At least 30,000 Rohingya Muslim Refugees trapped in Myanmar mountains without food

At least 30,000 Rohingya Muslim Refugees trapped in Myanmar mountains without food

By Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net)

MYANMAR (ANS – Sept. 7, 2017) -- Tens of thousands of refugees are trapped on the border of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) into Bangladesh without basic food and medicine amid operations by the Myanmar military, which have already killed hundreds.

Satellite photos released by Human Rights Watch Saturday showed what they are desperate to escape -- entire villages torched to the ground in clashes between Myanmar's armed forces and local militants, according to an article by Rebecca Wright and Ben Westcott, for CNN.

More than 73,000 Rohingyas have now fled across the border since August 25, the United Nations said Sunday. But in northern Rakhine State there are reports of at least another 30,000 Rohingyas trapped in hilly terrain without basic supplies of food, water or medicine, according to activists.

The Rohingya, a Muslim minority in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, are considered some of the most persecuted people in the world. Myanmar, also known as Burma, considers them Bangladeshi and Bangladesh says they're Burmese. It is the second time in less than a year that a military crackdown has led to a mass exodus.

Stranded

Unable to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh and fearful to return to what's left of their homes, Rohingya activists say the refugees are stranded between Maungdaw and Rathedaung townships. Videos provided to CNN by activists show dozens of men, women and children stranded on a mountain, surrounded by dense jungle, living in makeshift shelters made of sticks and sheets.

"The human lives that are most vulnerable must be rescued immediately without delay," executive director of Burma Human Rights Network, Kyaw Win, said in a statement.

The trapped refugees are just some of at least 100,000 Rohingyas who have been forced to flee their homes since August 25, after armed forces began "clearance operations" across Rakhine State. The government blames "terrorists" for starting the violence. Rohingya militants killed 12 security officers in border post attacks two weeks ago, according to state media, intensifying the latest crackdown.

A top military official said the government was "taking great care in solving the (Rakhine State) problem."

Due to Myanmar's policy of shutting off all access to Rakhine state for the media, CNN is not able to verify any figures independently or any stories told by refugees.

Village burned down

Human Rights Watch renewed its calls for the Myanmar government to allow independent observers into Rakhine State, after releasing troubling satellite photos from inside the region.

"This new satellite imagery shows the total destruction of a Muslim village, and prompts serious concerns that the level of destruction in northern Rakhine state may be far worse than originally thought," Human Rights Watch deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said in a statement.

The images were taken on August 31 of Chein Khar Li village in northern Rakhine State. According to Human Rights Watch, they show about 700 buildings have been burned down, making up about 99 percent of the village. "This is only one of 17 sites that we've located where burnings have taken place," Robertson said.

Reports of villages being burned down, allegedly by Myanmar's military, previously emerged in a United Nations report investigating the 2016 crackdown on Rohingyas. Myanmar's government has blamed the most recent violence and property destruction on Rohingya extremists.

'Hacking our people to death'

The Rohingya have long been persecuted by the Myanmar government. Despite living in the country for generations, they've been denied citizenship and are regularly harassed. A separate outbreak of violence in 2016 saw 85,000 Rohingya fleeing across the border, bringing with them horrifying stories of rape, torture and murder inside Rakhine State

Some refugees who poured across the border into Bangladesh told CNN what they had witnessed since the latest crackdown began two weeks ago. "They are beating us, shooting at us and hacking our people to death," Hamida Begum, a refugee who has left everything behind, told CNN. "Many people were killed. Many women were raped and killed. We are very poor."

Top general: Military 'solving the problem'

On Saturday, a top Myanmar general issued an defiant statement on the violence in Rakhine State. Posted to his Facebook page, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said the only action been taken against "Bengalis" was "to ensure everything is within the framework of the law."

"The Bengali problem was a long-standing one which has become an unfinished job despite the efforts of the previous governments to solve it," he said. "The government in office is taking great care in solving the problem."

In his post, Gen. Hlaing didn't address protests made by Bangladesh alleging Myanmar's military had violated their airspace on multiple occasions in the past week.

In a note sent to Myanmar's embassy in Dhaka on Friday, Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs "strongly protested" the incursions and warned it could lead "to an unwarranted situation."

"Bangladesh demanded Myanmar take immediate measures to prevent recurrence of such incursion in the future," a statement posted to the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry's website said.

International condemnation grows

On Sunday night, Indonesia's minister for Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi flew to Myanmar to request the government cease all violence against the Muslim Rohingya minority. Indonesian president Joko Widodo announced the move in a statement, condemning the attacks and demanding real action to help the Rohingyas. Indonesia is the largest Muslim majority country in the world.

Nobel laureate Malala has called out Myanmar's state counsellor and de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi over the violence, saying in a statement she was still waiting for her fellow Nobel Winner to join her in condemning the treatment of Rohingyas. "Every time I see the news, my heart breaks at the suffering of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar," she wrote.

Qatar foreign minister Al Thani said his country "strongly condemn(ed) attacks on Rohingya Muslims during Eid," calling on the country to follow international laws.

