Jun 12, 2012

Myanmar - Riots threaten Myanmar's image

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SITTWE, MYANMAR - North-Western Myanmar was tense yesterday, after sectarian violence engulfed its largest city over the weekend, with rival mobs of Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists torching houses, and police firing into the air to disperse crowds.

At least eight people were killed and many wounded, said the authorities, in the worst communal violence since a reformist government replaced a junta last year and vowed to forge unity in one of Asia's most ethnically diverse countries.

"We have not had any sleep for the last five days," said Ms Ma Ohn May, a 42-year-old textile-shop owner in the coastal port of Sittwe, adding that residents were holed up and bracing themselves for further ethnic clashes.

The fighting erupted last Friday in the Rakhine state's town of Maungdaw, but has spread to the capital Sittwe and villages nearby, prompting the government to declare on Sunday a state of emergency and impose a dawn-to-dusk curfew.

On Sunday, Reuters saw residents of a mainly Rakhine village near Sittwe set ablaze houses which they said were Muslim-owned.

Foreign-aid workers have begun pulling out, aid sources said.

Plumes of black smoke rose over parts of Sittwe, a port town of mainly wooden houses where Buddhists and Muslims have long lived in uneasy proximity. Some Buddhists were seen carrying bamboo stakes and other makeshift weapons.

Mr Zaw Htay, director of the President's Office, said: "We have now ordered troops to protect the airport and the Rakhine villages under attack in Sittwe."

The unrest undermines the image of ethnic unity and stability that helped persuade the United States and Europe to suspend economic sanctions this year, while increasing curfews could threaten tourism and foreign investment - rewards for emerging from nearly half a century of army rule.

The region's Rohingya Muslims are seen by the government as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and are not officially recognised as one of the country's national ethnic minorities.

Although some are recent settlers, many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

The government's position has rendered the Rohingya people effectively stateless, and rights groups said that they have long suffered discrimination.

Mr Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said: "It's a tinderbox. These people feel like they're trapped in a box, surrounded by enemies, and there is an extremely high level of frustration.

AFP/Reuters


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