homes.

“Villagers are running away… where can we need to live today?” He told AFP by telephone.

It was not immediately possible to confirm his account but Rohingya who have made it to Bangladesh have brought comparable testimony with them.

Large fires were visible early Wednesday in the May Yu river that cuts through the region worst hit by unrest, according to an AFP reporter traveling by ship on a Myanmar government-led visit to Maungdaw.

Maximum restraint?

Police shield UN convoy which carries INGO and UN stall because they flee in Maungdaw later Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) assaulted, in Buthidaung, Myanmar August 28, 2017. RETUERS/Soe Zeya Tun

Outlying villages have observed a number of the worst violence, raising fears security operations are shielded from scrutiny from the threat and inaccessibility of the region.

Rohingya villagers are stuck between authorities and troops hunting down the insurgents and militants offering irregular resistance.

But testimony gathered from AFP in the displaced reaching Bangladesh suggests some Rohinyga men are heeding a call-to-arms from the militants and therefore are staying behind to struggle in their villages.

Even the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army claims its men launched Friday’s surprise attacks on police posts, murdering 11 state officials, together with knives, homemade explosives and a couple of guns.  

After years in which the Rohingya largely prevented violence, the group last October performed deadly attacks on police posts.

That prompted a months-long security crackdown from Myanmar’s military which left scores dead and forced 87,000 people to flee to Bangladesh.

The UN considers that military crackdown could have resorted to ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya — allegations refused by the military.

On Sunday Pope Francis led mounting foreign calls for the protection of “our Rohingya brothers”.

The UN has also urged Myanmar to protect civilians during its own operations and called Bangladesh to allow the displaced into their territory — something Dhaka is loath to do given it already hosts 400,000 displaced Rohingya.

A Myanmar government official on Tuesday said security forces could use “maximum restraint” in coming days insisted the country’s right to defend itself by “terrorists.”

Myanmar’s Rohingya are the world’s largest stateless minority and suffer serious restrictions on their motions.

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