Aung San Suu Kyi blames 'terrorists' for Rohingya 'misinformation'

CNN contributors Westcott also reported Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi made her first public comments on the fate of her country's persecuted Rohingya minority since new violence broke out almost two weeks ago.

Suu Kyi, who as Myanmar's state counsellor is the country's de-facto leader, claimed during a phone conversation with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan a "huge iceberg of misinformation" about the Rohingya crisis was being distributed to benefit "terrorists."

According to a readout of the call, she added her government was fighting to ensure "terrorism" didn't spread over the whole of Rakhine state.

Suu Kyi has come under fire in recent days for failing to speak out against the mass killings and displacement of Rohingya by her government, particularly given her previous image as a champion of human rights.

During the call, Suu Kyi said her government was already working to protect the rights of the Rohingya. "We know very well, more than most, what it means to be deprived of human rights and democratic protection," Suu Kyi said, according to a readout of the call.

"So we make sure that all the people in our country are entitled to protection of their rights as well as, the right to, and not just political but social and humanitarian defense."

At least 123,000 Rohingya refugees have poured across the Bangladeshi border in just two weeks after Myanmar's military crackdown. The violence intensified after coordinated attacks on border posts which the government blamed on "terrorists."

Refugees brought with them stories of death and destruction from inside the western Myanmar province. Satellite imagery released by Human Rights Watch allegedly shows entire villages razed to the ground.

International aid heads to Myanmar

Following Erdogan's call with Suu Kyi, a spokesman for the Turkish presidency announced the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) would be allowed to deliver 1,000 tons of aid to Rakhine State.

"The aid will be delivered to the Maungtaw and Buthi Taung areas in the northern regions of Rakhine ... to the hundreds of families displaced from their homes and villages as a result of attacks," spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said. "The first stage of the aid which will be made to the Rohingya who fled to mountainous areas ... includes the food staples of rice and dried fish as well as clothing."

The spokesman added as the region was still unsafe, aid would be delivered via military helicopters in cooperation with Rakhine authorities.

Turkey isn't the only one sending aid to the troubled province either -- the Migrant Offshore Aid Station Foundation (MOAS) announced Monday it would relocate to Myanmar to help fleeing refugees.

MOAS is the organization that has been working since April 2014 to rescue migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe on often unsafe vessels. They claim to have already helped more than 40,000 people, including children.

"Building on MOAS' long-standing dedication to alleviating the plight of the persecuted Rohingya minority, MOAS is therefore undertaking a strategic shift of its operations to South East Asia," the organization announced on their website. "MOAS said they were following a direction from Pope Francis, who on August 27 publicly called for an international response to the Rohingya crisis."

"From there, MOAS will deliver much-needed humanitarian assistance and aid to the Rohingya people, and will work to provide a platform for transparency, advocacy and accountability in the region."

Muslim anger grows worldwide

Myanmar has faced a growing chorus of outrage from across the Muslim world following the most recent outbreak of violence inside Rakhine State. Leaders of several Muslim majority countries, including Turkey, Indonesia and Pakistan, have issued strong statements calling out the ongoing persecution of the Rohingya.

** Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Monday expressed "deep anguish" at the continuing violence, which he termed "deplorable."

** Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi flew to Myanmar on Monday for talks for state councilor Suu Kyi, after her president Joko Widodo said real action was needed to stop the conflict.

** Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to hold talks with Suu Kyi during a state visit to Myanmar on Wednesday.

Multiple countries have also seen large protests in support of the Rohingya people, including a mass march in the Chechnyan capital of Grozny and outside the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres led Western states in condemning the violence, releasing a statement Tuesday saying he is "deeply concerned about the security, humanitarian and human rights situation in Myanmar's Rakhine state."

CNN reporter Angela Dewan answered several questions those in the West may be asking about the Rohingya.

Who are the Rohingya and why are they fleeing? How did it come to this? Here's what you need to know.

Dewan writes: “They have been raped, tortured and killed. They have been crowded on boats, ping-ponged between nations that don't want them. They have been forced into labor and have no rights to their land.

“Rohingya Muslims are among the most persecuted people in the world, and once again, they find themselves running for their lives.”

In the Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, fierce clashes between security forces and Rohingya militants have left hundreds dead. In the past 12 days, around 123,000 Rohingya have fled the country and crossed into Bangladesh, UN figures show.

Who are the Rohingya?

The Rohingya are a Muslim ethnic-minority group that has lived as a people in Myanmar for centuries.

Today, more than a million of them live in the country, most in the western coastal state of Rakhine, where they make up around a third of the population. They speak their own language, which isn't recognized by the state.

There are regular clashes between the Rohingya and the country's security forces, as well as other ethnic groups in Rakhine, which are predominantly Buddhist. Rohingya militant groups are often involved in the clashes. Even Buddhist monks have been accused of inciting violence against the Rohingya there and led a boycott movement against them during deadly clashes in 2012.

A community of Rohingya refugees also live in Bangladesh and some migrate to Malaysia, where they typically work illegally, the men often laboring.

