| Myanmar riots toll hits 50, thousands displaced |
SITTWE Fifty people have been killed in communal clashes in western Myanmar, state media said on Saturday, as the UN warned of “immense hardship” faced by thousands displaced by rioting.
State mouthpiece the New Light of Myanmar said 50 people have died, with 54 injured between May 28 and June 14 in Rakhine state, which has been convulsed by violence between local Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya.
The report did not say whether the updated toll includes 10 Muslims beaten to death on June 3 by a Buddhist mob in revenge for the rape and murder of a Rakhine woman.
In Byaing Phyu, deep-seated anger and fear smo-ulder between Rohingya and Rakhine in the aftermath of the sectarian clashes in Myanmar in years, raising concerns that a fragile peace may not last long.
Violence has largely subsided in north-western Rakhine state, leaving reformist President Thein Sein with the difficult task of averting another round of mob attacks that have left dozens dead and tens of thousands homeless.
A senior state official on Thursday said 29 people - 16 Muslims and 13 Buddhists - had been killed, but rights groups and other local sources believe the real figure in Rakhine’s remote villages could be much higher.
Sittwe was calm but tense on Saturday, with New Light saying security forces overnight were “restoring peace, stability and security” after the unrest, which poses a serious challenge to Myanmar’s reform-minded government.
Nearly 32,000 people from both sides are being housed in scores of camps across Rakhine, officials in Sittwe said on Thursday, after thousands of homes were set ablaze.
A UN team witnessed the devastation on a two-day visit to the region, saying that around 10,000 displaced people were sheltering in Sittwe alone. “These people are facing immense hardship,” it said late on Friday, describing them as both Rakhine and Muslim.
“The government should separate Rakhines and Rohingyas because we can no longer live together,” Than Mya, a 30-year-old mother of five who lost her husband, said on Saturday at a camp for displaced villagers in Rakhine’s capital, Sittwe.
Pledging help for the affected area, UN special adviser Vijay Nambiar praised the government for its “prompt, firm and sensitive” response to the clashes but urged a “full, impartial and credible” probe into the unrest.
Agencies
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