The violent attacks on the Rohingya Muslim community by the Burmese military continue, now labeled “a textbook case of ethnic cleansing,” in the words of the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights. The refugees, fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh, lack adequate food, shelter, and medical care.
Two weeks ago, using the pretense of attacks generated by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), who attacked dozens of police posts and reportedly killed 12 Burmese security personnel,
the military unleashed what it called “clearance operations” to root out Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army militants. Almost 300,000 refugees have since fled over the border into Bangladesh’s border district of Cox’s Bazar, where they have given horrific accounts of the violence.
Survivors said the military was targeting civilians with shootings and burning of Rohingya villages in an apparent attempt to purge Rakhine state of Muslims. Satellite images have supported their accounts, while the bodies of killed Rohingya have been pulled from rivers and others have allegedly been burned.
The most recent estimate puts the number of refugees at 313,000. Prior to the ethnic cleansing campaign, there were about 1 million Rohingya in Burma.
Most of the refugees arriving in Bangladesh are women and children, and dozens of Rohingya have been found dead near the Bangladeshi border.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner and de facto leader of Burma, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has been criticized for years now for not acknowledging the oppression of the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Rohingya have lived in Buddhist-majority Burma for centuries, and are concentrated in the state of Rakhine, but the Burmese government considers them to be foreigners and refuses to grant them citizenship.
The TIbetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama has noted that the Buddha would have helped the Rohingya Muslims , and encouraged Aung San Suu Kyi "to reach out to all sections of society to try to restore friendly relations".
Additionally, Nobel Prize recipients Desmond Tutu as well as Malala Yousafzai have exhorted Aung San Suu Kyi to intervene to quell the violence.
Human Rights Watch is urging the UN, international agencies, and influential countries to press the Burmese government to allow in humanitarian aid.