Why aren't they recognized as Burmese?

The government in Myanmar refuses to recognize the Rohingya as citizens, claiming that they are Bangladeshi or Bengali. The UN refugee agency and human rights groups have in the past accused the government of ethnic cleansing through its repressive policies. Having had such a long history in Myanmar, the Rohingya's ethnicity is more complex than the government makes out.

The government has argued that the Rohingya descend from farmers from what is now called Bangladesh. Many arrived in large numbers during British rule, from 1824 to 1948, when Myanmar was considered a province of British-administered India. The Rohingya were sent there as laborers, in what Britain considered an internal migration. Many Rohingya, however, say they are descendants of Muslim traders, who can be traced back to the 9th Century. In reality, there is likely to be a mix of ethnicities among them.

When Myanmar gained independence in 1948, the Rohingya were able to apply for identity cards, which offered some rights, and some even served in Parliament. But after a military coup in 1962, the Rohingya lost this status and were considered foreigners. They were granted foreign identity cards.

In 1982, a citizenship law only allowed the Rohingya to apply for citizenship if they could speak an officially recognized language and had proof their family had lived in the country before independence. But most Rohingya were never granted the paperwork to prove their roots, so they were effectively rendered stateless.

What is life like for them in Myanmar?

The Rohingya have faced repression since the 1970s, but more intensively since 2011, when the government transformed from a military administration to a civilian one. There had been hope at that time that their situation would improve, but their repression has only intensified. They remain left off a national list of 135 recognized ethnicities in Myanmar.

Now, the Rohingya cannot access the same resources and services that Myanmar's predominantly Buddhist citizens can. Despite this lack of recognition, they are not allowed to leave their settlements in Rakhine without government approval. Many live in Rakhine in impoverished camps, and others spend periods in internally displaced people's settlements in other states after fleeing violence.

What does Bangladesh say?

Bangladesh does not consider the Rohingya to be Bangladeshi.

There are varying estimates of how many live in the South Asian country, but it is believed to be in the hundreds of thousands. Amnesty International estimates around half a million undocumented Rohingya live there. The country sometimes allows the Rohingya to live in camps on its border, but on other occasions, it simply sends them back to Myanmar. Those who stay, live as illegal immigrants, which usually means a life of poverty, without the right to work or access to education.

Other countries in Asia have been just as unwelcoming. In 2015, groups of Rohingya were stranded at sea in Southeast Asia, as Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia pushed them back and forth between each other, refusing to take them in. Indonesia even ordered its fishermen to stop rescuing them.

Indonesians, however, have shown solidarity with the Rohingya, carrying out regular protests to support them. Indonesia is the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation and the Rohingya issue has resonated there.

What's Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's role?

Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, seen as a national hero in Myanmar and the face of a free civilian government, has come under intense international criticism for failing to openly support the Rohingya. Some have even said she should be stripped of her peace prize.

Suu Kyi has repeatedly denied accusations of human rights abuses against the Rohingya, and in April denied to the BBC that ethnic cleansing was taking place. Some observers point out that the Rohingya issue is so heated in Myanmar that Suu Kyi would lose her popularity, and eventually possibly her position, if she backed the ethnic minority.

The youngest-ever Nobel peace prize laureate, 20-year-old Malala Yousafzai has called on Suu Kyi to condemn the treatment of the Rohingya. "Over the last several years, I have repeatedly condemned this tragic and shameful treatment. I am still waiting for my fellow Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to do the same," Yousafzai wrote.

"The world is waiting and the Rohingya Muslims are waiting."

Why are Russian Chechens protesting?

Tens of thousands of people have marched through Grozny, the capital of Russia's Chechen Republic. Like Indonesia, Chechnya is predominantly Muslim. Protests in Chechnya are heavily regulated and typically orchestrated by authorities.

CNN's former Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty said that the protests could be an effort by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov to position himself as a global Muslim leader. On his official Instagram account, Kadyrov labeled attacks on Rohingya as "genocide."

Photo captions: 1) Rohingya refugees travel on an open-back truck near Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhiya, Bangladesh, on September 3. (Photo from CNN). 2)  Satellite Images allegedly show destruction of Rohingya village. (Photo from CNN).3) Rohingya refugees on the border with Bangladesh clamor for food. (Photo from CNN). 4) A plea for help. 5) Rohingya woman and child/ 6) Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has come under fire. 7) Michael Ireland.

About the Writer: Michael Ireland is a volunteer internet journalist serving as Chief Correspondent for the ASSIST News Service, as well as an Ordained Minister, and an award-winning local cable-TV program host/producer who has served with ASSIST Ministries and written for ANS since its beginning in 1989. He has reported for ANS from Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Israel, Jordan, China, and Russia. You may follow Michael on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MichaelIrelandMediaMissionary.com    and on Twitter at @Michael_ASSIST. Please consider helping Michael cover his expenses in bringing news of the Persecuted Church, by logging-on to: https://actintl.givingfuel.com/ireland-michael   

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