UN human rights chief Volker Turk urges Bangladesh and different nations to “present efficient safety” to the most recent refugees.
Escalating violence in Myanmar’s conflict-torn Rakhine state has pressured one other 45,000 members of the Rohingya minority to flee, the United Nations has warned, amid accusations of beheadings, killings and burning of property.
Clashes have rocked Rakhine state since Arakan Military (AA) rebels attacked forces of the ruling navy authorities in November, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since a navy coup in 2021. The combating has caught the Muslim minority group within the center for a very long time. thought of outsiders by most Buddhist residents, whether or not from the federal government or the insurgent aspect.
The AA says it’s combating for higher autonomy for the ethnic Rakhine inhabitants within the state, which can also be dwelling to some 600,000 members of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority, who’ve chosen to stay within the nation.
Greater than 1,000,000 Rohingya have taken refuge in neighboring Bangladesh after fleeing Rakhine, together with lots of of hundreds in 2017 throughout an earlier crackdown by the navy that’s now the topic of a United Nations genocide court docket case.
U.N. rights workplace spokeswoman Elizabeth Throssell informed reporters in Geneva on Friday that tens of hundreds of civilians have been displaced in current days by combating within the townships of Buthidaung and Maungdaw.
“An estimated 45,000 Rohingya have fled to an space of the Naf River, close to the border with Bangladesh, searching for safety,” he mentioned, whereas urging safety of civilians in accordance with worldwide regulation.
UN human rights chief Volker Turk urged Bangladesh and different nations to “present efficient safety to those that search it, in accordance with worldwide regulation, and guarantee worldwide solidarity with Bangladesh in internet hosting Rohingya refugees in Myanmar.” , mentioned.
However Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury, reporting from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, mentioned that with greater than 1,000,000 Rohingya already within the nation, the federal government has been reluctant to just accept extra, leaving the final refugees caught on the aspect of the border with Myanmar.
‘Beheadings’
James Rodehaver, head of the human rights workplace’s Myanmar workforce, described the horrific state of affairs that many had been fleeing.
He mentioned his workforce had obtained testimonies and seen satellite tv for pc photographs, on-line movies and images indicating that the city of Buthidaung had been “largely burned”.
“We have now obtained info indicating that the hearth began on Might 17… two days after the navy withdrew from the city… and the Arakan Military claimed to have taken full management of the village.”
One survivor had described seeing dozens of lifeless our bodies whereas fleeing Buthidaung, whereas one other had mentioned he was among the many tens of hundreds who fled town solely to seek out themselves blocked by the Arakan Military on the street west in direction of the city of Maungdaw. .
Different survivors additionally mentioned they’d been abused and extorted by AA members as they tried to achieve Rohingya villages south of town.
Within the weeks earlier than the Buthidaung fireplace, Rodehaver mentioned the human rights workplace had documented new assaults on Rohingya civilians by each the AA and the navy in northern Rakhine, together with by means of airstrikes.
The workforce had documented “a minimum of 4 instances of beheadings,” he mentioned, including that they’d decided with a excessive stage of confidence that they had been carried out by AA.
There have additionally been earlier accusations that the Rohingya are getting used as human shields.
Al Jazeera’s Chowdhury mentioned the Rohingya had been “caught within the center”.
“They’re in a precarious state of affairs,” he mentioned, including that current Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar had informed him that each the AA and the navy have been making an attempt to recruit them to struggle.
“They’re threatened that if they don’t unite, their villages will probably be burned,” he mentioned.