YANGON: More than 22,000 people from mainly Muslim communities have been forced to flee their homes in western Myanmar, the UN said on Sunday, after a fresh wave of violence and arson that left dozens dead.
Whole neighbourhoods were razed in last week’s clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine state, which has cast a shadow over the country’s reforms and put further strain on relief efforts in the region. Some 75,000 people are already crammed into overcrowded camps following clashes in June.
The United Nations chief in Yangon, Ashok Nigam, said government estimates provided early today were that 22,587 people had been displaced and 4,665 houses set ablaze in the latest bloodshed. “These are people whose houses have been burnt, they are still in the same locality,” he told AFP, indicating that thousands more who had fled in boats towards the state capital Sittwe may not be included in that estimate. “It is mainly the Muslims who have been displaced,” he said, adding that 21,700 of those made homeless were Muslims.
The latest fighting has increased the total death toll since June to above 170.
Zaw Htay, an official from the office of President Thein Sein, said there had been no new clashes since on Saturday. Under a state of emergency imposed after the June unrest, security had been tightened across Rakhine state but the new violence had “occurred in unexpected areas”, he said.
He said police were hunting “manipulators” behind the unrest. “We are giving this issue particular attention for the sake of national security,” he told AFP. Authorities are trying to provide emergency relief to those affected as a first priority. (AFP)
